Staff Away Day

[GreenFressia]

We have one coming up which has sessions on strategy, planning etc.

I'm an introvert and rubbish at thinking on the spot and there's no further info than this about the agenda. It's also been ages since going to one.

Any tips welcome.

Participation is key, don’t stay on the sidelines. Don’t overthink the responses. The scenarios will be hypothetical so you can say whatever’s in your head.

I think you cannot go wrong by asking questions that show interest in the people around you and their ideas and opinions. If you can’t think of things to add then people will not necessarily notice if you are curious about others…

they may ask for highlights of the last year and things you would like to see put in place for next year

Away days are a load of fucking bollocks.

Book leave/call in sick. Far more productive than playing corporate happy families and other such nonsense.

Oh man I'd need a quarter of vodka at least to get me through this. Who invented these bullshit things? Just utter bullshit.

Who’s organising it? I’m exactly like you with not being able to think on the spot. I email the organiser and ask for more info a few days beforehand; they should have the information available otherwise the day is going to be rather disorganised (which often happens and is why I agree with @HelplessSoul and @VirgosNeedGoals that away days are often bollocks).

If they want quality input from everyone, they need to give you time to think.

I hate things where they want your input but don’t allow any prep time. It really doesn’t work for me. However it can’t hurt to reach out to the organisers ( who are normally the type to be able to make quick decisions/ speak up) to explain that although you really want to participate it would be really helpful to have more of an idea of what would be covered so you had time to think. I find they are normally quite accommodating once they understand not everyone thinks like them

Thanks good tips re asking questions. I'm quite new. I suppose I could also take on role of 'feeding back'. I know what you mean re wanting info ahead. I'm just better at working solo - in groups I just want to gather everyone's contributions and have a think about them 😂.

Also often feel the expectation is come up with something new. What in 1 hour? If it was good surely we are doing it already. And if its a tiny improvement- was it worth an entire day of my time?

Anyway I will probably come back and say it was amazing 😂

If the expectation is for you to come up with something new then they definitely need to give some lead-in time. I recently had one of these where we were given four questions to answer, 15 minutes for each, in groups in a noisy room. It was awful and my mind just went blank.

I mean, I’m no visionary but I’d have thought that even the greatest leaders need time to come up with quality ideas otherwise it’s just firing turds at a dartboard to justify the T&S spend to get everyone there.

The one-liner that seems to be all the rage at the moment for those who can’t think on the spot is ‘I’m a reflector, I’ll get back to you when I’ve had time to think’. (It drives me mad but seems to be acceptable!)