After Solomon built the first great temple in Jerusalem, God’s people finally had a permanent religious center for regular sacrifices and organized worship.

In a cultural sense, it served as the city’s center of thought, scholarship, philosophical debate, teaching and socializing. It was a sanctuary, a place where people could gain perspective on life and faith from their religious leaders. They converged at the temple to connect on a deeper level with each other and God.

Today, people still crave sanctuary. Many find it in actual church sanctuaries. Others view a “sanctuary” as anything that offers escape from their stressful lives. Many workspaces in our office have been transformed into mini-sanctuaries. When I walk into one of our executive’s offices, his subdued lighting, cushy couch, and plants immediately put me at ease. Another colleague’s dense bookshelves stimulate my thinking when I drop in for a brainstorm.

More and more workers are finding sanctuary outside the office. Telecommuting, flexible hours, offsite meetings, conference attendance – all can de-stress while they inspire. Gartner estimates the number of U.S. telecommuters in 2009 will reach 14 million, up from six million in 2000. The U.S. Census Bureau reports a sharp increase in one-person businesses: from 16.5 million in 2000 to 20.4 million in 2005.

But a growing number of people work anywhere but at home. A “co-working” trend is springing up in large cities among writers, programmers, researchers and designers – anyone who needs solitude on the job. A center in San Francisco called The Hat Factory describes itself as a “community office space for geeks and media hackers…. who are tired of working from coffee shops and home every day.”

For most of us stuck in office settings, offsite meetings are special events. But they can also waste money and time. Team-building exercises deliver few lasting benefits after the meeting is over. Executive PowerPoint parades present numbers and vision in majestic style, but if you ask employees a month later what they remember from the meeting, they’d probably think first of the buffet.

Successful offsite organizers create a temple experience for their people – a sanctuary away from the stresses and distractions of the office and home, where the noise of life is muted. They build anticipation leading up to the meeting and spark positive energy during it. But most companies fail to pursue three important alignments that make an offsite meeting more than a temporary high.

1.  Align the purpose with the people.  Solomon’s temple wasn’t just a retreat center or town gathering place. Worship was its reason for existence. The social connections occurred as a byproduct.

Many leaders think their offsite meetings are to build team esprit and deliver status updates. They schedule them based on the calendar, not because there’s any compelling reason to get everyone together. Quarterly or annual reviews are important, but most updates and plans can be delivered in the office or via video.

The best offsite meetings gather people that don’t normally get together, like remote employees, vendors, key customers or people from disparate departments. When they all have a stake in solving a problem or envisioning new direction, you’ve got yourself the makings of a stellar offsite gathering. Team building occurs naturally.

2.  Align the environment with the purpose.  Choose a strategic location for an offsite meeting. According to an article in Fast Company, “You can't drag people to a boring, ho-hum conference center and expect anything but boring, ho-hum results.” The article gives a great example:

“The place that you choose is critical,” says Brenda Williams of the Lab. “We've rented out football stadiums and held sessions in locker rooms for discussions about sports products. For a meeting about a new cereal product for kids, I might plan a session at a playground. It's about finding a space that reminds people of the meeting’s strategic goals and themes.”

If you don’t have access to the perfect location, you can create a virtual one through video. High-quality documentary or travel sequences transport the viewer to another place and time, releasing imagination and relaxing inhibitions. Customer interviews are also effective. Movie clips that directly relate to the meeting’s purpose open people’s minds.

3.  Align the purpose with strategic conflict.  When the right people are present, the goal is identified and the scene is set, the elephant must be tackled.

Leaders should urge participants to talk openly about unresolved conflicts. The neutral environment must not be wasted. An Inc. magazine columnist says, “Encourage your staff to speak freely and remind them that they are not in the office and therefore office rules don't apply.”

But it’s not open game on just any elephant in the room. What ongoing differences must be resolved in order for your organization to move forward? Often, we blame bad processes or strategies, when a simple interpersonal conflict is the cause for a company’s weak spot. There’s no better place to resolve these differences than at an offsite meeting, where chances are higher the air will be cleared.

In addition to these three alignments, the success of an out-of-office meeting depends on an overall feeling of sanctuary. When people feel sheltered from distraction, safe from attack, free to reveal deep-seated truths and accepted by their peers, real solutions can emerge to the toughest problems facing any organization.

Complete honesty and professional courtesy may be the only formal rules you need. 


For discussion... 
Would any of your employees be more productive if they worked offsite occasionally?
What was the most effective offsite meeting you’ve ever attended?
What major issue is worth an offsite meeting right now?

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Tom Harper is the publisher of ChurchCentral.com and president of the Society for Church Consulting.
He wrote Career Crossover: Leaving the Marketplace for Ministry (B&H, 2007)
Follow him on Twitter:  @TomRHarper
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