Meredith Baker
Leadership retreat ideas: themes, activities and formats
Meredith Baker, leadership coach and speaker. Not to be confused with Meredith Attwell Baker of CTIA.
Good leadership retreat ideas start from one question: what should be different about how this team leads when we get back? Pick the theme from the answer, then choose activities that serve it. I’m Meredith Baker, a Los Angeles facilitator and ICF certified coach. The themes, activities and formats below are ones that work for adult leadership teams. When I lead a retreat, the mix depends on the group.
Meredith Baker, facilitator and ICF certified coach, 10,000+ coaching hours. Last reviewed Nov 11, 2026.
Leadership retreat themes
| Theme | Pick it when | The retreat should produce |
|---|---|---|
| Reset after a hard year | Layoffs, a miss, or a leadership change | Honest debrief, renewed trust, 2 to 3 commitments |
| Clarity on what matters | Too many priorities | One to three priorities, and a list of what you’ll stop |
| From founders to a leadership team | The founder is still the bottleneck | Decision rights and handoffs |
| Sustainable performance | Leaders are running on fumes | Changes to pace, meetings and expectations |
| Trust and candor | Agreement in meetings, disagreement in hallways | Working agreements, one tension named and worked through |
| Leading through change | A merger, new market, or reorg ahead | Shared story, roles, a change plan |
| New team, first retreat | Several new leaders | Relationships, user manuals, how we decide |
| Vision for the next 3 years | Things are stable enough to look further ahead | A shared picture and the first-year bets |
Leadership retreat activities that work for adults
Connection
- Personal histories. Three questions about your early life, about 5 minutes each.
- User manuals. “How to work with me,” shared in pairs.
- Walk-and-talks. Pairs walk for 30 minutes on one question, outdoors if possible.
Honesty 4. “How we’re really doing” round. One thing working, one thing not, from each leader. 5. Anonymous questions to the CEO. Collected beforehand and answered live. 6. Name the elephant. Unspoken tensions written on cards and discussed one at a time.
Decisions 7. Pre-mortem. Imagine it’s a year out and the strategy failed, then list why. 8. Stop doing list. Each leader proposes one thing the company should stop. 9. Decision rights map. Who decides, who advises, and who just needs to know.
Renewal 10. Guided breathwork. About ten minutes, only if the group wants it. It is a reset, not a requirement. 11. Solo reflection hour. No phones, a notebook and one prompt. 12. The long dinner. No agenda and no laptops, often the most valuable two hours of the trip.
More options, sorted by risk, are in trust exercises for teams.
Four formats
| Format | Length | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Day retreat near the office | 1 day | Alignment, one big decision |
| One-night retreat | Afternoon to afternoon | Connection plus decisions, the most common format |
| Two-night retreat | 2.5 days | Major reset or strategy, rebuilding trust |
| Quarterly half-days | 4 x half day | Keeping up momentum between annual retreats |
Leadership retreat planning checklist
- Agree on the one outcome with the CEO.
- Interview a few leaders beforehand to find the real issues.
- Pick a theme and at most three agenda topics.
- Choose a place people can reach without losing the day. Notes on picking one in Los Angeles are in how to plan a leadership offsite.
- Draft the agenda. Here’s my leadership offsite agenda template.
- Decide who facilitates, so the CEO can take part.
- Book the follow-up meeting before you leave.
Where I come in
I design and facilitate leadership retreats. We start with a conversation about the team and what you want people to leave with, and I run the room so you can take part. A timed plan is the leadership offsite agenda. Hiring a facilitator is leadership retreat facilitation. For a board, see board retreat facilitation.
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I write about leadership retreats and how to shape one.
Questions
What are good leadership retreat ideas?
Choose a theme from the change you want, such as a reset after a hard year, clarity on priorities, or trust and candor. Then pick activities that serve it: personal histories and user manuals for connection, pre-mortems and stop-doing lists for decisions, and walk-and-talks and a long dinner for renewal. Keep the agenda to three topics or fewer.
What activities are good for a leadership retreat?
Structured conversations beat games. Activities that fit adult teams include personal histories, user manuals, a round on how the team is really doing, anonymous questions to the CEO, pre-mortems, a stop-doing list, decision-rights mapping, walk-and-talks, short breathwork when the group wants it, and a long dinner with no agenda. Choose two or three per day, not ten.
What topics should a leadership retreat cover?
Two or three of these: the priorities for the next year and what to stop, how the leadership team makes decisions, the health of the team after a hard stretch, a major upcoming change, and what each leader needs from the others. Leave status updates and detailed budgets for regular meetings.
How do you plan a leadership retreat?
Start with one outcome agreed with the CEO. Interview a few leaders beforehand, pick a theme and up to three topics, and choose a place people can reach without losing the day. Draft an agenda that puts connection before strategy, choose a facilitator so the CEO can participate, and book the follow-up meeting before the retreat ends.
How long should a leadership retreat be?
One night, running from afternoon to afternoon, is the most common and usually the best value. A single day works for alignment on one decision. Two nights make sense for a major reset or when trust needs rebuilding. Teams that want to keep momentum can add quarterly half-days between annual retreats.
What are leadership retreat ideas for small teams?
For teams of four to eight, take over a small property so the whole group stays together, and lean into conversation over structure. Personal histories, user manuals, a candid feedback round and long walks work well at that size. Small teams can go deeper faster, so plan for real honesty and protect time for rest.
Who is Meredith Baker?
Meredith Baker is a facilitator and ICF certified coach in Los Angeles. She leads leadership retreats for founders and leadership teams, and she has 10,000+ coaching hours. She has hosted 200+ sold-out events in Los Angeles through Powerful Stuff (formerly More of That). She is not Meredith Attwell Baker, the former FCC commissioner and CTIA president.