A lot of non-profits I’ve been around seem like they are always going on “retreats”. Vision retreats, students retreats, leadership retreats, planning retreats.
The more I think about it, the more I dislike the word ‘retreat’. I’m here because we’re on mission. Retreating isn’t going to help us accomplish the mission. What we really need is a moving forward battle plan. This isn’t a time to sit around and drink coffee, it’s time to collaborate, network, innovate and execute.
This week my team is getting together, not for a retreat, but for a huddle. I know it’s only a word, and the activities probably won’t differ than much from what people often call a “retreat” but I’m serious about moving forward and want to instill an intentionality of purpose that I think many non-profits often miss.
doublederivativeca 
I can appreciate your idea about moving forward with a plan and not retreating. But I personally plan best with coffee. I find it interesting you associate retreating with coffee. Do you have any evidence that coffee drinking is more associated with retreating than advancing?
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I was using it in a metaphorical sense. If drinking coffee helps accelerate you into empowering the mission, then by all means.
I’m not a coffee drinker, so I can’t identify, but I often associate people gathering and drinking coffee to be mainly a social event, often lacking a well-defined purpose – like many retreats.
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