Why Every Team Needs a Strategic Planning Roadmap for Success
"Vision without execution is hallucination."
~ Thomas Edison
Greetings!
As we near the end of this fiscal/calendar year, many of my clients are looking for resources and support to navigate the uncertain road ahead. And if you haven’t started your 2027 planning processes yet, I can help guide your way.
One of the resources my clients have found most valuable is my brief, easy to apply Strategic Planning e-book. In this guide, you will learn the 5 key changes I recommend every team should make to their next annual strategic planning session.
This e-book also includes templates to help identify mission, vision, values and priorities. It’s an excellent guide to help your team begin to develop a plan that gets the whole organization aiming in the same direction to drive your organizational results to even higher levels of success.
As the end of the year nears, one of the most frequent facilitation requests I am receiving is for a strategic review and operational planning session in preparation for 2027. These sessions are designed to meet each organization's specific needs, ranging from 1 to 2 days in-person and can even be conducted virtually in 2 to 3 sessions over Zoom.
Some common deliverables for these sessions include:
- Conduct an "after action review" to understand what we have done well this past year executing on our plan, what challenges we faced, and how we might overcome those going forward.
- Given those learnings, and with a view to the broader organization and the external environment, reach agreement on our highest priority areas for the coming fiscal year.
- For each priority area, determine what success looks like on 12/31/27 and how we will measure it.
- Develop an action plan with clear milestones, due dates, and accountabilities.
To ensure your session is as productive and engaging as possible so that you maximize the ROI of everyone's time, I recommend you keep these 3 key points in mind:
- Preparation.
In advance of the session, determine and share the key session deliverables, the agenda, and what is expected of the participants so they will fully prepare and bring their best thinking to the session.
- Facilitation.
Engage an experienced facilitator so that you can fully participate in the session. It is very difficult to be neutral if you are vested in the outcomes. A professional facilitator can provide advice and counsel in the design of the session and ensure that you get everyone's best input and achieve your session deliverables.
- Accountability. The first 30 days after this session is the most critical. If the team leader doesn't maintain focus and hold people accountable for their commitments, then you will surely lose the momentum for change as "the tyranny of the urgent" takes over. Keep the commitments visible through your staff meetings and your one-on-ones.
Once you have had a chance to review our e-book and apply your thoughts to the templates provided, I invite you to call or email me to discuss your strategic and operational planning objectives and how I can help guide you to achieve them as you look ahead to 2027.
Wishing you and your team success,
Kimberly
P.S. If you would also like to increase the cohesiveness and effectiveness of your team, let's discuss incorporating that objective into this strategic planning session. In my experience, teams that come together to collaboratively create their vision and plan ultimately are much more successful in the future.
Let Kimberly Douglas put her 20+ years of strategic planning expertise to work for you and your organization.
Kimberly Douglas, FireFly Facilitation Inc. CEO, has an 88% repeat and referral business. She has collaborated with hundreds of leaders at organizations such as Coca-Cola, Home Depot, the CDC, Cox, AT&T and even the U.S. Marine Corps – to dramatically improve their business performance.
She holds a Master’s in industrial/organizational psychology and is an IAF Certified Professional Facilitator at the Master Level and an INIFAC Certified Virtual Facilitator. She was also honored with the SHRM-Atlanta Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to the Chapter and the HR profession.
Prior to founding FireFly over twenty years ago, Kimberly was an organization effectiveness leader for Coca-Cola and Director of Consulting for the Hay Group. She also served in HR leadership roles in the hospitality, telecommunications and healthcare industries.
Want to learn more about how to ensure you are getting everyone's best thinking as you develop your 2027 strategic plan? Visit her strategic planning blog page by clicking here.
