Strategic Planning Consultants & Business Strategy Consulting | Satisfaction Guaranteed Strategic Planning Retreats in Wilmington, NC
“When people evade the work of choosing among different paths into the future — then you get vague mom-and-apple-pie goals that everyone can agree on. Such goals are direct evidence of leadership’s insufficient will or political power to make or enforce hard choices. Put differently, universal buy-in usually signals the absence of choice.”
- Richard P. Rumelt, Author of Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters
Create Momentum | Strategic Planning Retreats Clarity, Alignment, and an Actionable Strategic Plan.
Strategic management is more important than any other leadership competence. With just a single strategic retreat, you can accelerate your business
strategy execution by 50% or more. Your team will leave with a prioritized plan for overcoming obstacles and a strategy map that inspires action.
Your satisfaction is guaranteed - or you keep the results of our work, including reports and we walkaway.
We have decades of experience, including "C" level leadership competence across a wide range of industries and organizational structures. Our clients have leveraged our strategic growth consultants and retreats to build, buy, and sell companies whose combined worth is in the trillions.
Business strategy consultants: create a roadmap for effective execution and leadership.
Imagine what’s possible when you and your team create the level of strategic clarity, employee commitment and leadership team cohesion that the world’s most successful companies have leveraged to skyrocket their success and momentum.
Now, more than ever, an agile and strategic approach to management is critically important for senior leadership teams
According to a HRB* survey, 81% of CEOs acknowledge having to change their plans throughout execution. However, only a
small portion of the same group of leaders view their team as capable of making changes quickly. Businesses are facing an
unprecedented rate of change due to disruptive technologies, and the constant evolution of customer expectations. More and
more business leaders are struggling to come to terms with the fact that what worked yesterday will not work the same way in
a few short years. Source: Harvard Business Review Analytic Services Survey (2013)
Our comprehensive strategic planning framework includes a team-driven analysis of your business’ strengths, challenges, and priorities
and compares your results to the research. Seeing what similar organizations do to effectively engage their people, drive accountability, and
ensure a sustainable profit model changes subjective conversations and intuitive strategic discussions into data-driven, confidence building
dialogues. Every member of the strategic management team has a voice in the process and the leaders complete the retreat more aligned,
committed and confident in not only the company’s strategic roadmap but also how they will hold one another accountable for results.
Is it possible for your team to triple their results this year?
As an experienced strategic planning firm, our programs get your team focused and rallying around your top priorities and opportunities.
Strategic Planning Retreats Facilitated by Expert Strategic Planning Consultants and Certified Business Growth Curve Specialists
Our corporate retreats help your team create an actionable strategic plan to be used for daily decision making, in a high-end, immersive and interactive experience.
Managing company growth is challenging, but our strategic business planning services enables your team to:
implement a prioritized strategy
align the right efforts of your workforce
reinforce the most befitting culture for the organization
cascade the leadership team’s plan for where the company is going
define and clarify short and long term goals (and obstacles)
set clear, measurable milestones that inspire forward movement and mark progress
develop performance metrics and staff accountability protocols
A family-owned information services company, still reeling from a serious cybersecurity breach, had some difficult decisions to make. The team was looking at significant growth over the last year and a solid revenue model. However, there was disagreement and denial, about the gravity of their challenges.
From workload imbalance between the owner-operators to skill gaps, to an absence of departmental budgets, to repeated failures in key process automation, the 8-member executive team came to the strategic planning retreat ready to rumble.
Their passion for the business and respect for one another was undeniable, so when the CEO poked the bear before anyone had even finished their coffee, our two growth strategists knew they had to bring it.
The CEO said, [paraphrased]: "We have missed more than $10M in opportunities in the last six months alone because of your incompetence."
The room went up in flames.
Our management consultant facilitated a snap-roll discussion, and the refocused team systematically went through
the data, that the initial assessment had produced. They prioritized their top challenges and strengths.
In addition to the above-mentioned weaknesses (cybersecurity, skill gaps, budgeting and poor automation
adoption), the room cooled as they remembered their strengths:
our profits are adequate to grow the company and face the challenges
our business and profit design are strong
we have Low employee turnover
we have an uncanny ability to attract top talent
we are good at business development
At the end of the two-day strategic planning retreat, they had identified more than 50 initiatives. "Now, I'm really stressed!"; The CFO said looking at the walls (that were plastered in large post-its.)
It was time to prioritize and breakdown the most important actions that will produce the greatest results and help the team divorce from the idea that everything is equally important.
Through a series of healthy debates, they identified the top ten that mattered the most, right now.
A few of the priorities included:
make our network and servers impenetrable
every department needs a budget
institutionalize a performance management process
manager training
update our vision, mission, and guiding principles
restructure the team and family member's roles and responsibilities
reduce costs via process automation (and get help to do it right)
They also had some difficult conversations about their vision for the future and realized that they had essentially bifurcated into two-camps. One that was pushing for inorganic growth, and the other that was adamant about getting current problems solved before bringing in new ones.
They agreed to let the separate camps make their business cases and return together every six to eight weeks for a focused, strategic evaluation.
On a separate note, the President had been struggling with how to identify his successor. He had two children working in the business, each with their own strengths and key gaps, and a highly capable COO, that while not family, was better suited for the position. Hoping to avoid conflict he had been dodging the discussion entirely. A separate family plan was facilitated which started with a job-benchmarking activity for the President. We helped him to identify the key performance indicators for his position, and the key competencies required to do his job well. A family session was then facilitated to clarify the plan for family contribution and provide a forum for discourse. All successor candidates took a digital assessment to identify their competency/aptitude as compared to the role's requirements. The reports clarified and helped the President to make his decision and helped the candidates identify their personal development goals. The son said, "I am relieved by the outcome of both the strategic planning and the family work we're doing. There's less doubt and ambiguity about our future, and I feel like I know where to put my focus to make the biggest impact.'
Fast forward 24 months and the company has acquired a small cybersecurity firm, tackled most of their top 10 priorities and then some, and increased revenue by 17%. They agreed that performing a robust strategic planning process annually is a time-consuming, but an essential and worthwhile activity. They come together now for a fun week of team activities (including strategic planning, golf, good food and fun in the sun) and revamp their strategic plan annually.
As experienced strategy consulting firms, we have seen time and again how our strategic planning process and growth planning framework benefits our clients
A few of the outcomes and benefits of our strategic business planning workshop:
Improved EQ and team interaction which improves communication and collaboration among key members of staff.
Introduce a plan for growth and a common language for accountability that will engage all staff in the strategy for growth.
Research-based work processes allow managers to plan and execute strategies without wasting time on guesses and trial-and-error.
Relieve the fear and qualms about growing the business with more targeted analysis of specific growth issues
Offers a map of the best practices to employ for optimal performance.
Grow leadership skills in the areas of reducing unproductive behaviors and reducing conflict and tension.
The company's key challenges are identified and organized according to the stage of growth and the agreed-upon strategy for rapid implementation.
Identify and analyze key indicators which will enable a company to focus on important areas of impact and benchmark performance.
This statistic, which accounts for 71% of employees becoming disengaged within 6 months of being hired, is countered by identifying and supporting core values.
Understanding the benefit of caution to measure risk while assessing the outcomes of potential actions, while being shrewd about that fact that too much caution or too much confidence will impede growth and frustrate leaders.
Clarity through categorization and prioritization: Focusing issues under People, Profit/Revenue, or Process creates clarity and makes sure each employee is included in the conversation.
Shorten sales conversion time
Analyze what areas of the business need improvement so that the company has common goals and objectives.
Management training that empowers employees leading to greater productivity, engagement, and retention.
Researched business growth methodologies allow your people leaders to have greater confidence in making decisions that affect the company's goals and employees.
Leaders learn to recognize when to transition and prepare for obstacles that come with every stage of growth.
By focusing more on meeting customer needs and exceeding their expectations, a company can eliminate the chance of losing a customer to a competitor.
Focus on the priorities that will bolster staff engagement, satisfaction, and productivity.
Get closure from past business challenges.
Evaluate how to increase performance.
Determine where constriction in specific revenue/business growth is occurring and develop strategies on how to release that constriction.
Identify the team’s alignment on your greatest strength and ignite the plan to build on it.
Insight from self-diagnostic assessments enable the leadership team to analyze the underlying reasons for workplace dysfunction and apply motivational change strategies to ensure productive environments.
A clear graphical overview of key initiatives, as well as a plan for the means needed to complete them, assists in maintaining a company’s vision for improvement.
Create a strategy that will engage each department and assign tactical actions; engaging every employee.
About Our Business Strategy Consultants and Strategic Planning Firms
TurnKey Coaching & Development Solutions is a team of senior business leaders with 30+ years of experience
in strategic planning, growth strategy planning, sales and revenue growth, employee and culture development and organizational
change.
Since 2004, Our executive team, growth strategy consultants and leadership development experts have worked
with hundreds of executives, managers, and high-potential employees from a wide range of corporations and organizations
across both public and private sectors. Our clients are leading companies, boards of directors, start-ups, non-profits,
and mid-cap companies seeking to create sustainable business results, drive innovation and achieve greater market share.
We are committed to providing superior service, objective oversight, guaranteed satisfaction, and measurable results.
There are several advantages that we offer our clients.
Our clients include both small to medium-sized companies and large enterprises, including privately-held, public, and family-owned companies. We have experience in many industries, including manufacturing, retail, healthcare, technology, construction, transport, financial services, and more. Our consulting work in diverse and successful businesses gives your team the opportunity to learn from our experience.
A few of our clients include:
Azura Vascular Care, Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, RiceTec, GP Strategies, Macquarie, Group 1 Automotive, Goodwill Industries, Yusen Logistics, Vectorworks, Costco Wholesale
The #1 cause of business failure is misguided strategy. It is not only poor execution, insufficient leadership competency
or market changes but the inability to think strategically and execute against a well-considered strategic plan.
According to a study of 750 business failures with more than $1.5 trillion assets prior to bankruptcy, the strategic errors are due to
poor planning. The inability (or unwillingness) of the leadership team to commit to competent strategic planning, on an iterative and
consistent basis, and the lack of leadership commitment to developing the competency of strategic and critical thinking is a leading
indicator of an unavoidable shipwreck. - Paraphrased from the research in Billion Dollar Lessons by Paul B. Carroll and Chunka
Mui (2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.)
Businesses with competing priorities, ambiguous roadmaps, poorly defined performance indicators and inadequate strategic analysis are destined for subpar results
Planning is crucial for every serious business enterprise. Unfortunately, most strategic plans are incomplete, which leads to a series of problems including lack of accountability, poor execution and frustration. This often leads to missed opportunities for the company. This is why our process is different. Our framework is clear, data-driven and aligned with the organization's vision and mission. It also helps leaders articulate their short term goals and specific strategies for the next three to five years.
It is important for each leader to speak up at the retreat and when the loudest voice drowns out those with valuable perspectives, it leads to team frustration and a plan that is good-looking but lacking in its full potential. The problem is, a lot of business owners don’t take the time to anticipate problems before they happen. They don’t have a system for handling them, or they don’t have a plan of action for what they’ll do when they do happen. This is the biggest cause of failure in startups, mergers/acquisitions, and companies growing faster than they can handle.
Your leadership team’s online organizational assessment will reveal a number of blind-spots and landmines. Examples include:
Business/Profit Design
Staff Morale
Chaotic Periods
Communication Gap
Flexible Planning
Problem Diagnosis
Customer Migration
Employee Turnover
Inadequate Profits
Limited Capital
Staff Buy In
Staff Satisfaction
Market Change
Systems Development
Cash Flow
New Product Development
Hiring Quality Staff
Resistant to Change
Growth Plans
Project Management
Expanding Sales
New Staff Orientation
Cost of Lost Expertise
Marketing Position
Anticipating Problems
Staff Training
Typically, strategic management consultants, at this level, require a hefty retainer; often more than 10K per month and $100K/year and up for a
similar growth strategy facilitation.
Fortunately, there's a proven, more effective and cost-efficient way.
Your team will benefit from our innovative strategic management and strategic facilitation:
clarity: a leadership team that knows your company's real opportunities and growth strategy.
confidence: your team builds trust and cooperation through tough conversations and discussions about the big problems.
collaboration: each leader on your team buys into the elimination of silos and the cohesive behaviors required for more effective collaboration.
discovery: there are hidden agents that make growth difficult.
prioritization: identify the top five challenges (of 27) that your team faces.
competency development: improve your team's ability to diagnose problems and gain consensus, as well as the authentic commitment required for rapid change.
We help you grow your business.
Contact us today to learn more about how our business growth consultants can support your retreat and company goals.
Our Strategic Planning Retreats facilitate a common language for growth and an organized strategy for unified strategic management
(sans the cost of learning by failure)
But don't just take our word for it. Read what clients have to say:
“I’ve owned businesses for 50 years and currently employ more than 1000 employees and I had no idea that a strategist, trained in this process, could help us in this way. Frankly, our first experience with Anisa Aven and the Stages of Growth X-Ray program was like a dream come true for me. The team’s revelations were just incredible to hear, for instance, “One of the best things we have ever done as a team,” and "I feel energized and hopeful now!" I'm very excited about our direction and we'll be doing more of these!"”
- T. Brundage. Founder and CEO, Multiple holdings in the financial services, storage facilities, and real estate management industries
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“Prior to being exposed to the Stages of Growth, some of our companies were like hamsters running in circles with limited forward motion frantically focused on distractions and non-critical issues. Our most successful portfolio companies are now implementing the tools and processes that will lead to growth and improved profitability. I recommend the team at TurnKey and the stages of growth to any business entity."
- J.Parks, Angel Investor and General Manager VC
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“The biggest "aha" for me, and there were a number of them, was the moment I realized that my team put "sufficient cash flow for growth" at the bottom of our problems.
I have worked with this team for 10+ years, and realized at that moment that our priorities were not in sync and our perspective on what's most important was totally out of whack! This shifted everything about how I approach our executive team updates, meetings, and execution strategy now.
I am very grateful for TurnKey Coaching & Development Solution's guidance and help. We are on the right track now.”
-- T.M., EVP Manufacturing Services, Global Manufacturing company
"[The program] helped me as a leader in my company gain an understanding of the effect of growth on our staff. Understanding that focus and that my leadership style needs to change as the company grows was a huge wake-up call for me."
- L. Franklin, CEO, Service Based Company, Boise
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“As a senior executive in a fast-growing company that is currently at Stage 5 in the 7 Stages of Growth, I can tell you that the X-ray/27 challenges & Strengths/builder/protector/stages of growth process have been more valuable to our company than words could ever express. It has helped the leadership team understand, and then navigate the stages of growth based on an accurate and brutally honest snapshot and assessment of our company at scheduled and timely intervals. Having experienced it firsthand, I can tell you that it helped us make better decisions, helped us lead with confidence, see what issues and challenges we needed to address, and ultimately help us set the right priorities, strategies and plans in place - and correct them when needed. Lastly, these tools enabled every employee in the company to be in alignment on all aspects of our business and specifically critical Initiatives. This alignment made it easy to communicate clearly and effectively to the entire organization daily, weekly, monthly and annually that drove growth while building a solid unwavering culture that drove our success.
I can’t tell you how many times this process gave us a calm assurance that we were “doing the right things” because we could see from the x-rays and data what we were experiencing and being challenged with - was actually exactly what our company should be experiencing at that moment in our growth curve. And we could see what we needed to change or address at that exact stage of growth to continue up the growth curve.
I am thankful that our consultants and leadership team bought into and supported investing in these tools, assessments, and the process. We are leading our industry and continuing to achieve almost all of our goals thanks to these assessments and the process that surrounds them.
"
- T. Sumney, CIO, Real Estate Services Company
Still on the fence? That's OK. We get it.
Maybe, you’re considering running the meeting yourself or perhaps your executive or business unit leader is
convinced they can do a better job than anyone else?
While it is possible to have the organizational leader facilitate the meeting, it is not recommended. Your CEO, founder, or business unit leader may be more knowledgeable about the organization than anyone else and while free, is a very attractive price, 99% of the time, the results will be ineffective. According to the research, a skilled strategy specialist improves the outcomes including greater team alignment and constructive conflict, innovative and creative problem-solving, and better communication.
We agree, there are a lot of things to think about when evaluating strategic consulting firms.
Unfortunately, however, the companies that fail to implement a strategic approach to management, all to often fail because:
they continue to focus on the 80% of activities that produce 20% of the results, rather than the 20% of actions that produce 80%
they try but fail to stay ahead of the constantly changing VUCA environment
the team is not truly in agreement but operating in silos, more comfortable avoiding conflict than pushing through disagreement to team cohesion
the execution strategy doesn't inspire the discipline to complete the job
the team has become complacent with the status-quo and incapable of being resourceful enough to accelerate growth, resolve employee engagement issues, or even envision greater stability
It's time to pay attention to how much impact each issue has on achieving your goals.
Why You Need to Hire a Strategic Planning Consultant?
Our data-driven, strategic alignment program can help your team, quickly:
understand your company's specific correlation between company success, employee engagement and leadership competency
experience the improved quality of your efforts, products, and services which results from team certainty
execute in a more focused, coordinated full-steam way
name the problems - solve the problems.
turn your vision into reality with bigger, faster results
Don't hesitate!
We offer a special complimentary consultation to discuss our program and whether it's a fit for your team and company goals.
We can only offer a limited number of strategic growth consulting packages because the program requires an intensive effort for all parties - our consultants and your leadership team.
Thus, it's important to lock in your retreat, if we are good match, before the spaces are full.
Align your team and grow your business with our strategy consulting services.
Discover if your goals and organization are a good fit for our process and framework. Ask for a complimentary consultation:
CALL 281-469-4244
ABSOLUTELY RISK-FREE
We begin with a two-step process that protects your investment and reputation before the workshop. This also includes:
1) a strategic assessment and research-backed report
2) an executive debrief on the results.
This gives us both a "pilot" commitment with limited investment and a "no-risk" guarantee. If you are not convinced after the stakeholder debrief that the program will produce the results you seek, we will walk-away, and you can keep the comprehensive report and initial action plan.
If at the conclusion of this first phase, you are not 100% convinced that our framework is the best fit for your team, we walk away, and you keep the reports. To secure a spot for a strategic assessment, call us today:
281-469-4244 or email: SOGX at TurnKeyCoachingSolutions (dot) com
Business leaders can get ahead of issues, predict how growth will affect the business and understand what must be done in order
to grow the business with our data-driven framework and expert strategic planning consultants
Known as the Stages of Growth Enterprise Development Model, this highly-effective strategy development process has been successfully utilized by thousands of successful organizations worldwide. A research-backed program, developed by James Fischer, founder of the Origin Institute, this Strategic Management Assessment & Growth Strategy Model is based on a six-year study of entrepreneurial companies including interviews with over 650 CEOs. The research helps our strategic planners to understand and decipher the patterns, behaviors, and characteristics of growth or failure in entrepreneurial enterprises and business units. Your team’s perspective on your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is then compared to the most successful organizations for a unique perspective on how to achieve your business growth goals.
Our framework is an in-depth guide to best practice strategy development, including expert facilitation, team assessment, facilitated alignment. You will also learn the different stages of development and the challenges you'll encounter. Before your corporate retreat concludes, your team will identify the key steps to achieving your business growth objectives.
A few components of the framework include the rules that govern business growth, the hidden agents to be prepared to overcome, and the 27 challenges every business will face and when.
There are a few unique “rules” that govern the stages of business growth:
movement from one stage to another begins as soon as you land in any stage of growth
what you don’t get done in a specific stage does not go away
time will make a difference
if you aren’t growing, you’re dying.
There are invisible factors that will consistently derail your growth plans, unless they are identified and rectified. Hidden agents:
agents that lie beneath the surface and create obstacles to growth
surface issues look much different than what it really is
ability to address the real issues
become constrictors if real issues aren’t addressed
The research uncovered 27 primary challenges that every business unit, company or non-profit organization will face. When we identify your team’s primary challenges it:
forces the team to put words to their top 5 critical issues
provides an opportunity to see how the leadership team defines the top challenges
forces discussion that moves the team toward alignment of the goals and solutions
A little more about what the research uncovered about each stage of business growth:
Stage 1 Start Up: 1 – 10 Employees
What does a Stage 1 company look like?
A Stage 1 company has 1-10 employees, and at this stage of growth, it's all about survival.
A Stage 1 company is CEO-centric — meaning the CEO is likely the ‘specialist’ who has created a product or service and is now getting his/her idea to take shape. It's the energy, passion and vision of the CEO that is the driving force behind the company's success today. The CEO also makes all the decisions and brings in all the sales. Therefore, 50% of the CEO's time should be spent as the technician, or the specialist, while only 10% of his/her time should be spent as a manager. The other 40% of the leader's time should be in creating and fine-tuning the vision of the company.
Stage 2
Ramp Up: 11 – 19 Employees
What does a Stage 2 company look like?
A Stage 2 company has 11 – 19 employees. CEOs of Stage 2 companies are still the center-of-the-universe in
their business or division. They need to remain nimble and hyper-focused on critical analysis before reacting
to the increases in activity and workload, CEOs/leaders can ask themselves these questions:
Am I still focused on driving profits and revenue and is my team?
Does my team understand how to distinguish the difference between busy-work and bottomline impact priorities?
Where in the business am I the cog in the wheel?
Am I delegating, empowering, and mentoring others to do their best?
Can I trust them to completely replace me? And, if not, what am I willing to do now to create a capable team that doesn't need me?
How regularly do I pay attention to our key indicators of success? Can I recite our KPI's by heart?
At this point, leverage your strategic planning retreat to ensure you have clarity about your core competencies. Profits come from planning and managing the financial side of your business (or division). What exactly is your revenue group(s) or if you are a cost-center division, how and when will you save or make the company money?
Stage 2 companies have double the trouble and must pay attention to the same priorities as a stage 1 company (cash flow, adequate profits for growth,and expanding sales) while also addressing the need for quality, competent staff.
Stage 3 Delegation: 20 – 34 Employees
What does a Stage 3 company look like?
A Stage 3 company has 20-34 employees.
At this stage of growth, it's typical to experience a workforce revolt, as the company undergoes destabilization and chaos caused by more more opportunities, work, and revenue but without the processes in place to manage the workload or the history to tackle problems with confidence.
It's essential to get the company focused on the right path for improving performance, while fostering staff buy-in. The team has to develop patience, agility, resilience and a fondness of ambiguity, as things will need to change quickly during this stage of growth. It's also important that the CEO/leader learns to be facilitative and supportive, as opposed to dominant now. A predictor of future success is whether the CEO/leader can let go of the reigns now and train, mentor, and empower his/her team to be their best.
The top challenges of a stage 3 company include staff buy-in, leadership/staff gap, weak profit design, employees resistant to change, and the core values of the organization being unclear.
Stage 4 Professional: 35 – 57 Employees
What does a Stage 4 company look like?
Stage 4 is all about internal focus and internal processes, whereas Stage 3 was all about delegation and the CEO letting go. The necessity of that lesson will become painfully clear if the leader heads into Stage 4 still micromanaging — he/she has to let go.
This stage is all about professionalizing your company/division. The first aspect is building an effective team of individuals that can work together, as opposed to independently functioning individuals/groups. Unfortunately, creating this team might mean that you need to let some personnel go, however it's also a time when you have to pay attention and prevent unwanted involuntary employee turnover.
Growing a company this far means you know how to make good decisions and execute on them. You are aware of your competitors, the economic climate, short-term and long-term opportunities. You know how to make plans and get things done. You take time to focus on the details but are always prepared and can spring into action when needed. However, It's now time to move from running a company and to directing one. This is never an easy thing to do, especially for a founder or a leader used to having to be in the driver's seat. While it may seem like the top priority at this stage is people or profits, it's actually a critical time to focus on ensuring efficient and effective processes first.
Stage 5 Integration: 58 – 95 Employees
What does a Stage 5 company look like?
With a team of 58-95 employees, the company is growing rapidly. Revenues and profits are the primary focus - as the organization's girth requires a reliable, growing and flowing stream. By now, processes should be shored up and thus, the process is the last priority (profit then people then process). However, if process was back-burnered in stage four, leader beware - the leaky bucket will drain your margins and burnout your people.
This stage of growth for a company, a non-profit, or a division is all about integration. Focusing on integrating your processes with your teams can create exponential opportunities. This is often the first time a company begins to think in terms of departmental budgets, and for good reason. Your team has to be empowered to think critically and analyze options against the numbers. Your managers will need a solid strategic plan, a well-considered budget, and OKRs (objectives and key results) to measure every action against to move to the next level.
Now is the time to focus on efficiencies at scale. Leaders that fail to understand the importance of integration at this stage will suffer losses as the complexity and size of the organization dictates consolidation.
Stage 6 Strategic: 96 – 160 Employees
What does a flourishing Stage 6 company look like?
There's a rhythm now and a deliberate cadence and order to the company's success. Leadership styles and cultural norms are well established, processes are in place, and the leadership team can go fishing, at least a little more often. If integration of processes and managerial empowerment has solidified, then your team leads have the authority, resources, and roadmap for keeping the machine whirling. Is it time to relax or be more strategic?
This stage is called strategic because it's time to revisit your business design. Check and recheck the profit model, your plan for innovation, the market and competitors. Stage six warrants celebration but divisions/organizations need to be wary of becoming complacent or overly confident in its "if it's not broken, don't fix it" mentality. If you know where the banana peels lie, you're less likely to slip. Make a concerted effort to forecast how disruptive technology, automation, more agile competitors, consumer buying habits, governmental regulations, and other factors may impact your organization. Make this a part of your multi-year strategic planning process and strategic considerations.
A few of the top challenges a stage six organization will need to pay attention to include:
- keeping your eye on growing profits and what the competitors are up to
- a robust new staff orientation will prevent churn
Talent development, career pathing, and succession planning foster a "people first" culture which is important at this stage for not only engagement and productivity but to lower voluntary turnover.
Remember the bigger you get the more often and in more ways you'll need to communicate the mission, vision, and progress.
Quick tip: Share the company/division's goals, successes and setbacks at least weekly with all employees.
Stage 7 Visionary: 161+ Employees
What does a Stage 7 company look like?
A CEO's challenge in Stage 7 is all about transitioning into a large organization without losing what made it such a successful entrepreneurial business. Management's efforts to professionalize the company often crush the entrepreneurial spirit that is so necessary in order to not to be left behind by newer entrepreneurial firms. A Stage 7 business, non-profit, or organizational unit has greater than 161 employees. Size creates complexity and layers of bureaucracy that can quickly impede performance and growth. Stage 7, called the visionary stage, is a very different world than what's been encountered in the first six stages.
Key success factors include leadership coaching and conflict competency, business acumen, critical analysis, and ability to not only manage change but inspire others to see change and innovation as a reason for choosing to work within your organization. Watch for profit erosion, as even a couple of points may mean there's disengagement in the ranks, waste, inefficiencies, etc. that need to be solved via crowdsourcing your frontline contributors, which will bolster their self-esteem and belief that they matter and are making a contribution to something bigger.
Effective leaders at this stage spend 75% of their time coaching, mentoring, and driving the vision of the organization, 20% of their time managing, and only 5% of their time being the specialist.
Beware of unresolved problems from previous stages which can be like barnacles, teaming up with with low-morale, turnover, or poorly trained managers to cause drag and burn up your people and profits.
How to Evaluate Strategy Consulting Firms and Select the Right Strategic Business Planning Consultant for your Corporate Retreat
As a leader at a fast-growing company (or one that has untapped opportunities for growth), you know you need competent
strategic planning consultants or a growth consulting firm to assist you and your team with an objective perspective on your business.
When you are evaluating strategy consulting firms to hire, it is important to verify the consultants' experience, qualifications, and
knowledge of strategic management. You want a consulting services firm with a high success rate in strategic planning with similarly
sized corporations. The consultant's character, experience, facilitation and mediation skills, and interpersonal effectiveness talents
are also important to consider.
What does a strategic management consulting firm do?
Strategic management consulting firms provide a variety of services to organizations. These services include strategic planning, leadership development, organizational design and restructuring, and change management.
What is the difference between Strategic Management Consulting and HR Strategy Consulting?
Strategic Management Consulting is the application of knowledge, skills and experience to meet an organization's long-term business objectives. HR Strategy Consulting is the application of knowledge, skills and experience that may be used to meet an organization's short-term business objectives.
How do strategic planning retreats work?
Decide on the issues to be discussed. Three to five issues are generally chosen by the senior leader based on the
following factors:
topics generating the most anxiety
the core problem that the organization is most likely to be facing now, or in the near future
the systemic effects facing other organizations
what opportunities or challenges have strategic significance for the organization
Determine which leaders will participate.
In addition to the leadership team, some teams also include leaders who are working on particular issues of grave importance or invite a
subject matter expert to join the retreat at a specific time.
The outcomes and issues must be decided well in advance of the retreat; otherwise leaders will spend more time on deciding the agenda
than creating an aligned strategic plan.
As an experienced strategic planning company, to determine what issues will be addressed during the strategic planning retreat, we use
a proven assessment process to survey your team. Next, we combine the aggregate data with the primary stakeholder(s)’ selection of
the most pressing issues before juxtaposing these items against what other successful organizations do during a similar stage of growth.
The result is a data-driven, ontological approach to driving out a clear strategic plan.
What IS the strategic planning process?
Strategic planning is a forward-looking business growth planning process. It utilizes past and present information to develop
an actionable plan for the future.
Utilizing a proven strategic planning process ensures that goals are set, strategies are developed, tactics are identified, and that
competencies and resources are available to achieve those goals and strategies.
Strategic planning starts with an examination of current operations, resources, market share, competency gaps, etc. This is done through
a trend and employee/team analysis and examination of the progress to date. This endeavor, coupled with facilitated alignment of the
leadership team, aims to create a company that anticipates future events and is prepared to react or respond quickly and effectively.
How do you plan a strategic planning retreat?
To plan a strategic planning retreat, first plan to be well-prepared and identify an off-site location. The participants
(usually the executive team or management team, if a business unit) needs to be sequestered and focused on one, and only one, goal - an
agreed upon, documented strategic priorities and action plan.
Additional considerations include costs (management consultant/ strategic planning facilitator, lost time, accommodations, catering,
whiteboards, large post-it notes, writing materials, visual / infographics capturing progress/challenges and financials, binders,
secretary/transcriber, etc.)
It is a best-practice to administer a confidential survey to gather input from employees, and an open-ended assessment process to
elicit input into the company’s top strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT), leadership competency, etc.
We recommend a certified strategic growth consultant specializing in the stages of growth X-ray assessment and strategic planning
process.
What are the steps in the strategic planning process?
A qualified strategic planning expert facilitator leads the executive (or business unit management) team in a facilitated,
prioritized review of the company’s top priorities, challenges, strengths, goals, and opportunities. However, an effective strategic planning
retreat produces so much more than a traditional SWOT discussion, including clarity, alignment, and a prioritized plan of attack.
To encourage engagement and establish a safe space, set up the room in such a way as to encourage interaction, creativity, and authentic
communication. The leadership team must be able to see the other team member’s faces and thus address disconnection, disinterest, and discord
in the moment. For the outcome to be meaningful, dissent must be encouraged and productive conflict guidelines are a key ingredient for
success. The space should be big and comfortable enough to allow everyone to participate in the group discussion and brainstorming without
feeling intimidated. There’s also something important about making sure that leaders can move away from intimidating energy and a big room
grants permission for some movement, as needed, to dissipate the discomfort.
Our proven strategic planning process launches with a data-driven, research-backed analysis of your leadership team’s perspective regarding
the company’s gate of focus, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, builder/protector ratio, threats, priorities, blind spots, organizational
health, employee satisfaction, and more. As an experienced strategic planning company, we then compare the aggregate data to the research
from more than 650 successful companies at similar stages of growth to reveal the issues most likely to need attention now. The outcome
enables a focused, productive dialogue that is facilitated to encourage constructive dissent and ultimately clear priorities and an aligned
leadership team.
How do you facilitate a strategic retreat?
How do you facilitate a strategic business planning meeting?
Strategic retreats can be hard to set up and run, particularly if you have a team of superior individuals (ie. highly
talented, intelligent, committed, passionate) who all think they are correct.
If you pull the team into a sequestered, conference room and the strong personalities start butting heads, angrily expressing
different opinions, you're going to end up with a complete and total breakdown of team morale. Tip: It’s unlikely the team will admit waning morale. Nevertheless, a dysfunctional meeting and the
frustration of a wasted opportunity, has a much bigger impact on the team’s ability to achieve results, than most
leadership teams imagine or admit. If you're the one responsible for facilitating an effective strategic retreat,
be forewarned. The blame for a poor outcome will fall squarely on you. We’ve seen teams even go so far as to believe
the organizer structured the retreat with the malicious intent to drive the team apart.
So, what’s the solution to facilitating an effective strategic retreat?
The purpose of implementing a strategic planning retreat is to help guide the future direction of the business.
The aim is to help the company reach its true potential rather than just frittering away time, so it's extremely important
that your strategic retreat is well-organized, structured, and facilitates healthy discourse and team alignment.
Tips:
gather goals and do a SWOT analysis via survey, in advance
provide written rules of engagement
establish a safe space for constructive criticism and managing conflict. Off-site is best.
minimize distractions. Turn off phones, emails, and computers.
assign pre-work to all team-members, and require the submission of their agenda items at least 10 days in advance
communicate and confirm a timed agenda
document everything during the meeting: ideas, challenges, problems, statements, opinions, decisions, solutions,
resources required, etc.
organize the initiatives into the top 10 priorities
assign initiatives and how the team will hold one another accountable
identify KPIs and how success will be measured
An experienced strategic planning company will save leadership team’s significant time and quicken the team’s ability to
achieve their business goals.
Which businesses need strategic planning?
Strategic planning is important for all businesses regardless of their size, product, or industry.
As it is often the case, a business that does not have a long-term strategic plan in place or that doesn't conduct regular
strategic planning sessions will have nowhere to turn when the strategy they’ve been using doesn't deliver the results they
expected. A continuous strategic planning program will help businesses identify areas of strengths and weaknesses, evaluate
the markets, and identify the opportunities and threats that present themselves. A proper strategic plan will allow executives
and employees to take a longer-term view on their businesses, allowing them to invest with confidence and with a full understanding
of the company’s short and long-term objectives.
An effective strategic planning company will help you identify challenges and the guiding principles by which your team can
make quality decisions for overcoming those challenges.
Strategic planning is a critical tool used to help companies make decisions, rather than fly by the seat of their collective
pants. A strategic plan can help companies make better decisions and will help make the organization more efficient, focused,
and viable.
What makes strategic planning successful?
A successful strategic planning retreat will produce a well-considered strategic plan that becomes the blueprint for your company’s vision and leadership team’s goals.
A few elements that are critical for a strategic planning retreat to be successful:
all possible alternative solutions and challenges are processed
collectively plan how to mitigate risks and avoid costly mistakes
team engagement, full participation and constructive conflict
vocal, forceful leader(s) that try to facilitate a strategic plan without external assistance, often miss the mark;
a team is rarely galvanized when buy-in and the importance of counterviews are overlooked
the outcome must be based on reality, touch the imagination and stir enthusiasm for execution
establish the data and historical accomplishments and failures in a visually compelling,
inarguable presentation. The program will get more done faster, when the company data is well-organized.
roles/responsibilities: who is responsible for what, by when.
A successful strategic planning retreat excites the creative ability of the leadership team and produces a documented
plan to direct the business in a positive and productive way.
What are the elements of a business plan?
A business plan is designed to cover all aspects of a business; its immediate future and long term goals. It provides a
framework for making decisions. There are a number of elements that make up a business plan, including a mission statement to
express the purpose of the company, and the vision, values, and guiding principles. A good business plan includes a description
of what you plan to do, what your business is and the services you will provide or products you will sell.
Additionally, the business plan should include financial forecasts (income and expenses), financing requirements, and the cash
needs for the first 3 years of operation. Finally, it will include your marketing, operations, and HR plans, as well as
comprehensive market, industry, and competitive analysis.
What's the difference between a strategic plan and a business plan?
A strategic plan is more flexible and more fluid than a standard business plan.
In a strategic plan, the organization shifts its focus and attention to the future, while in a business plan, the focus is
on making the business case for why the business exists and how it will create value in general.
In a strategic plan, the business focuses on what it plans to create and what the organization must do to make it happen,
as well as how exactly it will respond to threats and opportunities. The strategic plan is the immediate approach, tactics,
strategies, and key performance indicators.
A business plan is a guide on how a business is going to be executed and make profits.
Certain questions need to be answered:
- What is the business? What services/products does the business offer?
- Where will the business be located?
- How much investment is required? What are the investment sources?
- How much does it cost to start up, to grow, to expand, etc.?
- How many people will we employ to fulfill the business goals?
- How are we going to market the business?How will business be managed?
- What type of records will be kept?How will income be handled?
- What are the opportunities? Who are our competitors?
- How will we create our USP (unique selling proposition)?
Where do strategic plans go wrong?
They Fail to Be Realistic While Also Being Big and Aspirational
A recipe for strategic plan failure starts with unrealistic objectives and a poorly aligned team. The worst-case scenario
is when the plan is a fantasy and the wrong people were consulted in creating the plan.
Strategy is a living concept, involving many factors such as market changes, customer behaviors, organizational capacity,
competitive landscape, financial influences, profit model analysis, leadership and employee capabilities, and more.
It is vital that the right people are consulted and participate in the creation of the strategic plan. Those who are most
likely to acquiesce too easily or tell you what you want to hear are not the ones who matter.
What is the impact when a company is destabilized by chaos?
When the executives, business owner/business unit leader, is being bombarded by decisions, opportunities, threats and
obligations, chaos is unavoidable. Even armed with a strong profit design, a well articulated business plan, there is very little a
business owner can do to prevent this chaos, but one can be prepared.. It’s easy to get pulled in many different directions, lose sight
of the end goal and get in over our heads financially, especially when we try to chase too many opportunities. The goal is not to control
the chaos, but to learn the best practices for managing it. However, when employees do not understand the vision or strategic trajectory,
the emotional toll can be debilitating for them. An effective leader undertakes a new mission of constant communication with the team to
manage, motivate, and reassure the team.
While a growing business will experience pressure and some chaos at all stages of growth, when managed in the right order, at the
right stage, there are only three stages where addressing the destructive chaos takes top priority; when moving from stage 1 to 2, and
again in stage 3 and 4.
Primary focus during stage 1 and 2 must be profits, and thus the focus is on cash flow, ensuring profits are adequate for growing
the business, and sales. The primary focus during stage three is people, and thus it’s all about staff buy-in, leadership/staff
communications, ensuring the core values are clear, and addressing cultural resistance to change. To manage the chaos during stage 4,
the top priority is process including ensuring solid project management, cultivating the ability to diagnose problems quickly,
addressing employee turnover, and getting systems in place.
How does a company evaluate if it has a weak business/profit design?
First, evaluate how your business creates value for customers and whether the value creation process is sustainable.
If net margin is inconsistent, evaluate how this value is distributed across your organization, your customers, the operating
environment, market demand, competitors, regulations, the broader business ecosystem, etc. Where are the financial fissures, and
what’s essential and what’s not.
Where many companies falter is failing to keep a sharply tuned eye on the numbers. If the management team is not beholden to a
budget or the leadership team doesn't know the margins, and their responsibility to the margin, there’s a business acumen problem
to address.
An experienced strategic planning company can help you evaluate your business profit model and devise a plan for success.
Attaining the business momentum you desire has more to do with the building blocks in your business
than your actual offerings. Success most often comes down to leadership alignment and effective execution. Your
company's current reality, desired outcomes and performance expectations (aka your 3D View) form the basis for a
successful road map. The best way to get there is through our strategy development retreat experience, where you
not only get an independent assessment of where you are but an execution-focused team ready to roll.
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