My team spent $12,000 on a leadership retreat that was just a fancy vacation

We went to a resort in Scottsdale for a 'strategic alignment' session last quarter, but it was all trust falls and vague talks. The consultant, from a firm called Summit Synergy, had no real plan and we came back with zero actionable goals. Has anyone found a retreat format that actually moves the needle for their executive team?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_julia1mo ago

Ugh, that's brutal. My friend's company did something similar, a whole off-site at a winery. They had these long talks about "company values" but the only thing they decided was the new color for the logo. It was a total joke. They spent all that money and just got a bunch of wine bottles and a headache.

bettymurphy1mo ago

But is a bad retreat really the end of the world?

kim.emma7d ago

A winery? For a company retreat about values? That's wild to me... like, did nobody think that maybe wine and serious discussions don't mix? I can just picture everyone getting tipsy and then trying to decide on a new logo color, that's a disaster waiting to happen. All that money spent on nice wine and fancy vibes just to walk away with a headache and a color swatch... feels like a really expensive way to get nothing done. I bet the next morning nobody even remembered what the new color was supposed to be.