A 'Retreat' or an 'Advance'? Does the name matter?

I think it does....

A few years ago, I used to run offsite sessions and call them ‘Retreats’ Recently, I have noticed that it has become fashionable to call them ‘Advances’. The slightly joking explanation is usually that ‘we don’t retreat, we advance. This offsite is about us moving forwards not backwards.’ Well, I will probably offend half of my client base now, but I think that ‘Retreat’ is exactly what these offsite opportunities should be called.

The word retreat was used historically by religious or spiritual groups to describe a place where they were able to withdraw from the world and contemplate in order to reach a deeper understanding. This was not the military meaning which is to go back and give up in the face of competition.

It is hardly surprising to me that managers have chosen to understand the word from a military perspective rather than a spiritual one. We manage most of our businesses using military words and ideas. You know them: ‘Outflank the competition’, ‘ready, aim, fire’ and my favourites ‘effective tactics, strategies and campaigns’. Words are powerful subliminal directors of culture.

We should acknowledge that human beings need to withdraw from the frenzy of data and demands created by technological devices in todays workplace. We need to do this in order to think and understand more deeply together. We have more data and information than we can deal with and less knowledge than we need. I suspect it is because this concept of a retreat has spiritual connotations which are not deemed appropriate at work.

Recent research into the way in which the brain functions shows quite clearly that intelligence and wisdom are directly related to ‘time out’ for contemplation and integration of all the data that we are exposed to daily. We need an escape to think well. We need to relax together to integrate our collective ‘knowing’ and create wisdom. We need a retreat in the spiritual sense. This is especially true for innovative and strategic thinking where new and long term priorities are more important than short term lists of actions. Action lists are good, but only when they are based on knowledge and wisdom. To use the military metaphor, teams spend their time ‘fighting’ battles which may have no impact on the outcome of the ‘war’.

Next time you organise an off site, why not be brave and announce a retreat? Distinguish between the military and spiritual meaning and make it into an acceptable ritual that becomes the basis of a wise and thinking culture?

I rest my case for a retreat and I hope I haven’t permanently damaged relationships with my client companies!