The Strategic Planning Offsite That Actually Ships: 10 Moves That Separate Aligned Action From a Pretty Deck

Most strategic planning offsites produce a pretty deck and no aligned action. That is the single biggest complaint CEOs and Chief Strategy Officers level at external facilitators after the offsite — “the deck was polished, the decisions went nowhere.” If you are about to run an executive offsite and want the result to be action your team actually executes, the question is not “how do we do the strategic planning?” It is “how do we design the conditions where ownership happens?”

Ten moves separate an offsite that ships from one that wraps. They are not facilitation tricks. They are design decisions about who talks, who owns, who decides, and what the room looks like in the 72 hours after everyone leaves. Make all ten and the offsite produces aligned action. Make fewer than six and it produces the deck.

Below are the ten moves, what they do mechanically, why they work (the research on group commitment and psychological safety), and the three that matter most if you have to pick. Written for Strategic Steves and Learning Lisas designing their next quarterly or annual offsite.

1. INVITE THE RIGHT PEOPLE.

Avoid falling into the political trap. Focus on inviting participants to a strategic planning session who can give actual strategic direction and advice. If you are considering a strategy for distribution then bring in participants from the distribution team to ensure you make the right choices and ease implementation. If you have leaders who like to dominate the conversation or are afraid of a specific decision – then prepare your facilitator to neutralize their impact.

2. GET ACTIVE.

Avoid sitting around a huge boardroom table with PowerPoint presentations during your planning session. The best strategic plans are designed by active participants collaborating and layering upon each idea. Keep participants moving through a variety of exercises to examine the new possibilities in the current and future states.

3. USE AN OUTSIDE FACILITATOR 

Asking an internal leader to facilitate and contribute during strategic planning is unfair. Sometimes the only thing more expensive than a professional — is an amateur. Avoid having to call for an intervention with the executive team after a poorly-designed and facilitated strategy planning sessions. You will achieve the results faster, go deeper, and leave aligned with a clear implementation plan with an outside facilitator.

4. HOLD YOUR STRATEGY SESSION AWAY FROM YOUR OFFICE.

When developing organizational strategy, consider natural locations with inspiring views – remember to keep the Powerpoint off and the windows open. When you have a breakthrough session with a facilitator, rebook the facilitator and the location for 6 months or next year. Leverage the success you’ve just experienced in your strategic planning again and again. We have several clients that have used the same facilitator for over a decade – imagine how well they know their industry, organization and team.

5. HAVE MOBILE FREE CONVERSATIONS.

You’ve invested to get away from the distractions of the office, take the next step and choose which of these conversations are mobile device free. Give adequate breaks during your strategy meeting to allow for issues to be cleared and if someone needs to keep their device on, have them let the facilitator know. Keep the group present and focused on the strategic plan rather than the distractions of the office.

6. DON’T STOP AT STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS.

This traditional approach only identifies context. Make sure your facilitator engages the group to create strategies that leverage the strengths, minimize the weaknesses, seize the opportunities and mitigate the threats. Otherwise, the exercise can be replaced.

7. BUILD OWNERSHIP.

Even if an entire team is involved in an activity while planning an organizational strategy, assign one owner. Ultimately the responsibility needs to rest on one individual who ensures the team takes action. Having multiple owners for actions leads to confusion and less accountability. Even if two leaders will work together to achieve the outcome – make sure one name owns the outcome.

8. ORGANIZE YOUR ACTIONS BY MONTH ON ONE CHART.

We call the process “Displayed Planning” so you can see which months have too many activities. Add other important dates like year end, conferences and major events to reduce the numbers of bumps you experience implementing the plan.

9. EVERYONE COMMUNICATES UPDATES TOGETHER.

Now you have your strategic plan so choose the same day each month for everyone to get on a conference call and update each other with their progress. Implementing the plan is where the value of your strategic plan lives.

10. MID-YEAR REVIEW.

Save time each year by aligning your mid-year review with the budgeting process. Aligning both processes together ensures the plan and the budget align.