We are planning our annual planning session, but my leadership team thinks a two-day offsite is a waste of time when we have so many urgent fires. How do I get them to buy into the value of stepping away from the business?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a leadership team resists an offsite, it is a clear sign that they are working in the business instead of on it. If you do not step away to align on your vision and strategy, you will spend the next twelve months reacting to those very same fires. This resistance usually comes from a lack of safety or past experiences where offsites were just long, unproductive talking shops.

To get their buy-in, you must establish the direct link between the offsite and their daily sanity. Frame the session as the ultimate tool to eliminate the systemic issues causing their daily fires. Use this opportunity to build vulnerability and safety, which are essential for high-performing teams.

To make the offsite highly productive, follow a structured agenda:
- Review the previous year's performance and update your V/TO.
- Tackle the major, long-term issues that are too big for a weekly meeting.
- Set clear, measurable Rocks for the upcoming quarter.
- Clarify the Accountability Chart to eliminate role confusion.

A successful offsite is not a soft retreat. It is a highly focused, intense working session. When your team sees that two days of focused alignment saves them hundreds of hours of operational chaos and miscommunication throughout the year, their resistance will disappear.