Corporate Offsite Meetings Like No Other
Introducing LeaderSurf Corporate Retreats
Throughout my career as an organizational development leader, I have had the opportunity to plan and facilitate over a hundred company retreats. The stated goals of the meetings have varied as have the size of the groups, the locations and the types of companies represented. I have found several factors that influence the impact of these offsite meetings. The most impactful meetings I that I have had the opportunity to plan and facilitate, have taken the participants out of their comfort-zones and combined business with fun.
Companies plan retreats for a myriad of reasons. Goal alignment sessions, strategic planning sessions, turnaround meetings, sales meetings, innovation sessions, leadership development, new leader assimilations, new hire orientations, award and recognition, and specific training needs are just some examples. These meetings are intentionally held offsite because they separate the participants from their day to day work. The physical act of traveling to a new place sets the tone and expectations for the event.
At LeaderSurf, we encourage our clients to host meetings offsite whenever possible. This frees participants from the distraction of the day to day and creates separation between those in attendance and those left to hold down the fort. Planning and coordinating offsite meetings can be an arduous task and that discourages a lot of companies from following through. Our firm does much of the heavy lifting for our clients.
The LeaderSurf program takes a very unique approach to leadership development. Six to ten executives from various companies and industries spend a week together in Nicaragua enhancing their leadership capabilities through a mix of classroom sessions, business challenges, one on one executive coaching, participation in a humanitarian aid project and daily surfing lessons. The program has received great feedback and international recognition.
As an outcome of the program, LeaderSurf has been approached by several companies looking for our firm to plan and facilitate corporate programs that blend LeaderSurf with specific company objectives. As a result, we recently launched the LeaderSurf Corporate Retreat offering. LeaderSurf Corporate Retreats are customized programs delivered by our sister company Groove Management that leverage the LeaderSurf learning model and LeaderSurf partners.
We can arrange corporate retreats for groups ranging in size from 5-10 participants. These turn key programs offer an all-inclusive price for a week-long retreat for organizations. Agenda planning and facilitation is done in partnership between Groove Management and the client. These programs are all hosted at the Buena Onda Beach Resort in Playa Santana, Nicaragua. Buena Onda is an award-winning beach resort that has been awarded with the Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence for several years. The resort offers the right climate for learning. Through our partnership with Buena Onda, we can provide rooms, meals, meeting facilities, ground transportation, daily activities and excursions.
Nicaragua is a beautiful country in Central America that is only a few hours flight from most cities in the USA. There is significant humanitarian need Nicaragua, and we see that as a great opportunity for companies to include a day of aid in their retreats. Through our partnerships we have provided a sustainable source of clean drinking water to several Nicaraguan villages, and it is our hope to continue this work with additional corporate humanitarian aid days.
A five night, six-day corporate retreat for ten participants all-inclusive, other than airfare, starts at $65,000. This is significantly less expensive that almost any five-night, six-day retreat that can be booked stateside. The retreat would include all meals, all drinks both non-alcoholic and alcoholic, ground transportation, a tour of Granada, the humanitarian aid day, full program facilitation by Groove Managements certified facilitator, meeting planning and daily surfing lessons for the ten attendees. We would work with the organizer to understand the retreat objectives and to customize the agenda to meet the specific needs of the client organization.
We can schedule these retreats ten months out of the year. September and October are not available because those months coincide with the peak of the rainy season. As your organization looks to plan the next corporate retreat consider our LeaderSurf Corporate Retreat offering as a unique and high impact way to bring your team closer together and to share an experience of a lifetime.