VHTTI retreat facilitation
We recently had the privilege to facilitate a retreat for the VETA Hotel, Tourism and Training Institute (VHTTI). The retreat took place at the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge in Arusha from the 24th to the 27th of January 2013.
The Overall objective of the Retreat was:
- To raise awareness and understanding about how to improve individual and organizational performance.
The Specific objectives were:
- To hold reflective discussions on how to further improve staff collaboration and performance;
- To create awareness and understanding about leadership, teamwork, OPRAS, work planning and budgeting;
- To identify pertinent issues that may need further action and draw up an action plan.
In order to tailor make the facilitation to needs of VHTTI, we conducted prior retreat consultations with Management and staff of VHTTI. This gave us considerable insight on the key issues to be reflected upon during the retreat. We were then, together with the Management, able to generate the right objectives that held the premise in developing a both meaningful and relevant retreat framework.
The retreat was a great occasion for employees and management to individually and collectively reflect on performance. They reflected on what performance is and the role and importance of individual performance, teamwork, leadership and management and how these are interrelated and make sense within the overall context of how VHTTI functions and should function. All this was seen within the ambit of effective organizational performance.
There was no formal end of retreat evaluation however the overall participant’s reactions were very positive. Generally, all participants thought the training was extremely relevant and highly beneficial. It was clear that there was an emergence of an enhanced understanding of the importance of individual performance and the role attitude plays in achieving this. Participants also gained a deeper understanding of how to set clear objectives that are focused on service delivery rather than processes and the relevance this has towards working efficiently and effectively.