$16K a good investment
I’ve criticised the Wellington City Council for some of its spending decisions, but it is petty to make a fuss over the $16,000 costs of a strategic planning retreat for 24 Councillors and senior staff.
Having taken part in a few myself, I absolutely agree they don’t work when done in your normal workplace. You get distractions constantly. And the benefits from a weekend dedicated to focusing on what you want to collectively achieve over the next three years can be immense.
And the team bonding nature of such events is important. Almost all organisations work to some degree on the strength of personal and professional relationships. Now it is harder at WCC because you have politicians wanting to score points during the term, but the majority see the value in not being disruptive.
Of course that is not a license to go silly and have a week long session in Queenstown. But two days in Martinborough at $600 a head total cost is not excessive.
January 25th, 2008 at 9:36 am
DPF
I am surprised at you, these type of corporate jaunts are always a complete waste of time and ultimately a complete waste of money.
They are usually facilitated by an individual who uses phrases like “going forward” and the god awful term “learnings”.
As a general rule avoid any event or conference that insists on having a “team bonding” session, I am constantly amazed at the poor judgment of corporates and middle managers (no doubt intent on justifying their positions) who are sucked in buy the sharks selling the idea of these “team bonding” sessions , they are a waste of time in the corporate world and an even bigger waste of time in the political world
January 25th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Sorry to disgree DPF but it is excessive to the poor bastard spending his hard earned $600 holiday money on the latest rates rise. I feel sorry for all the hard working peple who scrub floors and empty, rubbish bins who have to pay for the BS from the politicians and bureacrats.
If someone can’t work as part of a team in a team job at their place of work then perhaps their employment sholuld be reconsidered.
January 25th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Well to add a little Big Bruv, I always find that with these little retreats, you get out of them what the group is willing to put into them. If everyone goes wanting the most out of the weekend as possible then they can become money very well spent. However if even one person attends with the attitude that it is just a waste of money, then they end up poisoning the event.
I’ve gone on a few where everyone wanted to get the best out of the wekend possible, and the weekend was a success, then on another occasion two of the staff members came with quite possibly the worst attitude you could think of, and completely stuffed the weekend for everyone.
January 25th, 2008 at 9:52 am
I was astonished to hear this on the news. I think it’s a sign that we need to get the year going, slow news days and all that …
January 25th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Bevan
Having been to a few of these things I have an intense dislike of those who accuse others of having a “bad attitude”, it is usually not a “bad attitude” that these people have simply a different attitude.
For you to suggest that everybody must attend with the goal of agreeing with everything the facilitator says is asking them to leave their brains at home in a jar.
It is one of the worst example of the group mentality and works against the basic human nature to question what you are being told (fed)
January 25th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Having been to a few of these things I have an intense dislike of those who accuse others of having a “bad attitude”, it is usually not a “bad attitude” that these people have simply a different attitude.
For you to suggest that everybody must attend with the goal of agreeing with everything the facilitator says is asking them to leave their brains at home in a jar.
It is one of the worst example of the group mentality and works against the basic human nature to question what you are being told (fed)
Big Bruv, I did not say that everyone must agree with what is being said, I said that everyone should attend wanting to get the most out of them as possible. Every heard of the word synergy?
As for the “different attitude” remark, I would suggest (as I stated) that if some one turned up with the attitude that it was a waste of money, then that would be a bad attitude, not just a different one as they will only make a half arsed attitude at any activity or planning session and end up making everyone else wish that person had just stayed at home.
BTW, if a facilitator is spoon feeding the group then it is not a group planning session its more of a lecture.
January 25th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Bevan
I have heard of the world synergy, I put it in the same class as those other useless new age words like “wellness” and “learnings”.
People who use them are to be avoided at all costs.
January 25th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Whether this is money well spent depends on what they achieved.
January 25th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Nice of Wgtn ratepayers to waste their taxes near Oswalds’ home. Says a lot about the support given to and quality of conference centres in Wellytown.
January 25th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Like others i have been to a number of these Usually a good opportunity to get pissed shag the office bike and or watch the boss do likewise.
It does sometimes reveal another side of people you work with when they are aware from the workplace.
January 25th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Bevan says:
There’s an old saying in data processing: “garbage in, garbage out”. When it comes to conferences, it can be re-written as: “dickheads in, dickheads out”. Send a bunch of idiots to a team-building conference and you get back a team of idiots. Certainly some conferences are better than others, and as big bruv pijts out their quality is inversely proportional to their use of quasi-words like “learnings”. But the real measure of value here is whether the people picked to go have got the junket because they’re simply entitled by virtue of position, or whether they have anything to contribute.
gd:
Not if it’s a NZ First party conference it isn’t. You’d hear the hip replacements popping all over the hotel.
January 25th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Retreat = expensive way to produce a list of action points that no one follows up.
January 25th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
yeah a meeting to discover reasons to have more meetings.