The search team retreat provides time for:

• getting to know one another
• discerning your strengths and skills
• how you might best share the tasks of the search
• practicing good team communication and decision-making

Scheduling the Retreat

Once the board has signed up for search support (and as early as possible) the search team should provide a list of dates when all search team members are available for the retreat programming to the Congregational Transitions Director. Your list of dates should provide for 6 full hours of programming time to provide spaciousness for this time of group formation. Options include:

• 3 hours on a Friday night and 3 hours on a Saturday morning
• 6 hours on a Saturday with a meal break in the middle of the day
• Two 3-hour weeknight (or weekday, if schedules permit) sessions in the same week

Ideally, the retreat is held by the end of August, though sometimes a date in early September is necessary. Encourage as many of your team as possible to participate in the mid-June overview of the search process led by UUA staff—that groundwork will enhance your retreat experience.

Goals of the Retreat

The retreat programming/orientation has four major goals:

1. To come together as a team, get to know one another better, and to learn about people’s working styles and thoughts on the congregation and search process.
2. To examine the tasks necessary for the search team’s work on behalf of the congregation and choose roles.
3. To begin work on a covenant about honoring the search process to serve both the congregation and Unitarian Universalism. This covenant is a living document, and you may add to it as the work unfolds. The search team often includes a copy of their search team covenant—which is separate from the UUA’s covenant for fair process (see below)—in their document packet.
4. To begin to contemplate how the members will work together, make decisions, and support these decisions as a team. 
   Specific discussion items include:
   1. Schedule—how often to meet, and how and when to meet (virtual meetings may be more inclusive for some people juggling work and care responsibilities)
   2. Expectations about what to share with the congregation and what is confidential
   3. How identity plays out on the search team, especially when people have identities that have historically been or may be marginalized
   4. How to incorporate the congregation, board, and interim minister into the work of search

Retreat Programming Leader

Retreat leaders are trained and experienced, and include former ministerial settlement representatives, “Break Barriers, Build Beliefs” trainers, Hope for Us coaches, and UUA staff. Their honorarium for service to our UU search process is covered by the search support fee paid to the UUA by the congregation.

The retreat leader only leads the programming of the search team retreat. The remainder of the search team’s work is supported by the UUA Transitions Team.

Covenant of Fair Process

All engaged in the search process are asked to enter into a covenant of fair process with each other, our congregations, and Unitarian Universalism. The search team chair or their designee will review the covenant with the team, then indicate that the team agrees to abide by the covenant by ticking the covenant box in their search profile.

Covenant for Ministerial Search Processes

From LeaderLab

All searching congregations, searching ministers, and those who assist congregations and ministers in the search process covenant with one another for a fair and responsible search process.

Search Covenant