Abigail Taylor, Operations Director at FiveTwo shares 3 Tips to Plan a Great Staff Retreat.

As you reflect on the importance of your upcoming staff retreat, remember that it’s more than just a time away from the office—it’s a chance to align your leadership team and set the foundation for a unified, thriving church. The best retreats focus not only on the tasks at hand but on creating a space for team members to build trust, communicate openly, and collaborate toward a common mission. With the right structure and focus, a retreat can set your church up for success in the coming months and years.

Watch or read below for practical steps for planning your upcoming retreat.

Tip Number 1: Write Down Your Purpose First

Tip number 1 is to Write Down your Purpose First. We tend to start with what we’ll do on a retreat when it’s most helpful to start with why you’re holding one in the first place. Our team is often asked to rank meetings and retreats on a scale of 1 to 7 – 1 being terrible and 7 being amazing. BEFORE you write your purpose for your retreat, ask your team, “What needs to happen for you to give this retreat a ‘7’?” Use their responses to write one to two sentences that clearly state the purpose of your retreat. We recommend that your purpose include rest or rejuvenation. Downtime is just as important as worktime and offers opportunities for camaraderie and conversation you otherwise wouldn’t have. Ultimately, writing down your purpose before planning your agenda allows you to ask yourself, “Does this thing I want to do serve my purpose?” Making planning much easier.

Tip Number 2: Do the Work that Needs the Room

Tip number 2 is Do the Work that Needs the Room. Some projects, decisions, or discussion items can happen in a weekly staff meeting, but others benefit from a big block of time, like what you have on a retreat. Choose “worktime” agenda items that will benefit from the time and energy you can give to them on a retreat. Generally, these items need your team to do pre-work ahead of time, a designated facilitator, and crystal clear desired outcomes. I’d caution you against overscheduling your time together. You’ll get much less done than you think you will. Instead of feeling pressed and overwhelmed the whole time, allot twice the amount of time for work items than you think you’ll need. When you do the work that needs the room on a retreat, your team walks away feeling like you value their time, which increases their feelings of satisfaction and desire to continue partnering with you in creating a thriving church.

Tip Number 3: Document Decisions AND Feedback

Tip number 3 is to Document Decisions AND Feedback. Before you go on your retreat, ask a team member to do three things during all of your work sessions. 1.) When they hear a decision get made, pause the discussion, repeat back the decision that just got made, and then write it down on a giant white sticky note you’ll have publicly posted. 2.) If a decision feels unclear, stop the discussion and ask what the decision is. 3.) Force the group to decide “who” is going to do a desired action item and then write it down. Doing this keeps the discussion concise, action-oriented, and clear. After the retreat, ask your team for feedback. Require them to write complete the following statements: “I Like…”, “I Wish….”, and “What If…”. Refer back to their feedback when planning your next retreat. When you document decisions & feedback, you create a culture where opinions are valued and action is the norm, without adding more to your plate.

At FiveTwo, we know that staff retreats are a powerful tool for uniting a team around a common mission. But beyond just the retreat itself, the real work happens when that team continues to pull in the same direction long after the retreat ends. Our Strategic Growth Process helps churches align their leadership teams, create clear and actionable visions, and drive long-term growth. If you’re ready to take your team’s cohesion to the next level and see how a unified vision can propel your church forward, we’d love to help. Let’s talk about how FiveTwo can guide you and your leadership team toward a thriving, unified future.

Reach out to FiveTwo today, and let’s make your vision a reality—together.