Winter team retreats have become an increasingly popular way for companies to foster team bonding and growth.
They offer an invaluable opportunity for your team to take a break from the office routine and interact with each other in a relaxed and fun setting, improving the sense of teamwork and generating greater motivation.
But why bother having a team retreat?
And what makes a winter getaway the perfect opportunity for your team to bond?
Here’s Why You Should Start Planning a Team Retreat Soon
Staff Reatreats Strengthen Team Relationships.
A team retreat is an opportunity for employees to develop deeper personal relationships outside of the office environment. When employers create a safe and relaxed setting, employees can share their thoughts, concerns, and experiences more openly. This helps to form strong bonds, increasing collaboration and communication within the team.
They Boost Morale & Motivation.
A team retreat can be a great way to motivate and reward employees for their hard work. It can be a chance to have some fun and build morale, making tackling challenges back in the office easier. Activities such as team-building exercises, outings, and challenges help to develop a sense of fellowship, trust, and collaboration.
They can Improve Overall Performance.
Team retreats can positively impact the team’s performance. When employees are better connected with each other, they become more productive, energized, and creative. This, in turn, can lead to improved performance and better results.
They Allow for (In-Person) Face Time.
In overly technological and digital workplaces, offsites provide a space to bring your team together for some real face time. Do you have multiple offices in different cities? Getting everyone to one place to work on a project — rather than over video conference — makes your team feel more connected. And they’ll work better toward a common goal.
Our Experience with Team Retreats
At Publer, staff retreats are a big part of our company culture. Besides team bonding activities we do throughout the year, we also look forward to spending some time away from our usual setting and gathering twice a year together.
Each winter & each summer, we go big on planning vacations together.
Our Summer Team Retreat
Last summer, we spent a whole week together working remotely from the Albanian Riviera.
It was an incredible experience that had everything: Swimming into the crystal-blue ocean, days and nights of team-bonding games & activities, sunbathing, team dinners, and, of course, working on big table meetings.
It was an experience that brought us together and made us know so much more about each other, down to our likes/dislikes, habits, and secrets (yes, we shared quite a few!).
However, keep in mind that spending time together might not always mean that your team is bonding and building constructive bridges. That is why you have to make sure your team is spending *quality* time together.
When in doubt, hire professionals! We decided to book a full day of team-building exercises and activities prepared and managed by a local staff training and retreats agency that delivered fun through a simple yet effective mini-game marathon.
But back to our Winter Fun!
With all the global warming and odd temperatures for December in Europe, we had to wait a bit for our skiing getaway this year. The wait, however, made it even more worth it.
We decided to do a three-day weekend in one of the most famous skiing towns in Montenegro: Kolašin.
Luckily for us, the town still had its Christmas decorations on, together with the winter holiday spirit. It only lacked a team of 12 guys, grown men, playing around in the snow as if we were seeing it for the first time.
Some of us skied for the first time, some enjoyed the heavy (but delicious) Balkan food, and some decided this retreat was all about the spa sessions!
But what took this trip to another level was our late-night “Mafia” sessions – an intense social role-play game that relies on your abilities to understand people and to pick up clues in order to solve the mystery and find Mafia hidden inside the group.
Let’s just say that this was our ultimate team-bonding activity, where we got to carefully listen to each other, investigate every move, and eventually understand each-others personalities.
But of course, throughout the weekend, we came up with various fun games and had the chance to explore the town and have team gatherings at unique places around the town.
We even explored a really cool waterfall on our way back to Tirana and the office.
So, Why Have a Winter Retreat?
For us, the winter team retreat came at exactly the right time. We had just finished planning our 2023 Roadmap, which, as you might have seen, is heavily loaded with exciting #PublerUpdates.
This means that our Winter Retreat was the perfect opportunity for us to step back, regroup, gather some energy, and dive directly into the new opportunities for Publer.
We now know each other better, feel more confident in our teamwork, and are more motivated for the year ahead.
All this took one weekend trip, a few business expenses, and a whole lot of fun!
Alkeo Taga
