His inclusive and interactive approach creates avenues of communication that encourage participation from those with different learning and personality styles. You might share it with the planning team before it goes to the full board. Stay on track by creating a place to capture ideas that are inappropriate to the discussion at hand but that you don't want to lose. Weve all seen the person that used every animation tool within PowerPoint - wiggly jiggly icons, annoying animations, slides swiping in from 20 directions in 5 different ways. One of your important roles is to determine who should be at the table and to put in place other avenues to ensure all voices are given the opportunity to be heard. Outlandish ideas can be stepping stones to good, workable ideas. You are burning payroll if you don't maximize your collaboration to define an effective business strategy for the entire organization. As long as the additional time is used for good, healthy debates on important topics and not the beating of dead horses, it will be a good use of time. If your goal is to strengthen relationships, you may want to connect stakeholders to the organization and its leaders, rather than an outside consultant who steps away at the end of the process. To run strategic planning sessions, you want to gather a set of facilitation techniques for different parts of the process. Develop a plan to connect the organizations mission, vision, and values to organizational processes and employee behaviors. If the deliverables are done, will the strategy be completed? Focus on quantity first capture as many ideas as possible. Planning retreat. If all of the objectives are achieved, and only these objectives, will the goal be accomplished for the time period? These getaways have the best of intentions advancing the mission and vision of the organization, building a closer relationship between board and staff, updating the strategic plan to reflect current and emerging reality, and finding new solutions to persistent issues. This is important in getting buy-in for the final conclusion and generating the best ideas and solutions. It is both art and science to develop a long-term strategy. Refer to the definition of support and ask if they will support the decision. The Institute's strategic retreats are a unique mix of facilitation, consulting and executive action-learning sessions. Does the vision represent the preferred future of the organization? During the first conversation, one of the questions I always ask is, Why are you hiring a consultant to help? Start at the end Before you start considering a lot of different tools think about where you want to end up. Explaining the definition of consensus and support to the team at the beginning of the discussion can help reach a resolution. Capture your ground rules on a flip chart while discussing and post for reference throughout the meeting. Hold off on judgment, criticism, or reality checks - this should be a safe time. Ideas will be discussed and debated later. Choose a Licensed Consultant from the Standards for Excellence Institute and ask for references and previous retreat experience. It takes a tremendous amount of energy, focus, quick thinking, and patience to facilitate a meeting. 12. By analyzing the highs and lows of your group session, you can ensure the success of future retreats. Thank the person who shared with you, and I'd like to make every effort to incorporate all helpful suggestions into your next session. Re-engage people for better communication, productivity, and profitability. This is the role of an excellent virtual planning facilitator that can help you better define your strategy, create a winning annual plan and leave with an action plan to get your annual initiatives done. Ask the holdout if they will lose sleep if the group moves forward with the proposed resolution. Learn more about why you should choose OnStrategy, MGM Resorts, Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority, Maryland Food Bank, Outdoor Industry Association, University of Santa Cruz, Oxford School District. Strategic planning facilitators are adept at keeping people talking. Ive assisted organizations that created solid strategic plans and then did a poor job implementing them. Frequent breaks and interactive activities that involve movement and stations will ensure that attendees feel energized, acknowledged, and attentive. Turns out the answer is not what you think. Setting parameters for discussion, using interesting and interactive tools that get people moving and generating ideas, and establishing mutually agreed upon rules for constructive dialogue can be helpful activities for retreats. strategic planning consulting, retreat facilitation, nonprofit Structuring a process for team decision-making is a critical facilitation skill. Encourage and welcome all ideas - ask the team to dig deep and think beyond the obvious - every idea submitted should be captured. 14. What do we hope to accomplish? If they are written on notebook paper, you can use the Round Robin method to share and chart the ideas. When utilizing a slide deck and agenda provided by Rhythm Systems, know that the process and content have been tested and proven to work many times. From there, we can determine if an in-person or online session is best. Regardless of the reason, stagnant organizations that dont change will fail. We create focus and alignment in 60 days. The sessions are facilitated by a business expert who will bring together the management team, ask questions to stimulate and validate their planning and provide new insights. Youve written your own tutorial so concise. Involvement does not necessitate being at the table. Maximizing the Limits of a Strategic Planning Retreat Facilitation Some people need a little time to think and formulate their ideas. Almost a verbal tic that would grate on a speaking coach like the overuse of the dreaded uh but he uses it more like , Guest blog from my colleague, Adam Brock, Director of Social Enterprise at Joining Vision and Action (formerly JVA Consulting): How can a well-meaning startup avoid Silicon Valley Syndrome and actually use a social startup to create real value for society? The success or failure of a strategic planning retreat can lie in the hands of the group facilitator, who must deeply understand the organization that they are guiding. Find a Licensed Consultant near you today. Bruces track record in exceeding client objectives makes me extremely comfortable recommending him to any of our clients regardless of therapeutic area.. Developed by the Institute for Cultural Affairs, this suite of tools can be used for a variety of group processes, including strategic planning. Every era has an industry that epitomizes its values. Have all the important actions been identified? As strategic planning facilitators, we have facilitated hundreds of strategy sessions. People won't always remember what you do or say, but they will never forget how you made them feel. During your strategic planning facilitation, we will: Push your team to identify whats most important right now. Dont overdo it, and allow your visuals to distract from the meeting. People have different styles of learning, Some are visual learners, some auditory, some kinesthetic, and some experiential, so mix it up and use all aids in moderation. You would like to encourage feedback on the agenda, pre-session communication, design of the day, homework, and how you performed and handled difficult situations during the session. Creating an Objective Statement that you can share with the rest of the team in advance is a great way to ensure everyone who attends the meeting comes with shared goals and expectations for your time together. Whether you completed every objective you laid out or worked through the agenda, it's important to recognize the team's accomplishments and celebrate their focus, contribution, time invested, and hard work. This is different than your team meetings, and setting expectations upfront is critical for your strategic objectives. 3. Will be used if you visit Managementhelp.org A strategic planning retreat should never devolve into a gripe session or focus too much on what hasnt worked in the past. The best decision-makers in chaotic fog of war conditions seem able to call on intuition knowing what to do without knowing why or how they know. The ED, who said shes run strategic planning for other orgs, also was very clear on what she wanted as outcomes: not merely a new plan but she had the specific bullets! And they listen differently from when other people speak. To start with some energy, I suggest using one of our Zoom icebreakers to get things started. Set a time limit for discussion on each potential solution, Make sure everyone is participating in the debate and, make sure everyone is actively listening and applying their listening skills, Work to narrow the options down to as few as possible, Don't be afraid to call for a vote to see how close the group is too full agreement, If there are just one or two holdouts, seek to understand what and how firm their objections are, Engage the group in troubleshooting to minimize the potential negative impact identified by any complaints or concerns raised, Restate the most popular resolution, adding one or two points addressing the concerns raised, and ask the holdouts if they can support that decision. The series Facilitating Strategic Planning includes a pro bono Audit Track with unlimited enrollment. Estimated Duration. Too bad actually facilitating a group of people isnt. Strategic planning retreats aim to solve complex problems and create guidelines and programs for the future. Deal with difficult people ahead of time. It is critical for ALL board members and staff to speak up and be heard in the retreat. Does the mission statement indicate the industry or market that the organization serves? Milestones are specific, measurable achievements that will help track progress toward the strategic goals. You get better implementation if client writes the plan, while the consultant provides templates and editorial support. Strategic Planning Consultants | OnStrategy Created by Dr. Ian MacMillan at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Begin the retreat with a cogent opening statement which includes your sense of how the retreat and retreat output fits your overall agenda. Things you buy through links on our site may earn us a commission. In this blog post, we will share expert insights from these sessions so that you can scale up your company. Any combination of flip charts, whiteboards, sticky notes, posters, PowerPoint/Keynote, and handouts will do. ), Part 3. It enables your executive team to agree on compelling goals, breakthrough strategies and aligned action. Document and publish the Who-What-Whens. Filed Under: Board Training, Coaching, Consultants, Fundraising, Train Your Board Tagged With: engaging your audience, marketing, participation, staff training, workshop. Collect anonymous information about your visits to our website Continue around the room until the owner returns their original piece of paper. 1. Legal Structures of Organizations Legal Forms and Traditional Structures of Organizations Market Research Inbound Marketing Planning Your Research Market Research Find and Feed the Feeling Strategizing Understanding Strategy and Strategic Thinking Competitor Analysis Porters Five Competitive Forces (Part I) Porters Five Competitive Forces (Part 2) Competitive Intelligence Product Planning Product Management E-Commerce Sales and , Complete Business Planning Guide with Extensive Resources Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD. KPIs are the metrics and data that will be used to track the success of the strategy. No two retreats are alike. Remember that you have put a great deal of time into steps 1 & 2, so you are going into the day with a good game plan. Tip - Host this retreat before you set your annual budget. It is your role as the leader to make this call. We have built over 3000 strategic plans and seen 300+ executions through to the end. First, he peppers his statements with the word so. Understanding and working with the group dynamics is essential, especially in a large group. Create a habit of ending meetings with a review of the Who-What-Whens and beginning meetings with confirmation on completing the actions assigned. A strategic planning consultant leads organizations through the process of building a strategic plan. Councils, boards, commissions, and local government and utility leadership benefit greatly from opportunities to work together to develop a strategic vision for how they want to govern and lead. Rob Levit is a gifted teacher, trainer and facilitator who has worked extensively with educational, corporate and nonprofit clients. So just hire the right people, right? Not everyone gets everything they want out of the final decision. For some, just giving them a chance for input through a survey or a suggestion box will be adequate. Retreat planning and facilitation. In my experience, we do both: the consultant and planning team members split the interview list. Andy Robinson works a variety of nonprofits as a fundraiser, facilitator, trainer and community organizer. Rob is also a Licensed Consultant from The Standards for Excellence Institute, the authoritative thought leader on nonprofit governance, leadership and best practices, a Certified Coach from The HeartMath Institute and holds an Executive Leadership Certificate from Cornell University. Are the barriers phrased in such a way as to encourage strategies for overcoming them?
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strategic planning retreat facilitator
