When your company has a couple of days carved out for a strategic planning retreat – what is on your agenda? If you expect to craft, or make significant changes, to your Vision, Mission, Values, and Strategic Goals – all in a single weekend – I would like to offer a bit of caution to your approach. Certainly, and A+ for effort and initiative is in order. However, these fundamental aspects of your business or agency’s future are far too important to cram into a single weekend. Especially, if the meeting time must compete with networking events, a round of golf, and maybe a quick spa at local resort.
There’s nothing wrong with a strategic planning retreat. If affordable to you’re your company, these events provide a wonderful opportunity to get everyone off-site, with minimal distractions, to focus on a couple timely strategic issues, increase the working relationship between volunteers, staff, and executives, and (if affordable) have a bit of R&R time together. However, the days of creating an entire strategic business plan in one or two days are simply gone. Our external environment has become too unpredictable, technology is far more robust, funding and general financial challenges are more dynamic, and we are under growing pressure to do more with much less resources.
If you are developing your initial Vision, Mission, et al – “Take your Time”. Carve out 30 minutes or so at the end of each of your Board Meetings for the next couple of quarters an allow (demand) everyone to participate in the discussion, provide feedback, and even play the devil’s advocate. I expect you have a diverse board of directors and management team. Diversity; from the perspective of various leadership styles and personalities. If so, then a two-day planning session will result in a business plan crafted by the more aggressive / Type-A personalities on your team. No doubt, the plan will be complete. Yet, it will be completed without providing everyone an opportunity to provide constructive feedback.
Remember, everyone on your board was selected for reason – as each and every one of them possesses a skill, perspective, or background critical to your agency’s future. They are equal in their knowledge and commitment. So, please, make sure you give everyone the time they need to review and contribute. In the long run, it doesn’t really matter whether you crafted the fundamental elements of your plan in ten hours or ten weeks. What matters, is you get it right.
So, take your time, let everyone participate at a speed in which they are comfortable, and you will have a dynamic Strategic Business Plan everyone will understand, support, and champion.