Hi there,
We officially made it (through our 4-email series)…
… all the way to retro day.
Are you ready to run this retro?!
⚡ Supercharge of the Week
Remote Octopus recommends that the retro facilitator carefully crafts a retro kickoff to set the stage for an effective and respectful conversation.
What do we mean by kickoff? Typically the first 5 or so minutes of a retro conversation.
We know, we know… everyone is ready to start sharing what they loathed about the project. But holdup! As the facilitator, ensure you arrive prepared for leading a strong kickoff.
Take a peek at Retro Kickoff Strategies below. You might incorporate only a few to start and add in more as your retro muscles build up over time – or you might prefer to jump in the deep end and try them all at once. You know yourself best.
Retro Kickoff Strategies
⏰ Start on time. Demonstrate respect for colleague’s schedules and commitments.
Instead of: I’m going to kick off the retrospective for my project with a quick overview of the data I gathered on its impact.
Try: Let’s kick off the retrospective for our project with an overview of our impact data.
⚓️ Anchor the team in positivity. Remember positive emotion contagion?
Examples: Excited to see everyone // Excited to see our progress
➕ Emphasize the WIIFM – What’s in it for me? – to ensure everyone understands how this retro will positively impact their work.
Examples: To supercharge collaboration // To streamline cross-functional processes // To walk away with next steps to drive collaboration // To avoid that terrible project situation that happened in March that is still giving us nightmares
💡 Give an overview of what to expect during the retro, including how the flow will go and what will be discussed. Giving a quick overview for every retro, not just the first, is helpful because the project team is rarely the exact same set of people every time.
💬 Emphasize that all voices are important to hear, encouraging folks to have cameras on but welcoming cameras off or sharing over chat if helpful.
📝 Share that while you’re facilitating and note-taking, you’ll also be a participant. It might look like you’re not paying attention – because you’re taking notes. This helps build psychological safety.
👤 Emphasize that while we are chatting together today, notes and documentation will be anonymous. Encourage folks to keep the conversation confidential outside of the room apart from identified action items.
😵💫 Notice and acknowledge emotions by sharing that retros might be challenging. There might be some pauses to allow reflection and those might feel awkward – but we’re all in this together to supercharge our work.
⏳ Acknowledge that sometimes you’ll move the conversation forward to finish on time.
🎉 Celebrate the work accomplished together. Call out any key wins or success measures achieved.
As you wrap up your retro:
Thank everyone for showing up, participating, and engaging.
Recognize any challenging emotions that bubbled up during the discussion.
Remind colleagues to reach out to you in the next few days if any additional thoughts pop up that they would like to add to the document or chat about together.
Share next steps with any action items identified.
Wrap up with positivity anchored in we language.
Example: So excited to move forward together // Working together is awesome // Pumped for future projects together next year
End on time.
⚡ ⚡ ⚡ Congratulations! You facilitated your first retro. Curious to learn more about how to level up your retro strategies? Check out The Retro Playbook!
🍻 Cheers to a 2025 full of retro learnings (and less loathings).
🐙 Remote Octopus Resources
Ready to level up operational excellence for your team? Check out our resources:
