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How To Host A Magical Leadership Retreat

This article is more than 5 years old.

If you want to attract high-paying clients, one way of demonstrating your expertise is to hold a leadership retreat. But what do you focus on? Culture can work like magic.

According to author and leadership retreat expert Penny Reed, culture trumps anything else for leaders. Reed says culture – once a fuzzy term and now a buzz word in business – beats how-to’s any day of the week.

“Yet the knee jerk reaction for business improvement is to keep searching for and piling on the how-to’s – to find a better mouse trap,” says Reed. “Yet a better mouse trap may not be what is needed.”

Reed is professional speaker and business coach who has been providing systems and strategies to dentists and their teams for 25 years. We met a few years back when I helped edit her book, Growing Your Dental Business. We caught up when she was keynoting the Jumpstart 2019 conference in January in Phoenix, a leadership retreat for speakers in the dentistry world sponsored by the Dental Speakers Institute.

I asked her to share some of her leadership retreat strategies. Regardless of your industry, Reed’s tips for hosting a leadership retreat can put you on the right path:

Know Your Who. Who is your who and what is on their mind? Reed’s leadership retreats are naturally focused on the dental industry. “Changes in technology are happening faster than ever in the business of dentistry,” says Reed. “This is both exciting and challenging. A leadership conference is needed because most dental teams know many of the how-to’s yet face the biggest challenge of all: culture. Creating and sustaining a healthy business culture – where their businesses are not only profitable, but the doctors and team look forward to coming to work each day.”

Get Sponsors. Many other dental alliance partners of Reed’s who also serve the dental community have joined the “Unleash The Magic of Culture Leadership Retreat,” May 3-4, 2019 at The Walt Disney World Swan Resorts in Orlando, Florida as program sponsors. “The sponsoring program partners have been amazing,” says Reed. “Each sponsoring organization has participated in Facebook live interviews where they’ve been interviewed by me on the importance of culture in their business, the dental practice and what they love about the Disney theme parks.”

Pick a Great Venue. A retreat should be fun, not just some low-cost hotel by the airport. What would wow your who? Reed not only has a passion for working with dental entrepreneurs and teams to grow their practices, she is also a raving fan of the Disney resorts and theme parks. “It’s not only the experience as a guest that I love – it’s organizational vision, structure and behind the scenes work of the Disney theme parks as a whole that has captivated my attention as a business coach,” she says. “Disney has developed an amazing business culture. They deliver happiness.”

Create an Experience. Reed’s analysis of the industry sparked the idea to create an experience for dental business owners and team leaders that not only gives them a taste of the magic, but also exposes them to the Disney Institute’s Business Behind the Magic field experience. Reed and her team at the Dental Coaching Institute put together a retreat so that attendees leave with a plan to create and drive their own type of magical culture – one where things get done and everyone on the team enjoys their roles.

Get Sponsors to Help Promote. The event promotion and conversations with the representatives at sponsoring organizations have not only been fun and engaging for Reed it has been a learning experience as well. “One of the best stories shared by a sponsoring partner was shared by Dental Intel’s founder and CEO, Weston Lunsford,” says Reed. “He and his family were at Disneyland and their very young and shy daughter had gotten separated from them. It happened in a heartbeat. A Disney cast member saw the look on Lunsford’s face and asked how they could help.  Of course, the Disney cast member sprang into action. They very quickly escorted the family to an area near the park entrance where their daughter was sitting on a bench, all smiles, talking to Mickey Mouse. Lunsford said, ‘It made me a lifelong fan of Disney.’”

The Bottom Line for Reed: “The purpose of the dental practice is to deliver smiles to the patient – and it takes happy leaders and team members to make that happen.”