Summary:

While most strategic planning sessions are well-intentioned and want to contribute to a successful meeting, most sessions follow a pattern that only appears meaningful when in truth, they are anything but. Bill Bartmann of Entrepreneur.com offers several tips to use at your next strategic planning session including keeping the re-cap of last year’s session brief and honest with regards to successes and failures.  Keeping the conversation on topic, clearly articulating challenges, and choosing the top one to five best ideas and building the rest of the meeting around those ideas are additional tips offered. Additionally, if you’ve discovered a worthwhile goal, guide it through the initial stage with a certain confidence that the “how” will appear as you go along. Make careful note of opposing viewpoints; they’re much more valuable than a series of nods from the yes men.

Article Quote:

“A really good planning session should feel draining but invigorating at the same time. Similar to a good gym workout, you want strong resistance against muscles that are working toward a worthy goal.”

Link: http://www.thestreet.com/story/10658462/2/strategic-planning-for-the-real-world.html

When the facilitator keeps the meeting focused and allows for constructive criticism that includes contributions from everyone, strategic planning sessions can be a productive and worthwhile task . If the loudest or most popular members of the group are allowed to ‘take over’ and quieter members stop contributing, the session becomes a popularity contest and usually an exercise in group-think.

For more on strategic planning, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/