The email goes out. We need an “offsite”. The heart sinks. Another wasted two days in a value hotel in the back of beyond. These days you can’t even escape to the golf course after a session for fear of how it might look for your corporate reputation.

Yet the number of companies taking executive teams on retreats is rising. Forbes reported last year that “retreat trips are coming back smaller, shorter and with much fuller agendas than before”. Why?

During my professional career I have attended many offsites, as both a facilitator and a participant. I have witnessed transformational moments for people and companies. I have also seen bizarre activities, from the executive team who used chess pieces to explain their positions in the hierarchy to adults stepping through a “walk of life” recounting significant events in their early childhood.