Awayday: Ticket to Nowhere?

How effective is that great institution, the Corporate Awayday?

Sometimes you see them coming – The Fat Controller, Snack Bar Sandie, Mr Wimp, the Station Announcer. Sometimes you don’t – then it gets messy, says Management Futures consultant Matt Driver.

The ‘Team Awayday’ has been around for a couple of decades now, a term coined from the eponymous British Rail cheap day ticket. Despite the years, these events, like the train times, are still at the mercy of under-investment and mismanagement.

In many cases, of course, these events run as smoothly and effectively as any TGV but all too often they fail to achieve what they might, running slow and drab and, at worst, unpleasant or even dangerous.

A good professional facilitator can help the awayday to start and finish on the right track but first they may have to deal with some worrying key personalities…

Snack Bar Sandie

Never mind the quality! The stuff Sandie serves up is not for her, it’s for others (rather like Virgin’s microwaved ciabbatta: the staff never eat it). She wants a facilitator to get 'em away, entertain 'em for a bit, then send them home. She doesn’t want anyone looking below the surface, for who knows what might be lurking there! No cementing of strategy or staff relationships, no spending too much. That’ll do. At the last minute, due to ‘pressure of work’ or a ‘three line whip’ from someone more important, Snack Bar Sandie will then probably fail to turn up.

The Fat Controller

This leader believes in alignment. That is, everyone being aligned to their views. Yet they may not even realise it. I shall never forget one senior manager lecturing the team at length on how they had to become more empowered! When Fat Controllers discover differences breaking out despite their efforts to control, that’s when they instruct the facilitator to ‘turn them around’, to help them ‘going forward’ – but never thinking to ask themselves ‘Why?’

The Station Announcer

She is not travelling on this awayday herself. She is in an office back at base, issuing proclamations, not a word of which can anyone understand. I recall the Chairman of a food company who was deeply shocked to hear his senior executives say they had no idea what the corporate strategy was. ‘But I’ve spoken about this many times. And it’s been in the company newsletter twice!’ Unfortunately, communication is not what you thought you had transmitted, but what is received.

The Station Announcer typically uses language such as ‘direction’, ‘my vision’ or ‘hands-off approach’. But like the Fat Controller what she really wants is for the facilitator to act as her mouthpiece.

Mr Wimp

He’s a nice man. That’s the problem. He can’t face conflict and therefore leaves countless unresolved issues trailing behind him. He hires a facilitator to help his team ‘think more positively’ but in reality to do the managing he himself has shied away from. His door is ‘always open’. He is keen on personal development, but not on performance. What he wants is for a surrogate manager to pull the team round, but painlessly and with ‘fun’. Just as the ticket collector when challenged with a passenger’s – oops, sorry, customer’s – problem, his favourite words are ‘them’ and ‘nothing I can do’.

Back on Track? We can’t blame the railways for what has happened on some awaydays and indeed they may have something to teach us. For a well-run awayday can be an incredibly valuable use of time for the individual, the team and the entire organisation.You need to get the connections right, that’s all.

Journey Planner So often we meet clients who are unclear about where they want to go with their awayday. Helping them to clarify what they need to achieve and what the evidence will be for time well spent, that’s a challenge, but it’s vital if we’re not to waste everybody’s time. It must be remembered, though, that this evidence is as much about relationships and team as it is about tasks and strategies.

Express or Stopper? Some train services can be twice the price of others to the same destination, so you have to know what you want. It’s the same with team awaydays. Watch the client who is looking to pack in everything – long-term strategy, team problems and immediate practical tasks – all into the one session. They’ll need some help and perhaps some challenging over prioritisation. After all you can’t travel to Paris and Glasgow on the same departure from London.

Who’s Driving? Something the Fat Controller, Mr Wimp, Snack Bar Sandie and the Station Announcer all have in common is an absence of self-awareness. Almost always, such senior people underestimate their impact on the team – be it positive or negative. I once had to work hard to convince a Chief Executive to attend the team awayday he himself had called. He said he wanted his people to be able to speak freely – but how would you react to being told to speak freely when the principal isn’t actually listening?

Clarity of role-setting is also important – who is to lead the day? What is the facilitator's specific role to be? How best to top and tail the event? Sort these issues out before the guard’s whistle sounds.

All Aboard One of my first facilitations was for a company where none of the team knew why they were coming, nor had ever heard of the awayday concept. The best team days demand careful preparation – the participants as well as the agenda. The more that people are able to contribute to the agenda, the more they’ll feel part of it and so contribute fully to the day. Preliminary conversations, not only with the senior client figure, as well as e-mails and preparatory questionnaires, they’re all useful. Good groundwork is never wasted.

First Class or Cattle Wagon? It doesn’t have to be the Orient Express but the venue you use will send a powerful message to participants about how the organisation regards them. Some physical separation from the workplace and a degree of creature comfort are advisable. Good-sized rooms, decent catering and professional facilities matter – and they needn’t cost the earth. And be careful when arrangements have been delegated to a junior staff member – experience tells you that what a venue calls ‘seating for up to 50’ is likely to fit no more than 20 when you want to work informally.

So whether you’re facilitating on the Bullet Train, the Trans-Siberian or the Bluebell Line, do remember which train you are on:

T – get the client on the right Track

R – get the Roles right: senior manager, facilitator, others

A – what’s the ‘A’ priority to be tackled?

I – Invite participants’ contributions and thinking from the very start

N – a Nice venue makes a big difference

For the best group tickets for your team's awayday, contact Matt Driver on 020 7242 4030.