If you haven't done so already, this would be a good time to plan some team-building time apart for the board of your community organization or non-profit. The end of one year and start of another one puts people in a reflective mood that you should build on. Here are some thoughts on organizing this event.

Who: Do your best to plan a time and a place so that every board member can attend. If this proves impossible, in spite of your best efforts, at least make sure that officers, committee or activity chairs, and any especially active board members attend.

What: An end-of-year or beginning-of-the-year board retreat should include time for both celebrations and regrets from the past year. If any of these were profound, you may want to devise a little ceremony or ritual designed to bring some closure and free up energy for future projects. After closing the door on the past year, zero in on goals and objectives for the coming year, which may include both (1) "process" goals regarding how you interact with one another and conduct your business and operations, and (2) "content" goals about specific actions and projects to be undertaken on the ground in your community.

When: The time devoted to board retreats varies widely, but to make this meeting seem distinct from ordinary board meetings, I recommend planning for at least four hours. Eight hours, plus a meal break, is even better. Yes, it can feel wearying to spend that long on the business of a corporation and in the presence of people who are fellow board members rather than personal friends, but toward the end of a longer meeting, resistance to change may break down, compromises may be struck, or conflicts that need to be out in the open often surface. Fatigue can be your friend.

Where: Gather somewhere other than your usual meeting place, just to disrupt old habits. Look for a comfortable room where interruptions will be improbable, and where eating, drinking, and restroom facilities are convenient. Most neighborhood-level boards will find it best not to travel very far, but if you plan a retreat that is longer than eight hours of work time, or if you do not meet together in person too often, traveling out of town has its advantages.

Why: There are several answers to this. (1) Face time is critical to understanding one another and to picking up on nuances of the behavior and spoken word of others. (2) You need to consider the most important questions facing the organization separately from the day-to-day, sometimes trivial concerns that must necessarily be discussed in a regular board meeting. (3) A sustained period of time allows topics that have not been discussed sufficiently to come to the surface.

How: It is often advantageous to bring in an outside facilitator. You might find such a person in a respected elder of the community, someone formerly involved with your organization, a nearby college or university, or a leader from an adjacent community. If you have enough funding, you can hire someone with specific expertise in facilitation. If you decide against an outsider, your officers need to confer beforehand about the agenda, physical arrangements, and how to handle any likely conflicts constructively.

Regardless of whether your president or someone else runs the meeting, they should explain a few ground rules at the beginning of the session. The meeting's leader should commit to trying to prevent the conversation from derailing into talk about specific upcoming decisions or business. We say that because when people become uncomfortable, they often deflect the conversation into something concrete that must be decided. Instead of allowing that to happen, the facilitator can implement the "parking lot" rule, whereby if something comes up that would lead the retreat off track, it is noted either on an easel pad in the corner of the room or on someone's tablet. Then no further discussion of that extraneous subject should be allowed.

This is enough to help your officers decide how to hold a board retreat. If you are a board member, but you do not hear any talk of a board retreat, arm yourself with some points about "why," as described above, and then ask politely for such an event.