Consulting · Workshops & large groups

Facilitators for your retreat: experienced, qualified, respectful.

Are you looking for an experienced facilitator for your retreat? Do you want to plan the future with your colleagues and employees, agree on topics, create action plans together, implement change projects efficiently, take decisions, address questions about the future? Here you will find experienced and excellently trained facilitators for your retreat.

Typical Topics of Strategic Meetings

Who Do We Work for?

  • For companies and organisations of every size,
  • NGOs,
  • NPOs,
  • the public sector
  • all organisations that want to achieve valid results in a short space of time

Our clients are a diverse group: here you can see some of our references!

Moderator for your Strategic Meeting: these are the Advantages

The facilitator of a retreat keeps the proceedings efficient and makes sure that all voices and positions are heard. An external facilitator is always impartial and neutral.

As an expert in group dynamics, they can take the methodological and didactic approach and adapt it to the current situation at any time. They make sure that the group always remains capable of acting and making decisions.

If you have your retreat facilitated externally, this brings the following advantages:

  1. 01

    You can concentrate fully on your own subject matter

  2. 02

    You avoid conflicts of interest that arise if you facilitate and at the same time hold a stake in the content

  3. 03

    We offer the highest level of professional expertise

  4. 04

    We are method professionals and make sure that all participants have their say in equal measure

  5. 05

    We use varied and activating methods, so that everyone keeps thinking along

  6. 06

    We guarantee that you will always reach the objectives you have defined, at the quality required.

Moderation of Strategic Meetings with an Effective Approach

In our workshops, we use highly effective methods. You get:

  • a well thought out workshop design, tailored to your needs and objectives
  • individually and carefully selected methods, so that you reach your objectives within the time available
  • activating arrangements and new methods, so that thinking together is enjoyable
  • a varied workshop design that involves all participants and, through an intelligent choice of methods, makes sure that everyone takes an active part.

Special Formats

For some particularly challenging situations in the team, special formats are suitable:

01

Team facilitation

to rebuild a team, for example after a change of managing director or when particularly large challenges have to be mastered

02

Conflict mediation

to address hidden or open, escalated or smouldering conflicts in the team, so that bound-up energy is released again and work becomes more enjoyable for everyone directly and indirectly involved

Our approach

01

We Listen

To understand what is at stake with you: history, context, the quality of results you want, how you plan to use the results, how they will be carried over into your regular processes.

02

We define objectives

… together with you. So that all sides know exactly what is to be achieved – and what can be.

03

We design proceedings that activate and motivate

… so that the agreed objectives are reached in the time available.

04

We always have a "plan B" up our sleeve

We stay flexible in workshop facilitation and respond to changed requirements with a sure touch and a great deal of experience.

05

We take care of things

… on request also of infrastructure, materials, catering and so on (full service – if that is what you want).

Our Moderators for Strategic Meetings

Our facilitators for retreats are excellently trained.

We are:

Change managers and organisational developers

with a solid theoretical grounding

experienced facilitators and consultants

with a toolkit full of varied and activating workshop methods

who regularly complete training and continuing education

and so have a broad theoretical grounding

are analytically strong thinkers

with many years of professional experience

are specialists

in their respective fields

Method specialists

for varied and activating proceedings

Profiles of our Strategic Meeting Moderators

Günther Grassmann, consultant
Günther Grassmann Managing consultant. Strategy development, workshop facilitation, large-group events, regional development.
Albrecht Schürhoff, initio consultant
Albrecht Schürhoff Senior consultant. Areas of work: strategy development, change management, leadership development, organisational development, commercial mediation.
Florian Grolman, initio managing consultant
Florian Grolman Managing consultant. Areas of work: strategy development, change management, organisational consulting and organisational development, Team Development, leadership training, mission statement and values development.
Katja Reuter, consultant at initio
Katja Reuter Areas of work: leadership training and development, introducing objective-setting and feedback systems, Team Development, conflict mediation, mission statement and values development, designing and facilitating workshops and large-group events, coa…
Photo of Michaela Scheller, senior consultant
Michaela Scheller Senior consultant. Areas of work: change management, strategy development, culture change, organisational design, self-organisation in teams, client focus, Team Development.
Philip Dönhoff - initio consultant
Philip Dönhoff Partner, management consultant and coach. Areas of work: strategy development, change management and transformation, organisational development, conflict prevention and crisis management, individual, team and project coaching, business model development. …
Sandro Küng initio consultant
Sandro Küng Focus areas: organisational development, change management, digital transformation, Team Development & team coaching, business coaching, corporate culture, corporate communications

The Strategic Meetings We Moderate are Characterised By

  • Intensive preparation – on content, method and logistics
  • we tune the workshop design individually to your objectives and needs
  • effective, varied and powerful workshop methods
  • professional workshop design and didactic dramaturgy
  • a facilitation climate that is friendly to innovation
  • immediate and lasting activation of all participants
  • good time management
  • a well-developed visualisation of the discussions
  • from experienced workshop facilitators who continually keep training and are regularly supervised
  • a mix of consulting and facilitation at the same time
  • a detailed photo record of the results shortly after the event ends
  • we always keep an eye on the group process
  • we address disturbances, conflicts, resistance and crises and use them productively in the further course of the process

Conception of your Retreat

As experienced facilitators of retreats, we rely on

  • activating methods
  • plenty of "movement" in the mind, but physically too (you can read why this matters here in Workshop methods)
  • a high level of interaction among everyone involved
  • structured extraction of participants' experience and knowledge
  • Generating a measurable gain in knowledge for the whole group
  • plenty of room to exchange experience in plenary and to benefit from the knowledge of others
  • activating group exercises to "digest" the topics covered, where needed
Workshop facilitator facilitation
Effective methods from experienced facilitators for your retreat

Preparation for your Retreat

  1. To prepare workshops we hold detailed preliminary conversations, not only with the client but where possible with other members of the team as well. That matters, because it gives us a full picture of the problem and of the needs within the group.
  2. With this input we work out a workshop design agreed with you and tuned to your needs.
  3. In our work as facilitators and consultants we always maintain an impartial stance and make sure that all the essential perspectives and aspects can be voiced.

Facilitation of Retreats: your Benefits

Saves time and budget

You are guaranteed to reach your objectives within the time set

Quick implementation

… through a strong boost to motivation: little is more motivating than setting goals together and then delivering them together

Existing knowledge is put to best use

All participants contribute actively and with motivation to the topic

Gain in knowledge

Activating arrangements connect knowledge and experience in new ways in the brain, so that new knowledge and new insights can arise

High resilience

Solving strategically important questions about the future at your retreat strengthens your organisation far beyond the workshop

Efficiency

We have proven methods – you reach the objectives agreed beforehand

Security

Even in the most difficult situations we always have a “plan B” in our pocket

Our customers value us for the following

  • the systemic approach: effects usually have several causes. To achieve lasting change, looking at individual influencing factors is rarely enough.
  • the "art of the good question": questions that fit the situation and are sometimes thought "outside the box", opening up new perspectives and helping the group move forward in its thinking.
  • the ability to reflect back what is happening in the group right now: resistance, structures, mechanisms, hidden connections…
  • well-judged leadership: Groups usually have a great deal of knowledge and experience gathered in them – but sometimes it takes an impulse and good timing to lead discussions onto new "fertile ground".
  • rigorous visualisation: so that everyone knows at any moment where things stand
  • versatile methods: varied proceedings that suit the moment wake tired minds and lift the overall energy of a group.
  • Instinct: for what lies between the lines and has not been said.
  • the detailed photographic record, shortly after the end of the event.

Free initial consultation

01

We discuss your challenge together

02

We set out possible solutions

03

If you are interested in taking things further, we draw up an outline proposal

04

Costing of the work involved

Retreat planned, capable facilitation wanted? We have 21 years of experience!

A free initial consultation on your specific situation.

What our clients say

What clients say about working with us

A very helpful, well-run workshop. The results served us well through the restructuring phase too.
Andreas Kogler Andreas Kogler Deutsche Telekom AG
The strategy workshop was exceptionally productive. You kept the group focused on what mattered throughout. We recommend your facilitation without reservation.
S. Folke S. Folke Head of Procurement BASF
It was striking how much came out of our workshop. That was outstanding.
Jörg Graichen Jörg Graichen Brose Fahrzeugteile
Many thanks again for the excellent collaboration, the organisation and the very good workshop results.
Jan-Michael Wolfer Jan-Michael Wolfer Head of Production voestalpine Automotive
I am very happy with the consulting. The workshop moved us a long way forward. Thank you.
Marc Schumacher Marc Schumacher Head of Marketing momox AG
You prepared our workshop thoroughly and precisely. Both the method and the facilitation fitted our objectives very well. We were able to carry on working very successfully with the results. Many thanks.
Hans Helmreich Hans Helmreich Head of Division Bayerischer Rundfunk
Four days of workshop and still playful, creative, inspiring and well structured, with good methodology. Thoroughly recommended.
Dr. Siegfried Gelbhaar Dr. Siegfried Gelbhaar Head of Event Management Deutscher Bundestag
Thanks again for the excellent workshop — we have already started putting the first ideas into practice, and enjoying it.
Eva-Maria Bauer Eva-Maria Bauer Human Resources Generalist Dywidag AG
I thoroughly enjoyed working with you, personally and professionally, and it was a great pleasure to run this workshop with you.
Eva Sprengard Eva Sprengard Adviser, HR, Organisation and Knowledge Management Deutsches Evaluierungsinstitut der. Entwicklungszusammenarbeit gGmbH
You facilitated our two-day strategy workshop very professionally. It was a demanding brief and the result is very good. Thank you for that.
Alfred Riester Alfred Riester Managing Director motio consulting
A big thank you for facilitating the workshop. We came out of the day as a team, with a good sense of togetherness and a clearer picture of the way ahead. The workshop was well worth it.
Johannes Becker Johannes Becker Learning and Development NRW.Energy4Climate GmbH
Thanks again for the excellent workshop — we are very happy with the outcome.
Marie Grober Marie Grober CEO Snack Attack

Free initial consultation

We have 21 years of experience!.

A free initial consultation on your specific situation.

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Free initial consultation