Lunch with Employees as a Mini-Retreat

Want to stay in touch with your employees, give this some thought. This posting is from Tina Del Buono’s PPM Blog.

By Greg Blencoe

http://www.freemanagementbook.com/

In office environments, the day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month routine can at times get monotonous and boring. Everybody can start going through the motions if the routine isn’t mixed up a little bit.

I think a great way to do this is for managers to take employees out to lunch from time to time. Every 2-3 months sounds about right. Managers could take the whole group to lunch or go individually with employees if that is better.

I’ve found that going to lunch together can be a wonderful way for everybody to recharge their batteries. I think it’s best when you have nothing scheduled right after lunch, so you can talk as much as you want without being rushed to get back to the office. People typically talk about some things involving work and some things outside of work. It’s fun to just start talking and see where the conversation goes.

I believe that going to lunch with employees from time to time can strengthen the bond of the group and between managers and individual employees. Employees might feel closer to each other when they get to know each other better. Also, information and ideas are often shared during this time.

Some companies have offsite corporate retreats once a year for maybe anywhere from a half a day to a couple of days. Managers taking employees to lunch every couple of months can serve as valuable mini-retreats.

The Supermanager