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A Transformational Leadership Retreat Experience in a unique Setting in Rural Spain

28th May 2026

This article was written by Dorothy McKee, Owner, Dorothy McKee Consulting.

The demands on leaders have never been greater.

Senior executives today face constant pressure, increasing complexity, and little time to step back and think strategically about the future. Dorothy McKee Consulting has designed a unique leadership retreat to help senior leaders address the realities of modern leadership, from managing uncertainty and ethical AI dilemmas to balancing performance with resilience, reflection, and purposeful decision-making.

Leaders are increasingly challenged by:

  • The pressure of making decisions amid ambiguity and uncertainty
  • Balancing AI and digital transformation with human judgement and ethical leadership
  • The isolation that can accompany senior leadership roles
  • The tension between delivering performance and creating space for strategic thinking
  • The growing emotional and human demands of leading through continuous change
  • A lack of time for reflection, imagination, and future-focused thinking

The Benefits that Leaders derive from Leadership Retreats

Leadership retreats provide senior executives with the opportunity to pause, reflect, and reframe complex challenges in a supportive and confidential environment.

Leaders benefit from:

  • Support to reframe the complexity of environmental forces into clear insights and practical opportunities
  • Time away from daily distractions to think strategically and creatively
  • Confidential peer dialogue with experienced leaders facing similar issues
  • Carefully designed reflection and renewal experiences that challenge outdated assumptions about leadership
  • Renewed clarity, sharper judgement, and greater confidence to lead change with purpose and resilience

Leadership expert and author John C. Maxwell highlights this concept when speaking about the value of stepping back to evaluate direction:

“Leaders must get alone to think. If you take time to look at your life, evaluate it, and make changes, you will be much more effective.”

In my experience, leadership retreats are viewed as valuable and impactful approaches to learning. Executives at these events contribute actively, think openly and bring live leadership challenges to consider as part of the immersive learning.

While completing an MA in Change Management, I realised the value of spending time with peers and tutors from the University of Brighton during two retreats in Portugal and Tunisia. With fewer distractions, and distance from traditional settings, discussions became deeper and self-reflection more meaningful. This experience provided me with fresh perspectives and new ways of leading change.

Similar experiences were also reported by the leaders on the MSc. Executive Leadership at Ulster University. These Executives said that they had never experienced such a valuable approach to learning personally and organisationally when reflecting on the study trip to the Global Leadership Institute in Boston.

Research on Executive Development has shown the value in the new perspectives that emerge from the immersive learning that occurs on leadership retreats. In a recent article in the business section of the Sunday Times, Professor Lynda Gratton of the London Business School commented on the value of well organised Leadership Retreats. Meanwhile well-established entrepreneurs such as Richard Branson and Warren Buffett recognise the importance of using travel and innovative experiences to support cognitive fitness and ability to see new business opportunities.

The Transformational Leadership Retreat in Rural Spain 27th September – 1 October 2026

A team of colleagues and I with over a century of collective life experience and facilitation of Executive Development programmes have designed an innovative experiential learning event that will take place in Almeria Spain in September and October 2026.

I will be delivering the programme with the support of Alan Christie the former Director for the MSc. Executive Leadership Ulster University and Paul Levy, a specialist in Digital Leadership and lecturer at the University of Brighton and Warwick.

The facilitation team are both entrepreneurs and thought leaders in academia and have experience designing programmes that do not collude with mediocrity. We draw on interactive approaches to learning that are emergent, surprising and challenging, while also grounded in a strong evidence base.

The role of the team is to create challenging and constructive sessions to enable senior leaders make innovative changes in practice, which will have positive impact.
The carefully designed experience will include access to the newly designed leadership styles questionnaire and one-to-one coaching sessions to enhance self-awareness and to consider ongoing personal learning and development.

The three days will include:

  • Gaining clarity on what matters:
    • Where you are now and what needs to change?
    • Moving on from broken and breaking models.
  • Thriving in a digital age:
    • The light and shadow side of AI.
    • Resetting of the emergent future.
    • Exploring the new world of AI and Leadership.
  • Translating Ideas into Action:
    • What will I do differently because of this experience? Detailing the next 12 months and drafting the next 3-5 years.

This could be your opportunity to recharge, to create greater clarity on the issues you are confronting, and to gain new perspectives on your purpose and vision for the future.

What you will leave with:

  • Clarity on your future strategy and realisable approaches you can use to envision the future and employ with immediacy
  • A refresh and reset on how you lead change and transformation.
  • Insights into current trends and contemporary approaches to leadership.
  • A clearer and inspiring view on digital leadership and the opportunities and risks arising.
  • A leadership plan for future development and follow on coaching sessions.
  • New connections and developing conversations with fellow leaders.

What, Where, When?

The setting has been deliberately chosen as an integral part of the overall experience. The small village of El Marchal de Antón López is in the northern part of the municipality of Enix, in the heart of the Sierra de Gador mountain range at an altitude of 900 m above sea level.

Set between the mountains and coastline of rural Almería, the retreat creates distance from the noise, urgency, and interruption of everyday leadership life. This allows space for deeper thinking, strategic clarity, and meaningful conversations. The retreat will support sustainable development in a rural part of Spain that has not been affected by intense tourism and where depopulation is still occurring.

  • The retreat will begin with an introductory dinner on the evening of Sunday 27th September.
  • Workshops will take place each day from 9.30am to 5.00pm in the mountain village of El Marchal de Anton Lopez on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Transfers to the retreat will be organised each day.
  • Evenings will be spent in the picturesque resort of Aguadulce.
  • The cost of the retreat includes airport transfers, accommodation lunch each day and evening meal on the first and last day of the retreat.
  • Flights to Spain are not included in the cost for the retreat however transfers from Almeria, Granada and Malaga airports are included in the overall price.

A heavily discounted fee is available to all NI Chamber members, and the numbers will be capped at eight people.

If you are interested in having an informal chat about this unique leadership experience, please contact Dorothy McKee Consulting email dorothy@dorothymckee.com.