A vast majority of businesses and companies rely on their employees to operate effectively, and likewise place an emphasis on functioning as a team in order to achieve success collectively. One of the best ways to foster productivity, reinforce cohesion, and simply provide an opportunity to shake off stress and get better acquainted with your employees and co-workers outside of the office is investing in a company retreat.
Company retreats stoke teamwork and company loyalty. Retreats provide staff with an opportunity to learn more about their co-workers than they would in the work environment, as well as the opportunity to learn something new about themselves in the process. They also reenergize staff, providing more focus and productivity going forward. The Strategic Air & Space Museum (SAC) is adding several new attractions this summer that will be permanent fixtures and ideal for company retreats, including a zip line, rock climbing wall and a large trampoline. During the summer these attractions will be featured as the Summer Over The Planes exhibit, as you can zip, climb and jump over the planes showcased at the SAC Museum! In addition to these new attractions, they are extending their hours to stay open until 9 p.m. every Thursday evening starting from now until September 5th for Hops, Props & Wings. They will have a different themed chicken wing to try each week, a different locally brewed beer each week and live music each Thursday evening. The great line up of bands includes:
May 30 – Lemon Fresh Day
June 6 – WGO Orchestra • June 13 – Rhythm Collective • June 20 – Fish Heads • June 27 – Cactus Hill
July 4 – Cowboy Up • July 11 – High Heel • July 18 – The New Humans • July 25 – On the Fritz
Aug 1 – The Confidentials • Aug 8 – Kaitlyn Maria • Aug 15 – Fish Heads • Aug 22 – Cactus Hill • Aug 29 – Omaha Guitar Trio
Sept 5 – Mr. Hand
Angela Roeber of SAC Museum invites companies of any size to gather for a company retreat and visit the attractions and exhibits, or just plan to come out on a Thursday evening to enjoy a night of entertainment with the co-workers! She adds that the mission of the SAC Museum is to ignite the thrill of innovation and discovery within each of their guests, including the young AND the young at heart, which is the perfect recipe for a company retreat!
Company retreats are often conducted in a place that offers a chance to have fun with a purpose, which can definitely increase morale and focus. Low morale hurts productivity, making workers listless. Often, low morale is a problem of perspective. For example, after putting in long hours to complete a difficult project, your employees might have forgotten the more pleasant or satisfying aspects of their jobs. Company retreats remove workers from their typical contexts, revitalizing them and inspiring them to take pride in their work again. Opening lines of communication builds connections, spurring conversations that might not have happened otherwise, allowing employees to gain new perspectives on the business. 48 Bowl centers, Parkway Lanes & Hollywood Bowl, offer a variety of bowling, food and beverage packages that can be tailored to any company’s needs. They have meeting rooms, wi-fi capabilities, and projector screens for meetings. For team-building, bowling is the perfect activity to loosen everyone up! They have game packages built into scoring that can level the playing field for everyone, so if you have a mix of terrible and talented players, there are plenty of options for bowling games designed to produce fun and light-hearted competition for everyone. Jennifer Davis-Korn of 48 Bowl says, “We consider our business to be fun, and we mean that! When your team can get away from the office and participate together in an enjoyable outing, it’s rewarding, both to your employees and to the business. A company retreat is the equivalent of innovation time, which is a way for your company to solve its business problems without thinking about them directly. Your employees will be re-energized to get to business when they return to the office and they will likely come back with problem-solving ideas.” She adds to not shy away from a bowling center to host your retreat because of the setting—their centers are bright and friendly, and they host many types of company outings, both large and small, on a frequent basis. They are experienced with this type of event, and have very flexible options for every type of group and budget. If bowling isn’t your thing, they have great lounge areas that can be configured to your company’s preferences and requirements.
Food is an important part of any company event or retreat. Meals are not only necessary, they provide a great time for conversation and it can be a treat to try food that you may not usually consider or be able to prepare on your own. Getting to know your co-workers outside of an office setting can be a very positive experience, and having a meal together often enhances community spirit. Round-Abouts is a local restaurant that also specializes in catering for large events, with options for entrees, sides and desserts. Owners Bev and Nate Kellison and their team can provide their signature fare for a large amount of people, and can deliver. This is a huge asset if there is no way to prepare the food onsite.
Venue Restaurant & Lounge is another local restaurant that is great for hosting a company event. They offer two private dining rooms that can accommodate up to 80 guests. Venue offers full-service catering as well and can provide catering services for any type of event off-site. Cherie Anderson of Venue says no matter whether you are scheduling an event or retreat that will require breakfast, lunch or dinner, the staff at Venue can work with you to create a menu that fits within your budget, suggestions or preferences, and concept ideas.
Greta’s Gourmet is a full-service caterer, providing Chef-created meals for any type of company event, which makes them a great choice to cater your company retreat! They can create a custom menu based on your culinary desires, dietary needs and budget. Additionally, they offer team building events for groups up to twelve people in which they teach their Wurstmacher 101 class, a class that teaches participants how to make sausage. This class gives groups an opportunity to do something fun, educational and hands-on while still spending time together as a team. It also doesn’t hurt that you are learning from experts, as Greta’s Gourmet is also a full-service deli and butcher shop. Kevin Mandigo, co-owner of Greta’s Gourmet, says that these classes are relatively inexpensive and can really deepen the engagement of employees by showing them that their employer is willing to do some things to benefit them that are “out of the box.” You may even get close to the proprietary secret recipes, as Kevin’s father Roger has spent 45 years working at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as a professor of Meat Science, and Roger and Kevin work together every day to perfect the procedures and recipes for all of their specialty meats.
If you are looking for someone to set up and operate bar services at your company retreat, Top Shelf Beverage Service & Wine Concierge offers many great options. Top Shelf utilizes top of the line mobile bars equipped with draft systems, liquor dispensers, and margarita machines in addition to being fully stocked with all of the essentials—effectively bringing the bar to you! They can also help you customize your event around a particular theme or color scheme, offer assistance with sourcing decorations, and can provide tables and seating if needed. Their bar staff are hand-selected from the local hospitality industry to ensure quality service and up-to-date knowledge of the hottest drinks and newest trends. In addition to Top Shelf’s liquor license, every bartender is certified under the TIPS responsible bar training program which ensures that they will be able to monitor responsible consumption, or privately alert you to any issues that arise. Top Shelf also offers non-alcoholic options with all of their packages, including Pepsi products, a selection of juices and bottled water. Jeremy Schafer of Top Shelf Beverage Service highlights that they are a mobile bar service offering beverage catering, and much like food catering, they can set up a fully operational bar that is well staffed and tailored to your specific requests, wherever the destination or location of your company retreat may be. He adds that their wine tastings are also a popular option for a company event, as well as whiskey and scotch tastings, depending on the preference of your group.
The Corky Canvas offers a variety of team building packages that allows companies to unwind and uncork their creativity! From working on better communication and cohesiveness to exploring their artistic side, a team building event at The Corky Canvas will provide companies with unique artwork as well as an exceptional bonding experience and memories. Angie Lewis, owner of The Corky Canvas, says that company retreats are an extremely important investment because harmony and happiness within a company leads to increased productivity and a more positive work atmosphere. Employees that get along and actively work together have better communication and can problem solve more effectively as well as save everyone unnecessarily long hours and headaches. If employees don’t have that sense of community, they’re less likely to go to each other for help–be it brainstorming or delegating tasks. Lewis adds that something as simple as a few hours away from the office, while enjoying wine or beer with a paintbrush in hand, allows employees to not only get to know each other, but also discover a creative side of themselves that can be utilized within the company. The Corky Canvas offers four varieties of team building activities at both Lincoln and Omaha locations, and they would be happy to discuss those options with your company or business!
James Arthur Vineyards is a wonderful destination for a company retreat, as you can enjoy the natural beauty of the estate as well as their delicious wines! Their facilities offer a warm and relaxed atmosphere ideal for breakthrough thinking and highly effective meetings. James Arthur Vineyards is the largest winery in Nebraska, located near Raymond about 10 miles from downtown Lincoln, which makes it a close enough trip to be able to get out of the city without breaking the bank on travel expenses. Jim Ballard, owner of James Arthur Vineyards, says that they are happy to host groups of all sizes. Hosting a retreat at James Arthur Vineyards also allows time for touring their grounds and facilities as well as the opportunity to sample their wines or scheduled tastings, and a chance to unwind with your co-workers. Furthermore, they have several private party spaces with comfortable furnishings, rich dècor, and spectacular views. One of the winery’s latest additions, The St. Croix Room, is a meeting/party room overlooking both the St. Croix grapevines outside and the wine production area inside. This beautiful, sunny room features a stone fireplace, wine tasting bar, catering kitchen, and French doors leading to a private deck. Underneath this versatile room lies JAV’s bottling line, where all the vintages are filled before finding their final resting place. The St. Croix room also provides multiple power outlets to meet your audio-visual equipment needs. Their meeting rooms are complemented by natural lighting, individual heating and air conditioning controls, access to a private deck as well as direct access to the covered deck and gazebos, and high speed internet is available at no additional cost. James Arthur Vineyards can provide a personalized menu of food options, and will work with their clients to offer custom-catered meals paired with their award-winning selection of fine wines. Whether you plan on spending a full day in one of their private party rooms, or just want to get your employees together or out of the office for an afternoon of fresh air and relaxation, James Arthur Vineyards can certainly accommodate and help you plan for your next company retreat!
Company retreats that include team activities serve to build camaraderie by training you and your workers to identify and incorporate the personal strengths of individuals to achieve group goals. The cooperative skills gained at a retreat will improve the performance of your workforce by showing employees how to work together effectively. As an owner, you might feel separated from your employees and find it hard to fit in during group activities. In this case, hiring an outside facilitator instead of running the show yourself (as you are certainly accustomed to) allows you to participate on the level of your employees. Also, when your employees stop having fun at work, they are more likely to leave. In this way, a company retreat can improve staff retention. Having fun also stimulates creative thinking, which can also lead to improved productivity. You can also have an agenda for the retreat in addition to relaxation. For example, if employees are communicating openly during other exercises, this can foster effective brainstorming sessions for new company strategies. The key is to define a reasonable agenda that doesn’t overload the employees with work during the retreat. After all, the goal is to stimulate future productivity by helping your employees reconnect and relax. Asking them to do too much will decrease the retreat’s beneficial effects.
An essential facet of planning a company retreat is having a goal. Without a goal there no point to conduct a retreat, as there is nothing that sparks a shift in momentum or gives it a significant purpose. Company retreats should motivate or inspire employees to achieve the goal framed by your retreat, whether it is to de-stress in order to have a better focus, to plan for an exciting project, strategize to attain a milestone, or to foster unity among co-workers. All participants should feel welcome to collaborate, whether there are ten or a hundred employees involved. You may want to consider the dynamics of the group, such as if you have more introverted or extroverted people, and choose an event or activity that best serves the interest of the group as well as the individuals that it is composed of. Choose a time of the week when you know your employees will be able to focus and enjoy the time they are investing, instead of around a deadline or on Monday when they have thirty-six other things they need to do to start their business week. Also, whether your business location is small or large, you should always host a company retreat off-site. Retreats held on-site can appear like a cheesy office party, or are just another way to say “meeting.” This should be a place with minimal distractions from the outside world for an acceptable amount of time to expect from your employees, unless it is within their regular working hours or they are being compensated for their time. You are conducting a company retreat for positive growth, and it will certainly not be received well if it is imposed or has undesirable conditions. However, since the retreat is an investment in the company and the well-being of employees, it is reasonable to expect that they will be focused on this event and not disengaged by using their phone or checking out the latest posts on Facebook or the Internet. As an employee, it is important to respect what a company retreat aims to accomplish. Look at it as a positive experience, with many short-term and long-term benefits, that helps you to understand your co-workers, boss, and maybe even your bosses’ boss. What is good for them is good for you, and vice versa, so improving the existing structure of your operations or fine-tuning communication and teamwork is well worth the investment of time and resources. When planned and utilized in the correct way, company retreats enhance many aspects of the work environment and are a contributing factor in cultivating the future of your company or business.