Start with a conversation, not a proposal.
Every Bad Story experience is designed around one team, which means we cannot quote you from a menu. Tell us what is happening and we'll tell you what we would build - and whether we think it's the right thing at all.
Interested in Whole Story, the year-long journey? Say so in the form below.
Three phases. The retreat is the middle one.
Before
We learn the story. Conversations with the leader, then confidential conversations with every person who will be in the room. We are listening for the tensions nobody has named, the history still operating, and what this particular moment is really about. Then we design the days around what we found.
The retreat
Two to three days offsite. Facilitated sessions and deliberately unfacilitated hours. Time outdoors, shared meals, individual reflection, and evenings that do as much work as the mornings. The team leaves having named a story, mapped a loop, and agreed on specific things that will be different.
After
A written synthesis of what surfaced and what was decided, and a follow-up session roughly sixty days out - because the test of this work is whether anything actually changed once everyone was back in the building.
You bring the team. We handle the rest.
- Pre-engagement interviews with every participant
- Experience design built for your team specifically
- Both facilitators present throughout
- Venue, lodging and meals coordinated
- All materials and session design
- Written synthesis afterward
- A follow-up session at roughly sixty days
Length
Two to three days, residential
Group
Up to 14 — an intact team, not a mixed cohort
Led by
Both founders, in the room the whole time
Where
A venue we arrange, or one you already have in mind
Lead time
Six to eight weeks, mostly for the interviews
When this works, and when it does not.
This tends to work when
- The leader is willing to be worked on too, not just the team
- There is something real that has not been said out loud
- The team has to keep working together afterward
- People can be genuinely offsite, not half in their inbox
It tends not to work when
- The real goal is for someone else to be told they are the problem
- A decision has already been made and this is the wrapper
- The team is being restructured in a month
- What is needed is a keynote, and a keynote would be fine
We would rather say no early than run something that cannot work.
On cost.
We quote per engagement, because the design, the group size, the venue and the travel all move. What we will not do is send a number before we understand the situation. After one conversation you will have a real figure and a clear picture of what it covers.
Tell us what your team is navigating.
As much or as little as you want. We read every one of these, and we reply ourselves.