Welcome to the CPS Leadership Retreat, designed using the proven Creative Problem Solving model.
This retreat aims to harness your team’s natural creative abilities and apply them purposefully to complex organizational challenges. By providing a structured framework, this retreat ensures teams don’t just generate disorganized ideas, but deliberately push past everyday thinking to arrive at actionable innovations.
Break out of the boardroom and disrupt the traditional meeting space with unique venues with style, elegance, and deep history.
Core Principles of the CPS Framework
To ensure success, the retreat kicks off by aligning all participants on the foundational principles of the CPS model:
- Everyone is Creative: Creative skills are not fixed traits; they can be learned, practiced, and consistently enhanced.
- Balance Divergence and Convergence: Like the gas and brake pedals of a car, divergent thinking (generating lots of ideas) and convergent thinking (evaluating and refining ideas) must be used alternately. They cannot be used at the same time.
- Ask Open-Ended Questions: Solutions are more readily invited when problems are restated as open-ended questions with multiple possibilities, rather than closed-ended statements that elicit simple confirmation or denial.
- Suspend Judgment: During idea generation, instant judgment is strictly deferred. The focus is entirely on “Yes, and…” rather than “No, but…” to prevent shutting down the creative process.
Global Destinations & Immersive Experiences
To maximize the impact of the CPS framework and induce the “productive distress” needed for breakthrough thinking, our retreats are hosted in breathtaking global destinations that pull teams completely out of their daily routines. Locations include:
- Exclusive Multi-Villa Complexes: Private, luxurious settings in the South of France and Tuscany.
- Beachside Resorts: Inspiring oceanfront environments across the Caribbean, Mexico, and Australia.
- World-Leading Mountain Resorts: High-altitude alpine escapes including Whistler Blackcomb and the European Alps.
Beyond the structured workshop sessions, the itinerary seamlessly mixes CPS stages with immersive local tours and experiences. These curated activities are designed to entertain and inspire, utilizing the environment to weave together the unique stories of the destination, your organization, and your individual team members.
To ensure a seamless, stress-free experience from start to finish, every itinerary is fully all-inclusive, covering all logistics, including premium travel arrangements, luxury accommodation, and gourmet, locally sourced dining throughout the retreat.
Organizations can choose from flexible packages tailored to their group size, location preferences, and desired level of customization.
Contact our team to explore our tiered packages and design the ideal all-inclusive experience for your leaders.
Unique spaces and unique experiences create unique results and big impact.
Retreat Itinerary: The 7-Day CPS Immersive Experience
To maximize cognitive absorption and allow the “productive distress” of the workshops to settle into breakthrough thinking, this 7-day itinerary balances rigorous morning CPS sessions with immersive afternoon and full-day cultural experiences. By integrating painting, sculpture, cooking, and regional arts, we stimulate different neural pathways, ensuring your team returns to the Strategy Table refreshed and inspired.
| Day | Focus Area | Morning (9:00 AM – 12:30 PM) | Afternoon & Evening |
| Day 1 | CLARIFY (Vision & Data) | Identify the Goal & Context: Define the core challenge and gather data to build a shared, comprehensive understanding of the organizational hurdle. | Destination Storytelling: A guided, immersive tour of the retreat locale that connects the region’s history with your organization’s core values. |
| Day 2 | CLARIFY (Formulate Challenges) | Sharpening Awareness: Translating gathered data into specific, open-ended challenge questions that invite multiple solutions. | Culinary Arts: A hands-on regional cooking masterclass led by local chefs, emphasizing collaboration and the sensory experience of local flavors. |
| Day 3 | CULTURAL IMMERSION (No Workshop) | Sculpture & Form: A hands-on sculpting workshop that engages participants physically and encourages spatial, non-verbal problem-solving. | Regional Music & Arts: An evening dedicated to the destination’s acoustic traditions, featuring live local musicians and storytelling under the stars. |
| Day 4 | IDEATE (Explore Ideas) | Divergent Thinking: Brainstorm a large volume of bold ideas to answer the challenge questions, suspending judgment. | Landscape Exploration: An active expedition (alpine hike, coastal sailing, or countryside estate tour) to clear the mind and encourage informal cross-pollination of morning ideas. |
| Day 5 | DEVELOP (Formulate Solutions) | Convergent Thinking: Moving from raw ideas to actionable solutions by applying criteria to screen, evaluate, strengthen, and select the best “fit.” | Canvas & Colors: A guided painting session overlooking the local landscape, challenging leaders to express complex ideas visually rather than verbally. |
| Day 6 | CULTURAL IMMERSION (No Workshop) | Market to Table: Exploring local artisan markets to source materials and ingredients, engaging directly with the community’s creative heartbeat. | Gastronomy & Celebration: The team and local artisans collaborate on a feast that celebrates the region’s cultural heritage and the team’s creative journey. |
| Day 7 | IMPLEMENT (Formulate a Plan) | Driving Action: Explore acceptance, identify necessary resources, and build a concrete roadmap. Finalizing timelines and assigning cross-functional owners. | Wrap-Up & Departure: Final collective ownership commitments, farewell lunch, and transition back to the operational reality. |
Post-Retreat Momentum
This retreat’s success depends on treating creativity as a structured, deliberate process rather than a chaotic brainstorming session. By the end of the Implement phase on Day 7, teams will leave with a prioritized list of vetted solutions and a clear understanding of the resources required to execute them.
By strategically pacing the “gas pedal” of idea generation with the “brake pedal” of evaluation, and buffering them with rich cultural and artistic immersions, your organization can effectively break through conventional boundaries and turn novel ideas into real-world value.
What specific organizational challenge or strategic goal would you like this immersive 7-day retreat to be centered around?
All workshops and retreats are powered by a custom-built digital WebApp that serves as a centralized hub for your team’s entire journey.
This dedicated platform is designed to seamlessly organize all workshop content and facilitate the easy submission of ideas, ensuring that no breakthrough is lost and that the momentum generated during the immersive sessions translates directly into long-term strategic execution.
Continuous Digital Integration: Before, During, and After
- Before the Experience (Pre-Conditioning): Prior to arriving at the venue or retreat destination, participants access a dedicated “Know Before You Go” page and digital platform. This allows attendees to review core themes, engage with provocation questions designed to jumpstart mental processing, and easily submit preliminary challenges or ideas before the physical workshop even begins.
- During the Sprints (Frictionless Data Capture): As teams transition from the immersive sensory experiences to the active workshop sprints, the digital interface becomes a vital collaboration tool. All digital and analog content, including fast-paced brainstorms and structured CPS solutions, is instantly captured by participants using smart devices and our web interfaces. This eliminates disorganized physical notes and ensures every contribution is documented in real time as teams build out their action plans.
- After the Retreat (Sustained Momentum): The work does not stop when the sessions end. The platform remains active as a permanent repository for all generated content, finalized initiatives, and mapped timelines. Participants and cross-functional owners can easily log back in to review commitments, track progress on their three-day, three-month, and one-year action plans, and access aggregated insights used to co-create post-event strategic documents or white papers.
By bridging the physical tabletop workshops with a persistent digital ecosystem, both experiences guarantee that your organization’s highest-level creative output is securely captured, easily accessible, and immediately actionable.
Contact our facilitation team today to discuss how we can tailor this cutting-edge experience to align with your organization’s unique goals, challenges, and culture, ensuring maximum relevance and impact for your next breakthrough.