Actionable, aligned strategic plans

Our flexible approach to strategic planning helps you create an actionable and measurable strategic plan focused on execution. Working closely with the Planning Team, our consultants help you build a picture of today and envision a compelling Vision of the future. We help you use the Strategic Plan to align everyone in your organization to ensure its success.

THE PLANNING PROCESS

Step 1: ASSESS where you are today.

We help you build a picture of your organization’s current state from both an internal and external perspective. Our consultants engage people from all levels in the organization in contributing to “painting this picture” and use this information with the Planning Team to help determine the key objectives and priorities that need to be addressed.

Step 2: ENVISION the future – decide where you want to be and what that would look like.

Our consultants work with your leadership and the Planning Team to create an attracting and inspiring Vision of the future state of the organization. We help the Planning Team create, package and communicate the Vision throughout the organization.

Step 3: CLOSE GAP – build the Strategic Plan.

Once the current state and future state are clearly defined, we work with the Planning Team to create or revise the following elements to “close the gap” between today and the future:

• Mission & Values
• Strategic Goals
• Innovative Strategies
• Measurable Objectives

Step 4: ALIGN & COMMUNICATE the Strategic Plan.

To ensure alignment and buy-in from key internal stakeholders, we “test” each key output of the Planning Team through focus groups as the plan is developed. Once the entire Plan is complete, our consultants help the Planning Team cascade the Strategic Plan throughout the organization. We coach the leaders on their role in this communication and help them align the Strategic Plan to the various functions, work units and people in the organization.

Step 5: MEASURE PROGRESS

We work with you to implement a process to measure and monitor performance against the Strategic Plan, tying into your organization’s performance management and reward system.

Step 6. ADJUST

Effective planning is dynamic, not static. Our consultants help the Leadership Team regularly review progress and adjust the Strategic Plan as needed to respond to changing business conditions.

Step 7: LESSONS LEARNED

Before the next planning cycle, we help the leadership and Planning Team look back on the prior strategic planning effort to learn from that experience so that the Planning Team can do an even better job next time.

ALIGNMENT THROUGHOUT

A key deficiency in an ineffective strategic planning process is the plan is disconnected from day-to-day operations, inhibiting execution. Our approach uses the Strategic Plan as the driver for aligning all operational plans and individual performance plans.

Build a cohesive, aligned management team

The effectiveness of the executive or senior management team directly relates to the effectiveness of the organization. Our consultants use a variety of approaches to help the management team improve its effectiveness.

• Develop the Team While Building the Strategic Plan
• Team Effectiveness Diagnosis & Improvement
• Coaching the Leader & Team Members

DEVELOP THE TEAM WHILE BUILDING THE STRATEGIC PLAN

We use the strategic planning task as the vehicle to improve effectiveness of the leadership team. While team members work on the task of developing the Strategic Plan, our consultants interweave work sessions that focus on improving team effectiveness. Our work with the team typically includes some combination of:

• Team Effectiveness Interviews & Survey
• Individual Style Assessment
• Group Process & Dynamics
• Team Development Model
• Decision-making
• Conflict Management
• Role Clarification
• Improving Meeting Effectiveness

TEAM EFFECTIVENESS DIAGNOSIS & IMPROVEMENT

Our consultants can also improve executive team effectiveness without integrating it with Strategic Plan development. A typical approach includes:

• Team member interviews - meet individually with each team member and get their views on team strengths and opportunities for improvement.
• Administer a Team Effectiveness Survey to augment the interviews.
• Analyze the results of the interviews and present findings to the executive team.
• Work with the executive team to prioritize team development areas. Example of typical topics:

  	Group Process & Dynamics
  	Team Development Model
  	Decision-making
  	Conflict Management
  	Role Clarification
  	Improving Meeting Effectiveness

• Design and facilitate team development sessions based on those priorities.
• Re-interview and Survey team members to gauge progress.

Coaching the Leader & Team Members

Many times we have worked both with the Executive Team leader and members of the executive team on an individual basis to help them improve their effectiveness within the team. Our consultants use a variety of tools such as executive team interview results, 360 feedback, style assessments, and individual contracting to help the team member or leader improve their relationships and effectiveness within the team.

See our information on Coaching to learn more.

Read how we have helped our clients in team development. Download our team development client profiles (PDF).

Effective leaders are key to success!

We help develop leadership and management capability at all levels in the organization from the first-line supervisor to members of the executive team. We offer the following approaches to leadership development.

• Strategic Plan Alignment & Communications
• Executive & Managerial Coaching
• Leadership Development Training Programs

Strategic Plan Alignment & Communications

We believe that the organization’s leaders need to be viewed as the chief “salespeople” of the Strategic Plan. Our consultants provide real-time Executive Coaching to help leaders align and communicate the Strategic Plan to key stakeholders.

Executive & Managerial Coaching

How do you retain key leaders, improve managerial and business performance, and successfully develop managers and leaders? The answer - executive and managerial coaching! Today, more and more organizations are faced with rapid and continuous change that places increasing demands on executives and managers. To help executives cope with these demands, leading organizations have embraced coaching and seen dramatic results.

Our consultants also work individually with leaders to improve their effectiveness and help them develop an Individual Success Plan. See our information on Coaching to learn more.

Leadership Development Training Programs

We offer a combination of off-the-shelf and customized training programs to develop the leadership and management skills for current and future success.

The major purpose of our Leadership and Management Development Programs is to increase the effectiveness of managers and leaders in the performance of their duties. Our goal is to get participants to think and act in ways that will increase their motivation, professionalism, and ability to accomplish organizational objectives. As such, the program is oriented toward practical applications of concepts, theories, and techniques. While specific behavioral objectives are presented for each module, the overall objectives of the Leadership/Management Development Program are:

1. To provide managers and leaders with the knowledge and skills for improved performance.
2. To have managers and leaders practice and apply learning back on the job.

The Core Modules are listed below and are a ½-day each in duration. The modules can also be used as stand-alone training programs.

Additional modules and their duration are: