This past weekend I had the distinct pleasure of attending an all day "retreat" on Saturday to go over the strategic plan for the public school district I work for. I think by the title, you can clearly tell it was not a pleasure. I also included the word retreat in quotes because it was not a retreat at all.
It's not like we got to go away for the weekend to some resort or exclusive location. Instead we were just about a mile away from our district in one of the local township halls. There was nothing glamourous or exciting about it.
Honestly, about the only good thing that came from it in my opinion is that a few of my co-workers got to see a side of me that they don't normally see. A good side and I think it's something that surprised them. I think at work I try to maintain an air of professionalism almost to the extreme. Many people feel I am cold and unapproachable, when really that's not true.
I'm a nerd for sure and a bit goofy, so I tried to hide at least the second part of that when I am not at home.
It also didn't help that I think our table was considered the black sheep of the group. We were the only table that didn't have a school board member. It wasn't really our fault, there was supposed to be a board member at our table, but he didn't show up.
I don't think the trainer you can see in the photo above liked me too much. Which is fine, because I didn't care for him so much either. He was quite dismissive to all the ideas at our table and while I tried to use humor to get my point across, I think that prompted him to exclude the ideas we had which were actually serious.
He had this style that was aloof and while I'm guessing he felt it inspired synergy and creative thinking, it really just caused us to be more confused than anything else and made him come off as dismissive.
We tried to get him to explain our particular task several times and he just shrugged his shoulders and stated something like "it's whatever you want it to be". There was actually a point where he was basically ignoring us, so one of the members of our table got up and wrote down our idea herself on the magical notepad. It ended up being the idea everyone like the most.
Two of the main tasks of the seminar were to come up with a mission statement and a vision statement for the district. I've gotta be honest, I'm not really impressed with what the group came up with. I honestly, can't even remember them now.
I tried to make the point that we shouldn't be making statements that we think people want to hear, but what we really want for our students, because if that isn't our main focus, then we aren't going to succeed anyway.
The consensus was at our table that after six hours of our day, we really didn't feel like we had accomplished anything we couldn't have done in an hour at our own location.
It's amazing to me that people get paid to do these kinds of services. It feels a bit like a con job to me.
We did get fed lunch, which is kind of cool I guess. It was build your own sandwich and it wasn't the worst sandwich I have ever had, so there's that. Unfortunately for the secretary that organized all of this, they were expecting around 50 people and only 20 showed up, so there was a ton of food left over.
I think they brought it back and I could build my own sandwich again today if I wanted to. Assuming the veggies aren't all soggy and limp.
I know it probably doesn't sound like it, but I really did come into this event with an open mind. Unfortunately though, I don't feel like we accomplished a ton. The fact that we have another half day of activities we need to go through before we are finished with the process doesn't have me too excited.
I think ultimately what bugs me the most is the fact that we came up with a bunch of ideas that we either don't really believe in, but we think they sound good, or we will never act on because the resources or funds are just not available.
Which leads me to believe it was ultimately a lesson in futility. I got a free three ring binder out of it though!
On top of that, I'm sure at the next board meeting the members will talk about how productive and great it was. Maybe they weren't at the same meeting I was.
Then again, maybe I will get hauled into my supervisors office today and reprimanded for not taking it seriously.
Who knows!?
Have you ever been through a process like this where you developed a strategic plan for your business? Did it include a mission and vision? Do you remember those statements? Did they become part of the culture?
Let's talk about it in the comments! I know he's a busy guy, but I am particularly interested in hearing @tarazkp's thoughts on this whole thing.
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I have also gone through similar situations in my work, it is frustrating when you have ideas that can improve the company, but they are not taken into account and valuable time is wasted in meetings of this type, sometimes it seems that the board has a very different view of reality, and is not willing to invest in the future.
That or they just want to do this sort of stuff, so they can say hey look what we are doing. Instead of actually doing things.
It's frustrating to read that your ideas and those of your group weren't taken seriously, especially considering the time and effort that went into the day. Strategic planning, when well executed, can be a powerful tool, I use it in my business and it generally works well. But in this case, it seems to have missed the mark.
I'm sure you can make things happen because I'm sure you have some great ideas!
How do you think a day like this could be more productive in the future? Or how could everyone's ideas and contributions be better integrated and respected?
I think it could have been half a day and we could have had more direction instead of relying on magic to happen. It probably doesn't help that I was skeptical going in, but I think they could have accomplished a lot more in shorter time if they had wanted to.
Yes, but I know what you mean because my sister recently had a similar problem. Indeed, the fact that you are fundamentally skeptical probably didn't help as I now know that a lot goes on before such a meeting (mental preparation and acceptance).
I don't know if this will help you for future meetings of this type, but a good practice is to prepare a list of all your strengths. In fact, it helps you remember all your qualities and makes you feel better. That way, whatever type of meeting you have next, you'll go into it with a very different frame of mind. It may sound silly, but it works. Definitely worth a try.
Thanks for the tip!
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I'm glad they didn't let you go hungry there though Bozz. We have a cooking event after our team meeting next month.
That sounds a lot better than cold sandwiches! These were not bad, but I have had better.
I've done this a few times, but 2 instances stuck in mind:
1 - with quite a small team, where one 'team member' assumed the role of knowing everything and completely divided the group via being a smart arse. It actually ended up being very destructive long term, not great at all.
2 - was a session facilitated using visual cards which worked fairly well. We had this large pack of cards with tons of different pictures. It allowed the group to start preparing the statements by selecting pictures that visually represented how the various groups in the event thought the organisation could ideally be like. That was then used to prompt words that could be used to generate the statements. There was a lot of mixing of ideas as well by making the groups rotate around each others outputs to ask questions and also contribute ideas. Then everyone got to rate both pictures and statements produced by simply voting on what was produced by adding stickers to what you liked ( you each got a sheet of sticky dots and added as many as you wanted to each thing you liked). It worked really well to bring the wider group together (about 40 people), and resulted in multiple statements that could be considered further. I would use that process again.
I'm sorry to hear your session didn't go well. It sounds like the facilitator failed to facilitate.
I was probably that first person. I do know a lot and I am a bit of a wise guy. I feel like I had some really good ideas though. There was a point where we had a framework for a mission statement and I suggested we use synonyms for some of he words we didn't like. The guy basically ignored me. Then lo and behold some other guy pulls out the Thesaurus app on his phone like he's some kind of savior. At that point I just kind of checked out.
"Mission statement" and "vision statement"... Lord. Two of the worst corporate words in existence.
Meetings like this are completely worthless. Study after study shows they are completely worthless. Yet organizations keep forcing employees to go to them. It's a waste of time.
Well, glad to see you could at least find a few good points to the ordeal.
Yeah, it's funny because we were throwing stuff out and he would say "that has a lot of buzz words". I'm thinking but vision statement and mission statement aren't buzz words? He kept asking what the "what and how" was too and I never really understood what he was trying to get at.
These kinds of events only go one way - either really bad or really good. There is almost never an in between. Sorry you had the really bad.
Thanks, I appreciate it. I think what bugs me more is the fact that they probably paid this company for it.
As someone who now makes their living doing these kinds of sessions, I hate when they don't go well. It creates a bad name for all of us.
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There has really been a lack of communication from this place to begin with. It wasn't until right before the meeting (like 4 in the morning) that the guy sent us the information.
That is unacceptable
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Going through your post, I had wondered what could have been the reason the trainer ignored you. Could it be that he was incompetent for the event or was your presence a threat to him?
I'm not really that threatening. I think he was trying to use a method that just didn't fit well for our group. The group was made up of community members and not 100% business people. I think he just misjudged his audience.
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