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Every year, countless organizations conduct STRATEGIC PLANNING. And every year, 70% of their plans fail.

But think of the COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE when you're one of the 30% of companies that GET RESULTS!

Simple, But Not Easy

Strategic planning is one of those things, like playing golf or tennis, that is simple but not easy. When done well, strategic planning aligns and energizes your entire team around answers to important questions such as:

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    Where are we now?
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    What is going on around us that might impact our success?
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    Where do we want to be in 3 to 5 years?
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    What needs to change for us to move towards our desired future state?
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    What's most important right now? 
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    What might we stop doing, or do less of, to free up resources?
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    What enablers and barriers do we face?
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    Who must do what by when for us to move forward?

Are you and your senior team ready for the future?

Work ON Your Business, Not IN It

The purpose of a strategic planning session is to take your senior leadership team away from the office to answer these questions, prioritize company activities going forward, and to hold one another accountable for company success. It's an opportunity for you and your team to work ON your business, not IN it so that you can improve company performance, create alignment, and achieve breakthrough results.

What Should You Expect From A Strategic Planning Session?

If you’re thinking about strategic planning, then you probably feel that you and your business can do better. You have ASPIRATIONS – they may be relatively modest or they may be “Big Hairy and Audacious.” In either case, I can design and facilitate a session for you that launches you and your business toward your new, brighter future by...

Creating Organizational Clarity

When I ask meeting invitees before their session what they most want to achieve, 90% of the time they tell me they want CLARITY. Where are we headed? How will we be successful in the future? Who will do what by when – and how will we hold each other accountable? What if things change (and they always change)?

Reinforcing Collaboration And Accountability

One of the greatest benefits of a well-run session is the opportunity for you and your colleagues to work ON the business not IN it – and to do so together, as a leadership TEAM. True teams focus on the business, as a whole, and not just their own functions. They realize that strategic planning is all about the big picture.

Producing An Action Plan That Drives Results

The point of having a strategic planning session is to articulate a desired future state (e.g., more revenue, more customers, higher returns, liquidity event, etc.) and for you and your team to agree on an action plan (e.g., a growth roadmap) that will move the business toward that new horizon. Poor action planning leads to weak execution and weak results.

An Investment, Not An Expense

Chief Executive Magazine recently noted that "Few initiatives in the business world can consistently generate enough ROI to compete with what a well-planned and well-executed executive retreat can do for you and your team." I couldn't agree more!

What's it worth to you to have your entire team focused on accomplishing the same objectives? No distractions? No silos? No wasted time or money? To be aligned?

What's it worth to you to achieve your aspirations (e.g., increase revenues and profit) - to actually reach your 3- to 5-year goals?

What's it worth to you to be less stressed and to have more time for you and your family?

What's it worth to you to, say, increase your company's growth rate and/or improve productivity by 10% or more?

It's easy to see why Chief Executive Magazine reached the above conclusion.

Want To Learn More?

Your customized strategic planning project should yield BREAKTHROUGH RESULTS - not simply be some kind of ritualistic or academic planning exercise.

It should help you and your team create a COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE over your competitors, ALIGN around critical priorities, IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY and serve as a multi-year GROWTH ROADMAP that guides your entire business forward.

If you're interested in CHANGING YOUR FUTURE and the future of your business, please call me at 316.634.1944 or use this contact form...

Strategic Planning Clients Include:

Frank Kenna

CEO, The Marlin Company

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Glen has a solid methodology that creates a framework for planning. He then facilitates without "getting in the way," allowing the team to focus on the actual planning, not the structure.

Stuart Powell

President, Cookshack, Inc.

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My favorite part of our strategic planning session was getting ideas and feedback from all group members, not just the usually-vocal ones.

Examples Of What Clients Have Achieved In A Single Meeting...

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    Identified step-change aspirations for the future and developed a 3-year growth plan to rapidly move their business toward that exciting new future.
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    Mapped current and future growth opportunities by product category and market. Identified high potential opportunities for future investment. Identified low-potential categories to "harvest" and/or exit.
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    Explored and evaluated dozens of existing and planned initiatives and projects. Refocused organization on five "big rock" ideas. Developed an action plan that identified milestones, timelines, and project leaders.
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    Surfaced the root causes of senior team disagreements and dysfunction. Developed team behavioral norms and communication processes to minimize future collaboration challenges.   
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    After exploring industry and economic mega-trends, the leadership team realized that their business model was outdated and subject to disruption. So they agreed to pursue an entirely new business model.
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    After identifying a lack of innovation as a major risk, workshop attendees surfaced dozens of potentially lucrative new product and service ideas to be tested and evaluated long-term.
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    Identified a number of market niches that could be exploited in the near-term and several others that could, with minor investment and structural changes, be penetrated in the mid-term.
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    After an in-depth exploration of what's been working and what hasn't, the senior team identified the need to quickly accelerate online sales while expanding domestic warehousing and distribution capacity.

My Strategic Planning Sessions Typically Include:

Prior To The Session:

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    extensive discussions with you regarding what a successful meeting will look like (i.e., your goals and aspirations);
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    ​pre-meeting interviews with invitees to gain insights to help guide creation of the meeting agenda;
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    development and distribution of pre-work (e.g., surveys, SWOT analyses, market analyses; thought-starters, etc.);
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    development of a comprehensive custom facilitation plan (think agenda on steroids);

During The Session:

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    development of clear and motivating statements of organizational mission and/or vision;
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    ​statement of core values and development of clear behavioral guidelines demonstrating those core values in daily decision-making (i.e. culture);
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    clarification and/or exploration of value propositions and/or business models;
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    elaboration of core competencies or strategic pillars essential to maintaining your competitive advantage;
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    development of “big bets” and overall direction and goals for a 3-5 year period;
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    exploration of opportunities for profitable growth in your core business;
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    exploration of opportunities for profitable growth beyond your core products and/or markets;
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    prioritization of growth opportunities, productivity enhancers, team development initiatives, etc.;
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    identification of potential barriers to success and practical mitigation strategies;
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    identification of activities, projects, and/or initiatives that you will stop or deemphasize;
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    development of 1-year objectives, targets and KPIs;
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    development of action plans (i.e., who will do what by when?) to achieve 1-year goals;

After The Session:

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    complete documentation of session outputs, strategic imperatives, action plans, etc.; and
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    follow-up calls to discuss execution and progress.
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    SPECIAL NOTE: If you are interested in more comprehensive post-session follow-up support and on-going implementation help, please see my Maintaining Momentum and Focus program. Click here for more info.

The Strategic Planning Cycle

When working with strategic planning clients, I often use our "Shaping and Executing Strategy Model" to help guide the project.

Sometimes the challenge is to define or rethink an organization's fundamental building blocks like Mission, Vision, Business Model, Value Proposition or Strategic Pillars. I label this part of the strategic planning process "Destination Setting."

Many clients, on the other hand, are comfortable with their strategic "building blocks" but need help developing consensus mid-term Goals, and the Strategies that will help them accomplish those goals. I label this part of the strategic planning process "Flight Planning" — you set goals and develop plans to accomplish those goals.

Once an organization's mid-term Goals are set, Tailwinds and Headwinds identified, and general Strategies agreed to, the next step is to establish annual Objectives and detailed Action Plans to accomplish those objectives. This is the "Navigating" phase of the process when adjustments and course corrections will undoubtedly need to be made.

Executing your strategies is the key to success. Remember, 70% of strategic plans don't get implemented. So think of your competitive advantage if you actually DO SOMETHING with your strategies!

Copyright 2018 Catalyst Consulting Partners LLC

I'm comfortable and experienced working across all aspects of this planning and execution cycle. I don't force-fit a "canned" solution; I help you focus just on those elements of the strategic planning process that will create the most value for you, your team, and your business. 

This is how my strategic planning clients consistently achieve breakthrough results!

Want To Learn More?

Your customized strategic planning project should yield BREAKTHROUGH RESULTS - not simply be some kind of ritualistic or academic planning exercise.

It should help you and your team create a COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE over your competitors, ALIGN around critical priorities, IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY and serve as a multi-year GROWTH ROADMAP that guides your entire business forward.

If you're interested in CHANGING YOUR FUTURE and the future of your business, please call me at 316.634.1944 or use this contact form...

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