The final details were settled around 8:17 this morning when Gerrick Taylor looked out over the room filled with Taylor’s 41 employees and was about ready to kick off Taylor’s fourth annual full team offsite training day.  

Just four years ago, he thought he had lost his mind at the idea of closing down all Taylor’s retail locations.  The calculation was steep; full wages for all Taylor’s employees that day while posting zero revenue throughout the entire day.

The model did not make sense on paper, but he knew a larger investment needed to be made; an investment in people…in relationships.

Taylor’s began almost twenty years ago on the side of the main road in Lexington, SC when Gerrick received a tractor trailer load of pine straw from his Dad.  As a High School teacher and football coach, Gerrick was looking to make a little extra cash on the side.

His goal was to sell four trailer loads of pine straw that summer.  Summer ended with over thirty trailer loads being sold by one person, with one phone number before and after summer football responsibilities.  It was a grind.

After trying to juggle school, coaching, and the entrepreneur's reality, Gerrick decided to leave teaching and coaching and put all of his time and attention towards growing what would eventually become Taylor’s Landscape Supply and Nursery.

For years Gerrick led a small band of employees with a grinders spirit; do what needed to be done when it needed to be done.  If you run into a problem, cross that bridge when you come to it.  It worked… for a while.  Over a decade later, Taylor’s was becoming “too much plane for one man to fly”.  

Back in 2015, Gerrick went through a process where he made an intentional decision to begin working ON his business, taking time to step off of the lot, out of a tractor, and sit down to articulate where he wanted to go (vision), how he would get there (values), and why it was important (mission).

After articulating the purpose of Taylor’s he then began the long, methodical, weight-lifting-like process of identifying and building the necessary systems and processes that Taylor’s would need to bust through the ceiling and grow.

Gerrick realized that people crave structure…they also crave repetition and clarity.

Taylor’s became a hallmark of weekly team meetings, stand up team huddles, helpful checklists, and accountability.  Something deeper was still needed in order to create a glue-like connection among the team.

In 2018, Taylor’s held its first ever full-day, shut-down-the-business, all-get-in-a-room, offsite team training day.

It was good.  It was not life-changing, because it did not need to be.  It was not cause for a circus.  It was simply…good in a very healthy, solid, beneficial way.

Gerrick realized that thoughtful, repetitious, fundamentals are often more powerful long-term, than short-term bursts of creative brilliance.

Aesop reminds us the “Tortoise kept going slowly and steadily, and after time, passed the place where the Hare was sleeping…(and the Hare) could not overtake the Tortoise in time.”

Slowly and steadily.  Year one… two… three… now year four.

The only magic in a Taylor’s training day is this… it happens each year with purpose and an agenda.

Your team needs a time to break away from the day to day, and to be trained together.  Other conferences are fine, but not like the value that a business team only gathering can provide over the course of one full day together with learning, conversation, workshops, meals, and happy hour.

What are the keys to building a great annual offsite?

First, articulate the purpose of your one day off-site.

What do you want to accomplish?  What do you want your team to walk away with? How do you hope they feel, think, or act?  

Whatever… WHATEVER comes to mind, write it down and allow that to determine the next key to developing a great one day off-site meeting.

Second, set the day on your calendar and draft a simple agenda.

What day will it be?  Look at the flow of your year, is there a day or time that may be a bit less disruptive for your team?  Consider seasons, times, family calendars, and workflows.  

There is no perfect day and there will always be some conflict.  Once you have considered all things, set the day and begin communicating that day and let the team know this is both exciting and mandatory.  Client meetings, vendor meetings, and other meetings must be scheduled around this time, and only the most personal of conflicts should interfere with this day (weddings, funerals, births, etc.).

Your agenda should include a timeline of the day and the major elements of meals, opening and closing sessions, any keynote sessions (no more than two), and a variety of breakout and workshop opportunities (large or small group discussion times).

Again, align your agenda with your original purpose… allow that to guide the content.

You can always bring in 3rd party voices (speakers, workshop facilitators) to help with bring a unique perspective.  Also, don’t overlook your own team members.  Having them speak, lead, and facilitate is a great growth and leadership opportunity.

Third, what will your budget be?  

You will need to have food, location services, learning materials, audio/visual support, speaker honorariums and travel, team member travel and logistics, etc.

Also, what are the non-obvious expenses that the business will shoulder like time away from work (especially in a retail environment)?

 

Fourth, set a schedule for preparation and communication knowing who will be coordinating what items, and when those will be communicated and tracked.

Finally, make sure your one day offsite includes ample time around the table where team members can eat together, laugh together, catch up, and work through a variety of ideas, issues, frustrations, confusions, and dreams.

Taylor’s full day off sites are not easy, not convenient, and not always perfect…but they are good.