Services Direction
Most leadership teams never get time to step back together. The urgent work always wins. A retreat takes your team out of the day-to-day long enough to answer the big questions: where the business is going, what it stands for, and who owns what to get there. You come home with a plan the whole team built, and a rhythm to keep it moving.
Who it's for
Retreats work best when a business has momentum and a big question in front of it. I work mostly with owner-led and family businesses in Alberta's industrial and trades economy.
A founder and the next generation working side by side, where roles, authority, and the long-term picture all need to be talked through out loud.
The business has outgrown the plan in the owner's head. The team needs a shared direction and a short list of priorities everyone can repeat.
New leaders, a succession plan underway, or friction that keeps resurfacing. A reset on how you work together and who owns what.
You could write the plan yourself. A plan your team builds with you is the one they will actually carry out.
What you leave with
Every session builds toward something you take home. Nothing ends as a flip chart nobody reads again.
People
Direction
Focus
Execution
Team
Shared work and a shared experience away from the office. Dinners, a team activity, and time to talk without the phone ringing build the trust that makes the plan stick when you're back at work.
How it runs
The retreat succeeds because of what happens before it, and it pays off because of what happens after it.
Four to six weeks out: a confidential 45 to 60 minute interview with each leader, a business diagnostic, and DISC and Driving Forces assessments.
An agenda built around what discovery shows, with a workbook for each participant. Themes are shared without names, so people can be candid.
Off-site and fully facilitated. We start from the evidence, understand each other, then decide what matters and who owns it.
A full written report within 10 business days, a one-page plan, and a two-hour virtual check-in with the team at 30 days.
A sample retreat
Every agenda is built for the team in the room. This is a common shape.
What it looks like
A multi-generational, family-owned equipment and crane services group with more than 400 employees brought its executive team together for a three-day strategic planning retreat. The business had a succession plan underway and a big vision, and the leaders needed to agree on how to get there.
The team left with five champion-led strategic priorities, a validated vision and values framework, and a 30-60-90 day implementation roadmap they are executing today. Participants rated the retreat 8.7 out of 10, with a Net Promoter Score of 58.
Common questions
Most run from an evening arrival through a day and a half of facilitated work. Bigger teams or bigger questions can run a full three days. We set the length together on the planning call.
The owner and the leaders who will carry out the plan, usually 8 to 12 people. In a family business, that often means the founder, the next generation, and a few senior leaders from outside the family.
Somewhere away from the office, from a venue within driving distance of Edmonton to a mountain lodge. Venue, meals, and the team activity are separate from facilitation and paid at cost. I help you choose and coordinate.
A shared experience matched to your team's culture, like sporting clays, a guided fishing trip, hiking, or axe throwing, with winter options too. It can open or close the last day.
The discovery interviews are confidential, and themes are shared without names. Group agreements at the start set the tone: challenge ideas, not people, and what's said in the room stays in the room.
Your report includes a communication plan for sharing the outcomes with the rest of the company, and a one-page plan your whole team can see.
Discovery starts four to six weeks before the retreat, so give yourself at least that much lead time, plus time to book the venue.
Contact
Start with a 30-minute discovery call. Tell me where your team is and what you need to decide, and I'll tell you honestly whether a retreat is the right move.
Pick a time that works