‘Annual Conclave’ in most organisations brings a smile to the faces. It is a not-promised but hinted reward for the last year performance. Or is it an investment into future performance. The jury is divided. Most take a middle path like many advertising campaigns and stick to ‘Investment in last year performers for next year performance’. Most likely they are right.
The annual conference should be the MOST MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES. It must beat any other experience and like FOGG, keep working. Then they go ahead and spoil the party. They use every possible trick in the trade to ensure that it does not remain a ‘most memorable’ experience. End result – another year, another waste of an opportunity called annual conference.
Let’s try mapping an experience.
Most likely the employees get the first hint of annual conclave not from management but from admin department. They smell it. May be the finance guy or the ‘EA’ to the director lets the cat out of the bag.
For an unknown period, ambiguity continues. Anxiety builds up. Department heads starts enquiring for selection criteria. Everyone is lobbying to get his or her friends- loyalist – and love a seat. It is worse than the process of declaring candidate for election!
Till the nth hour (exaggerated), no one is able to say with confidence, what is happening, when will it happen and it times will it happen at all.
The story starts with the ‘law of precedent’. We go to annual conclave with out any specified agenda and objective. It is couched under motivation and reward. Brainstorming and ideation. Experience and excitement.
Annual conclaves happen because of precedence. Year after year the pattern gets partially tweaked. Location changes but patterns remain. Year after year the monies get wasted.
Let’s starts with the budget. Which is always less than required. The organisation knows that a minor increase will make a huge difference but it fails to react.
Then comes the list of delegates. This is always more than what budget can accommodate. There is hardly any differential and qualitative selection. The normal way is to cut the list at a predefined designation level. Performance be dammed!
Unfortunately, an opportunity to create healthy internal competition, making a reward statement and flaming individual ambition is lost. This is just the beginning.
The ever-expanding list of delegates brings ‘London’ to ‘Lonavala’ and ‘Greece’ to ‘Goa’. The single rooms become double occupancy. Double starts tilting to hit triple occupancy at the junior level. The luxurious 4-5 day soon starts looking as 3D2N setup. Definitely not a plan for the most memorable experience.
Financial directive demands need of disguised business activity for the investment. It helps to take it out of perk and rewards; which can be interpreted as taxable. This is where knowledge part of conclave took a backdoor entry many years back. The rules are different but the format remains unchanged.
Slowly reviews were added. It increased participant’s anxiety. The target unveiling joined the agenda. Words like motivation and life balance started echoing in discussions.
Suddenly the internal department and everyone with dream of a being a copywriter starts suggesting mundane ‘2020’ or ‘Target 500’ and ‘We will make it’ slogans. The real problem was when such silly titles are approved and collaterals are generated around it.
Finally, the programme is created. It sounds more like a torture than excitement. It is an exercise in regimentalised life. As if all were tiny toddlers.
There is likely 9-14 hours of collective one-way airport darshan, because the most cost-effective flight and carrier were picked. Few drinks on the flight is normal that too if you are the unfortunate one being taken in a cramped foreign location. There is a nice non-guided tour of the hotel. That is what you get.
The thought of allowing time for delegate to experience the local culture, learn by observation never crosses the mind. The actual opportunity of creating a memorable experience is lost.
The Annual Conclave should be one of the most relaxed and motivating time the performing team can spend together.
Let’s define how to go about it.
Do a complete background work. Get budgets approved and location finalised. Finalise venue and dates. Take HODs in confidence. Decide the criteria for list of participants. Make HODs co-owners to the criteria. Leave no space for ambiguity. Move this information to the delegates as fast as possible.
Create a relaxed schedule. Avoid using more than 20% of the time in official work.
Finish the reviews at-least a fortnight before the conclave. Define and declare the targets well in advance. Ouch, that hurts. Something you are not in sync with. Go ahead and unveil the accepted targets at the conclave. Please do it all in four hours of collective serious conclaving if you are staying for three days.
Ensure decent timed flights. Avoid class differentiation in travel. Plan delegates’ welcome at airport. Ensure they are properly received. Arrange for a comfortable unrushed travel to the hotel. Pay for early check-in if needed. Avoid waiting time at hotel. It is one of the most irritating things.
Use not-more-than 40% of useful waking hours for collective official events. This is where people interact and participate. Count your evening awards and cocktails in this.
Now let the people be free to use their time. Keep 60% time for this. Whatever you do, ensure minimum one complete day and evening is free for the delegates. Let them be un-caged. Let them plan themselves. Let then find their comfort. Let them do what-ever-they-want. Please do not keep an official get-together in the evening of the free, uncaged day.
All your employees are adults. Treat then the same way.
Here is a dream conclave plan. It is a five-day long event. It is selective for your star performers. It is with the theme of ‘DARR KE AAGEY JEET HAI’.
It is adventurous and it is in Pattaya. Remember it is not one and the same thing. But once you do (I know who can manage this) there will hardly be anything that will hold your team back.
The 6D5N package includes two second-half and three nights of free uncaged life. Oh that’s too long. Maybe it needs customisation according to budget and taste.
The team is exposed to increasing levels of adventure. They graduate from Parasailing and underwater, to bungee and interaction with live animals. They move to scuba (even for non-swimmers) to local food and massage. They move from fire walking to walk on glass and end up bending the rod. The trip culminates with tandem Para jump from 13000 feet.
Before I forget there is time for your motivational war cry session and an evening of cocktail and team interaction too. Try it out this time and see the difference in the stride of your team.
First published in MXMINDIA.COM
