RUG Staff Retreats — .orgSource
NAME IT.

STOP
TRIPPING.
START
LEADING.

Move what’s getting in the way — and reimagine what’s possible.

A half-day or full-day working retreat for association teams ready to name the real obstacles, understand why they stay, and build concrete plans to move them — before anyone leaves the building.

Inquire about a retreat → Learn what happens in the room
NAME ITHonest naming
REVEAL ITRoot cause clarity
MOVE IT30-day commitment
H.E.A.R.T.The framework underneath

Why teams need this

“We all know what’s in the way.
We just keep walking around it.“

  • Role clarity conversations that never actually happen
  • Cross-team friction mistaken for a personality problem
  • Decisions that stall because no one owns them
  • Processes everyone agrees are broken — but no one changes
  • Staff who’ve stopped speaking up because nothing moves

What is a RUG Retreat?

A working session,
not a workshop.

Most off-sites generate energy in the room and paperwork in a drawer. A RUG Retreat is built differently. Teams name real obstacles — the ones everyone steps over every day — and leave with concrete experiments, accountability partners, and a first step that happens within 72 hours.

The “RUG” is the organizational problem hiding in plain sight. The one that feels too normal to name. The conversation everyone keeps postponing. The friction your team is quietly paying for every week.

RUG Retreats are facilitated by Sherry Whitaker Budziak of .orgSource and grounded in the H.E.A.R.T. Powered Leadership™ framework — a values-driven approach to leading through uncertainty and change in the association industry.

Participants also work with the RUG Conversation Card deck and the Name It · Reveal It · Move It worksheet — tools that make the hard conversations structured, safe, and actionable.

Choose your format
HALF DAY
Focused, high-impact session. One obstacle, one team, one 30-day experiment. Ideal for leadership groups with a specific challenge or teams pressed for time.
3–4 hours 8–20 participants Your site or offsite
FULL DAY
The complete RUG experience. Morning context-setting and H.E.A.R.T. framework introduction; afternoon deep-dive into moving what’s in the way. Multiple obstacles, richer conversation, deeper commitment.
6–7 hours 10–30 participants Customized to your team
Custom pricing based on format, team size, and location — inquire for details.

The method

THREE
MOVES.

01
NAME IT
You cannot move what you have not named. Participants surface the real obstacle — not a symptom, not a vague frustration — and write it in one honest sentence. No blame. Just clarity.
02
REVEAL IT
What’s been hiding underneath it? Is this a structure issue, a culture issue, a communication issue, or a decision issue? Teams look beneath the surface to understand what the rug has been protecting.
03
MOVE IT
Every participant leaves with a written 30-day experiment, an accountability partner, and a first step with a 72-hour deadline. Not good intentions. Not an action item. A commitment with a date.

The framework underneath

Built on
H.E.A.R.T. Powered
Leadership™

The RUG Retreat is grounded in the H.E.A.R.T. Powered Leadership™ framework — developed by .orgSource for association leaders navigating rapid change and digital transformation. It’s not a theory. It’s a set of practices for the moments that matter. We can outthink, out-strategize, and out-humanize the competition — but first we have to lead with honesty inside our own organizations.
H
Humanize
Put people at the center of every decision. Technology amplifies connection — it doesn’t replace it.
E
Empower
Enable your team to realize their full potential. Trust is the currency of effective leadership.
A
Ascend
Rise above the status quo. Strategic risk-taking that fosters forward-thinking at every level.
R
Reimagine
Break from outdated assumptions. See your mission and team through new lenses.
T
Transform
Make deep, mission-driven changes. Reimagining is the essence — transformation is the outcome.

Tools your team takes home

The RUG
Conversation Card Deck

Every retreat participant works with the RUG Conversation Card deck — 42 cards across five families designed to make honest conversation structured, safe, and repeatable. Teams don’t just use them in the retreat. They take them back to their next staff meeting, their next 1:1, their next moment of friction. The cards become a shared language for naming what’s really in the room.
Spot the Rug
“If a new employee joined tomorrow, what rugs would they notice in 30 days?”
Truth
“What’s something we say we value but our behavior doesn’t match?”
H.E.A.R.T.
“When have we prioritized process over people?”
Move the Rug
“Name one rug. What is the first step to lifting it?”
Courage
“Name the rug no one wants to talk about.”

What people say

Real results from teams that stopped tripping and started leading.

Their team brought a wealth of experience and took the time to understand our strategy and mission, leading us to solutions that supported our goals. Great people delivering exceptional results.

Stephanie Mercado
CEO, National Association for Healthcare Quality

We all knew the rugs were there. What we didn’t have was a safe, structured way to name them out loud — together. This retreat gave us that, and a plan to actually do something about it.

Association Leadership Team
RUG Retreat Participant

We’ve done off-sites before. This was the first time we left with something real. Not a vision statement — an experiment. A first step. And two weeks later, we’d already moved it.

Executive Director
Mid-Size Trade Association

Is this right for your team?

Built for association
leaders who are ready.

Smart teams get stuck too. This is for the leaders willing to name what’s actually in the way — and do something about it.

  • Association CEOs and Executive Directors who want to model the honesty they ask from their teams
  • Department heads leading cross-functional teams where collaboration has gotten polite but not productive
  • Leadership teams preparing for a transition, reorg, or strategic shift
  • Teams who’ve done the off-site before and are tired of leaving with a poster and no plan
  • Organizations building a culture where problems get named — not stepped over
Probably not the right fit if…
Leadership isn’t in the room and willing to be honest
The goal is team bonding rather than real problem-solving
There’s no intention to act on what surfaces
The team needs mediation, not facilitation
Your Facilitator
Sherry Whitaker Budziak
Founder of .orgSource and .orgCommunity, Sherry has spent decades at the intersection of technology, leadership, and association transformation. She is the co-author of RUG: Move What You’re Tripping Over and Lead with H.E.A.R.T. and creator of the H.E.A.R.T. Powered Leadership™ framework.
She brings deep industry credibility, a track record of naming what others won’t, and a facilitation style that is direct, warm, and built around making honest conversation feel safe.
Also available

This retreat can be paired with the full-day RUG Revolution Leadership Experience or offered standalone. Ask about bundling with the RUG book, RUG 365 Journal, and a Conversation Card deck for each participant.

Bring this to your team

READY
TO MOVE
THE RUG?

Every RUG Retreat is customized to your team, your context, and your obstacles. Reach out and we’ll start the conversation about what this could look like for your organization.

FormatHalf-day or full-day
Group size8 – 30 participants
LocationYour site or facilitated offsite
PricingCustom — inquire for details
FacilitatorSherry Whitaker Budziak
Contactsherry@orgsource.com
Weborgsource.com