For the sake of powering deep change, Fountain approaches staff retreats and teambuilding offsites as opportunities to do more than just engage, educate, or entertain for a day.  Most clients know to demand thoughtful event design and dynamic, insightful facilitation, and those ingredients are key features of a Fountain event.  Too often, though, the pressures of the next workday’s real demands on participants prevent lasting impact from even the most inspiring getaway, despite capable facilitators and well-intentioned leader-participants.

That’s why, to the extent possible, Fountain’s retreats and team events don’t end when the day is done.  Rather, they extend the participant experience over time and incorporate mutual accountability for key commitments, linking the group experience to individuals’ ongoing reflection and experimentation with new behaviors and thought patterns.

An illustrative example:

• First, team members might complete an assessment instrument such as Myers Briggs Type Indicator® or StrengthsFinder®, for the purpose of increasing awareness about each individual’s preferences and inclinations as they participate in team development;
• Next, team members might convene for a kickoff event or offsite meeting, during which the leader clarifies expectations about outcomes from the day and how the day’s discoveries or decisions will carry through to the “real work” of the organization.
• Next, the participants might experience team coaching over several weeks or months as part of the leader’s commitment to identify options and practice new behaviors in the group setting live, assisted by coaches who intervene for the sake of triggering mindful decision-making.
• Meanwhile, participants might also engage in 1-on-1 coaching over the same period of weeks or months to be able to connect the group’s efforts and changes to the individuals’ personal priorities for leadership development, career advancement, or life direction.

Fountain can design custom retreats and team development initiatives for your organization, leveraging our talents in design and facilitation with our attention to the systemic linkages necessary for deep change.