Planning retreat for business owners: a 1-day guide

You are so busy with the job, the crew, the clients, and the invoices that you barely have time to think about where the business is going. For many contractors, the word "retreat" sounds like an expensive vacation. It does not have to be.

A planning retreat is a day set apart from daily work to review your business and decide what to do in the coming months. This article explains how to organize a 1-day retreat, with an agenda and concrete steps.

It is an organizing tool, not a promise of results. Whether it works depends on what you decide and whether you follow up afterward.

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In short

• A planning retreat is a day to think about the business, not the operations.
• A clear goal and a follow-up plan are more useful than a "day off."
• This article gives no evidence that a withdrawal, by itself, makes a business grow.
• One day of agenda: numbers, goals, team, processes, and action plan.
• What matters is what you do the following week.

What a business withdrawal is (and what it is not)

It is a place without interruptions to plan. It can be a library, a rented room, a quiet coffee shop, or your home. You don't need a hotel or a trip.

It is not a religious course, a vacation, or a promise of success. It is a meeting with yourself (and maybe your partner or your job foreman) to make decisions calmly.

The guides on strategic planning retreats and the one from BDC, a development bank for businesses agree on the basics: have a clear purpose, an agenda, and a process for follow-up.

What a planning day can do for you

Without promising results, a well-prepared retreat can help you:

• See the big picture: review which jobs earn the most and which ones take up your time.
• Set goals: choose 2 or 3 objectives for the next quarter or year.
• Spot bottlenecks: does everything go through you? What could you delegate?
• Organize tasks: turn ideas into actions, with an owner and a date.

Rest also helps well-being. An article from Harvard Business Review discusses how vacations relate to well-being. But a planning day is something else: its value is in the decisions you make, not in the rest.

How to organize a 1-day planning retreat

Before: prepare

• Pick a date outside your busiest season and let your team know you will be unavailable.
• Set a goal: for example, "decide my goals and my 3 priorities for next quarter."
• Gather numbers: sales for the year, costs, most and least profitable jobs, accounts receivable. If your books are up to date, it will be much easier.
• Decide who takes part. For a planning day, you and one or two key people are usually enough. An outside facilitator can help keep the discussion on track.
• Turn off your phone, or keep it for emergencies only.

During: suggested agenda

1. 8:30, Where we are: review your numbers for the year and what went well or poorly (60 min).
2. 9:30, What you want: write your 1–3 year vision and what kind of jobs you want to do (45 min).
3. 10:30, Break.
4. 10:45, What holds you back: list bottlenecks, such as sales, estimates, staff, cash flow, or processes (60 min).
5. 11:45, Lunch with no work.
6. 12:45, Goals: pick 2 or 3 goals with a clear measure (for example, "raise the margin on concrete jobs to X%," with the number you decide) (60 min).
7. 1:45 p.m., Action plan: for each goal, write the steps, who is responsible, and the date (60 min).
8. 2:45 p.m., Follow-up: schedule 30-minute meetings every week or every month to review progress (30 min).

Example

A remodeling contractor reviews his numbers and realizes that kitchens leave more margin than small bathrooms. He decides to bid more kitchens and record his real costs. That is a concrete, measurable, reviewable decision.

Afterward: follow up

• Before you go to bed that day, send the plan in writing to whoever needs to act.
• Put the dates on the calendar.
• Review progress every week or every month.
• At 90 days, see what got done and adjust.

Common mistakes

• Going without numbers and planning "by eye."
• Trying to fix everything in one day and ending up with 15 goals.
• Not assigning owners or dates.
• Never going back to review the plan.

What to do now

• Pick a date in the next 30 days and block it on your calendar.
• Gather your basic numbers for sales, costs, and accounts receivable.
• Write 3 questions you want to answer that day.
• Decide who goes with you (or whether you prefer to go alone).
• Schedule the first follow-up meeting right away.

When to talk to a professional

If decisions about legal structure, taxes, hiring or insurance come up at the retreat, talk with an attorney or with a tax preparer, CPA or enrolled agent. What is best depends on each business.

How ODC helps you

At ODC we keep your books up to date so you reach your planning day with clear numbers. Learn about our bookkeeping for contractors service and the business consulting with Armando Ehrenzweig. You may also like The Art of Selling and Delegating.

References

1. U.S. Fire Administration: Strategic Planning Retreats — a document on how to prepare and run a strategic planning retreat.
2. Harvard Business Review: How Taking a Vacation Improves Your Well-Being — background on rest and well-being (it is not about planning retreats).
3. BDC: 5 steps to a successful strategic retreat — steps for a retreat: purpose, agenda, participants, and follow-up.

This article is for information and education only. It is not legal, tax or bookkeeping advice. We are a bookkeeping service: for tax matters, consult a tax preparer, CPA or enrolled agent.