How To Conduct Strategic Planning Session
You and your team have a big problem and you need to develop your strategy. But you are uncertain how to conduct strategic planning session. In this article we will help you know what you need to do so your team has a successful strategic planning session.
What is a strategic planning session?
This is after a strategy has been completed and the team now needs to figure out how to execute the strategy.
What to do before the session
First thing you would need to have is a strategy mapped out. If you’d like to learn more about how to create a strategy, you can check out our detailed article that explains how we develop strategy using our Strategy Sprint. The first half of the Strategy Sprint is about creating a strategy and the second half is about strategic planning.
Who should be at the strategic planning session?
A diverse group of people who have different perspectives of the client and the business. Ranging from those at the top level to those who work directly with the client. This helps the team get a full picture of the client and the business. Some people include:
Executives
Directors
Board Members
Marketing
Customer service
Sales
Operations
Product
IT
You also need a facilitator.
The facilitator leads the team through the process of creating the strategic plan. They make sure the team is focused on what needs to be done. They keep everyone on the same page, make sure everyone is listening to each other, ask clarifying questions, and manage the group's time and energy. It’s also helpful to have someone who is not biased or focused on a particular outcome. They do not have a personal agenda other than helping the team through the process.
Create an Agenda
An agenda provides people with a sense of calm since they know what to expect. When creating the agenda, be clear on how many sessions the team will have, how long they will be and what they will be doing. Our Strategy Sprints are a few days for discovery work beforehand, four half days of active work with the group, and a handoff meeting at the end. If you’re interested to know what to have on the agenda check out our blog article here.
Clear Outcomes
Let the team know what the strategic planning sessions outcomes will be so they can focus their energy towards achieving it. For example, by the end of the strategic planning sessions the team will know exactly what the first project will be, the tasks needed to complete it, who will do those tasks and when they will be completed.
Research
It's helpful for the team to be informed before working on the strategy and strategic plan. Two pieces of research that are helpful are the SWOT Analysis and Business Model Canvas. This information helps the team have a snapshot of the business and customers. Giving the team a feeling of being prepared before the sessions.
During the session
If you want to know what we recommend a team focuses on during a strategic planning session, check out our article here. We talk about what topics are discussed and what decisions are made. In this article we will talk about what you do during the strategic planning session.
Start off with sharing guidelines
Don’t judge, but feel free to challenge ideas.
We have seen teams call ideas “dumb” and how people are bad or wrong. This is extremely counter productive. We say that ideas are not bad or wrong, they are simply ideas. Instead we want people to focus on which ideas are the strongest and most align to what we are trying to achieve as a team.
On the flip side we strongly encourage team members to challenge ideas (not people) by asking clarifying questions and sharing the difference between the ideas.
“Parking lot” some topics
It is easy for a conversation to get side tracked. To help manage this we have a “parking lot” where we will place ideas, questions, and other concerns to be addressed at a more opportune time.
Take breaks every 90 minutes
Working on strategic planning is a lot of hard work and it can be mentally taxing. We recommend that people take 10-15 minute breaks every 90 minutes to help refresh the brain. We ask that people to leave the room (or the computer) and get fresh air, move the body and have a drink or snack.
Limit distractions
We ask people to not use their phones unless they absolutely have to. And if they need to use their phone, we ask them to leave the room so they do not disrupt the session.
How to facilitate the sessions
Now let's discuss how to conduct strategic planning session.
Clear Instructions
For each exercise (such as creating the projects to reach the objective), make sure the instructions are clear. Use the method below to help people understand.
Explain what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how we are going to do it. We recommend saying these at least three times in different ways so people completely understand the instructions.
It’s also helpful to provide one or two examples of what the outcome could look like.
Working together alone by visualizing people's ideas and voting
@researchdoodles
It’s a bit of a different concept, but we have found it to be more productive than traditional brainstorming.
Give people a few minutes to write down their ideas on sticky notes. Then take the sticky notes, place them on a wall and give people time to review each one. Afterwards give people red dots to vote on ones they want to move forward with. At this point everyone has shared their thoughts and opinions.
The other helpful part about writing things down is that it helps focus the conversation. During traditional brainstorming, it is easy for teams to go down a variety of rabbit holes. The more a team can focus on one topic at a time, the more productive they will be in completing the strategic planning session.
Also visualizing ideas free up mental space. The brain is not trying to hold onto all the ideas AND think about them. Now the brain can think deeply about each idea.
It's also a more inclusive form of communication. Some people who are introverts may not speak up during normal brainstorming, also some people need more time to process things deeply. This ensures all ideas are included in the process, creating a greater likelihood of innovative solutions.
Decision maker
After everyone's voice is heard and the team identifies a few ideas they want to move forward with, now it's time for the decider to make a decision. The role of the decider is not about power or anything like that. The decider is just a productivity tool to make sure the team makes a decision and moves forward.
Oftentimes when there isn't a decider teams will have a tough time making a decision. This causes people to leave meetings and wonder, “So now what?” Having a decider removes all of that. Often the decider is the person most responsible for the strategy or project.
Timebox
This is another great tool to make sure the team is making progress. It can be easy to spend a long time talking about a topic and get nowhere. Timeboxing places a slight pressure on the team to be more efficient. It makes sure the team gets things done in the time allotted.
Also, it is okay to adjust time here and there. Some things may take longer than expected, while other things may need less time. But having a timebox is another productivity tool to make sure the team is moving forward and not spending all day on one aspect.
Action plan
This is the last step in our Strategy Sprint, where the team has a clear action plan for executing the first project of the strategy. The team knows what tasks need to be done, who is doing them and when they will be completed. This ensures the team knows exactly what to do and doesn’t leave the meeting wondering what's next.
After the session
Executive summary
Our executive summary has two parts to it. The first part is a brief summary of the strategy and strategic planning. It is meant to be a quick reference people can look over to understand what the strategy and the strategic plans are. The second part goes into details of everything that was discussed during the sessions.
Gather feedback
If you want to get better at conducting strategic planning sessions, ask the team for feedback. We like to ask three questions. What went really well that you liked? What did not go well that we could get rid of? What did we miss that could be added? These three questions will help improve the next strategic planning session.
Revisit the plan in 3 months
Most teams will revisit strategy and their strategic plans once a year. We feel this is too long. The strategy is nothing more than an informed experiment, it is not an accurate prediction of the future.
Things will go differently than expected and it's helpful to make adjustments sooner rather than later. The team may find out things that could help the team reach their goals even faster, or remove things that slow them down.
In Conclusion
By now you should have a sense of how to conduct a strategic planning session. A strategy without a strategic plan is like having goals without an action plan. It keeps things pie in the sky rather than rooted in reality.
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