How to plan a strategic planning session
May 22, 2017 6:33 AM Subscribe
I've been tasked with organizing a one-day strategic planning session for an organization I am very familiar with, for about a dozen staff people and Board members. How do I make it great?
In the morning, there will be an icebreaker activity (I've read the askme threads on these).
Then, there will be a presentation from an expert on the current atmosphere and trends in this sector.
In the afternoon, we will be working on defining a mission, vision, and values for the organization, not expecting to define a finished one, but to make good progress in that direction).
It's a great team of thoughtful and knowledgeable people, who seem to work well together.
So:
- What are some good resources on planning a strategic planning session?
- If you've gone to a particularly great/engaging/effective strategic planning session, what made it work?
- What might be some good ways to get people to think critically about the expert's presentation and how to apply it to their organization?
- If you've been part of the process of defining a mission, vision, and values, what helped you get there?
In the morning, there will be an icebreaker activity (I've read the askme threads on these).
Then, there will be a presentation from an expert on the current atmosphere and trends in this sector.
In the afternoon, we will be working on defining a mission, vision, and values for the organization, not expecting to define a finished one, but to make good progress in that direction).
It's a great team of thoughtful and knowledgeable people, who seem to work well together.
So:
- What are some good resources on planning a strategic planning session?
- If you've gone to a particularly great/engaging/effective strategic planning session, what made it work?
- What might be some good ways to get people to think critically about the expert's presentation and how to apply it to their organization?
- If you've been part of the process of defining a mission, vision, and values, what helped you get there?
I've been in a bunch of strategy sessions, and there are a few elements that I have found make them effective. Obviously there are many ways to do this, and I'm sure people have great strategy sessions that go against everything I say here, but these are what I've seen work.
posted by primethyme at 9:33 AM on May 22, 2017
- Make it a closed-door session with only the leaders and decision makers. This allows people to feel free to throw out crazy ideas, and also provides freedom for really frank discussion about issues. Assuming strong relationships among the leadership team, at least (if you don't have that, you may have bigger problems than mission, vision, and values)... A "safe space" to bring up concerns and ideas is key to getting the best result.
- Make sure everyone is really clear about the goals and starting point ahead of time, so they have some time to think about it. I think this also implies that having an outside speaker at a strategy session is not the greatest idea. If you have a speaker who you believe will provide valuable input for your strategy, I personally would recommend having them speak to the group at some point BEFORE the strategy session, so everyone can have some time to digest and adjust their ideas accordingly.
- Have people come with proposals and ideas, so you have something concrete to discuss rather than a true blank page. If people have different areas of responsibility, maybe ask them to bring some kind of plan or proposal for their area. E.g. what do you want to accomplish over the next 2-3 years, or what are the mission, vision, and values that are important from YOUR perspective.
- Realize that a single day is pretty short for accomplishing serious strategy work. But also this kind of meeting is tiring. Be sure to plan frequent breaks rather than trying to cram too much into the day. Burned out participants are not going to be able to give their best.
- Have someone designated to take notes and track follow-ups. Don't just assume people will remember.
posted by primethyme at 9:33 AM on May 22, 2017
"... there will be a presentation from an expert on the current atmosphere and trends in this sector" - which means those who are familiar with the information will be bored, and those who aren't will (if the information is in detail) miss most of the relevant implications.
Oral/visual presentations aren't generally the best use of the time of a group, particularly with what is only a one-day meeting. Much better to put out reading material well before the meeting, and bring in the expert to answer questions and facilitate discussion.
posted by WestCoaster at 10:47 PM on May 22, 2017
Oral/visual presentations aren't generally the best use of the time of a group, particularly with what is only a one-day meeting. Much better to put out reading material well before the meeting, and bring in the expert to answer questions and facilitate discussion.
posted by WestCoaster at 10:47 PM on May 22, 2017
Some experiences in being a facilitator as well as being a part of Corporate Strategy sessions:
1. Defining the Strategy (including the mission etc) is an iterative process, since these thoughts tend to crystallize over time
2. Ask at the outset these 3 questions:
a. Who are our customers?
b. What is the customer's problem/need that we are trying to solve?
c. Why would a customer buy from us and not from our competition?
Once these are answered, the next set of questions would be:
a. Where are we now in terms of revenue, headcount, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction? (really now, not some self-congratulatory numbers)
b. Where do we see ourselves in the next 3-5 years, given the answers from the previous set of questions as boundaries?
c. Do we have what it takes to reach that destination?
d. What would be yearly milestones needed to reach that destinations?
e. Can we break down the yearly milestones into specific actions and targets for each department that is a stakeholder in those milestones?
It will take multiple iterations to truly answer, but you can get people started on the right thinking based on these questions.
If you want a more standard approach to these questions, you may want to consider the Business Canvas/Lean Canvas.
posted by theobserver at 10:02 AM on May 23, 2017
1. Defining the Strategy (including the mission etc) is an iterative process, since these thoughts tend to crystallize over time
2. Ask at the outset these 3 questions:
a. Who are our customers?
b. What is the customer's problem/need that we are trying to solve?
c. Why would a customer buy from us and not from our competition?
Once these are answered, the next set of questions would be:
a. Where are we now in terms of revenue, headcount, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction? (really now, not some self-congratulatory numbers)
b. Where do we see ourselves in the next 3-5 years, given the answers from the previous set of questions as boundaries?
c. Do we have what it takes to reach that destination?
d. What would be yearly milestones needed to reach that destinations?
e. Can we break down the yearly milestones into specific actions and targets for each department that is a stakeholder in those milestones?
It will take multiple iterations to truly answer, but you can get people started on the right thinking based on these questions.
If you want a more standard approach to these questions, you may want to consider the Business Canvas/Lean Canvas.
posted by theobserver at 10:02 AM on May 23, 2017
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Are all these people meant to be viosionaries for your organisation, are they 'leadership'? Will this be completely open, the sky is the limit, or is somebody, who?, going to define parameters beforehand?
Unless your organisation is very simple and your purpose very narrow this takes more than an afternoon even in basic terms if you start from scratch. If this is more a strategy refresh, where the people in charge have come up with a new direction already but now need to fine tune and bring these people on board that's a lot more feasible for a day.
If this is intended to be really broad you could divide these twelve people into working groups and have them work on aspects of this in 45 min stints and then regroup. But my feeling is you'll need much more direction and/or moderation on the day if you want to keep it really open AND get some kind of rudimentary vision, mission and value statement at the end of that day.
posted by koahiatamadl at 7:20 AM on May 22, 2017