The Invitation

You are invited to learn strategic planning that includes learning about  the development of a strategic plan AND what needs to be in place for the strategic plan to be successfully implemented.

You’ll learn about the development of a strategy focused organization including a strategy focused culture.

Having a plan isn’t enough. Researchers, including Norton and Kaplan at Harvard, have found that 70-90% of strategic plans fail to be executed. We did our own research, studying within that small percentage of organizations that successfully execute their strategic plans. Strategic Planning the Genuine Contact Way was developed based on what we learned needed to be in place for success with strategic plan execution.

Leaders, managers, and organizational development consultants will learn how to turn great ideas in their organizations into outstanding results by creating clarity, alignment, and a systematic approach to evaluating and managing organizational performance in relation to strategic plan execution.

Throughout this learning program, you will learn:

  • the critical ingredients for developing a strategic plan that actually gets implemented instead of just sitting on a shelf gathering dust
  • Simple processes you can use to engage your organization while developing the plan to tap into the collective wisdom of your people for innovation, wise action, and extraordinary results
  • how to develop the strategic planning process to create join-in from the beginning rather than trying to convince your people to buy into the plan once it’s done
  • The value of a collaborative approach throughout the organization in the development of the plan
  • Skills, knowledge, confidence, and commitment to lead this work masterfully

Why Use This Approach?

This approach avoids common mistakes in the strategic planning process. Common mistakes lead to strategic planning exhaustion; the futility associated with strategic plan implementation; the challenge of creating buy-in to a strategic plan; rigidity in the plan that doesn’t take a changing environment into account; and the most common mistake of having people feel as though they are doing their jobs plus having to work on the strategic plan implementation.

Strategic planning the Genuine Contact Way is rooted in what works. This approach:

  • keeps strategic plan implementation at the core of the strategic planning process rather than limiting the work to just creating a strategic plan
  • engages people without leaving them exhausted;
  • involves people throughout the organization, developing an understanding of what is in the plan and why, as the plan develops so there is no need to expend energy to get people to buy in to a plan;
  • innovation is built into the plan as an essential part of the functioning of the organization;
  • monitoring for the purpose of timely adjustment is built in;
  • periodic strategic plan refresh is built into the planning to keep the plan alive, viable, and relevant to the environment.

We keep it simple, with simple tools to handle complexity. We recognize that change is constant and any planning needs to take into account a changing performance environment. We recognize the value of conversations and collective wisdom gathered in participatory meeting processes to come up with the best plans, the best way of closing the gap between potential and results.

Who Needs to Be Involved?

Ideally, everyone affected by the strategic plan and those responsible for implementing it are involved in strategic planning. Some organizations use a whole system approach to involvement, figuring out who has a stake in the strategic plannning, inviting a broad spectrum of stakeholders.

Formal leaders, managers, and consultants have clear roles in preparing the organization as a strategy focused organization and leading the strategic planning with that intention in mind.

 

How Does It Work?

Learning in this module is offered through 6 phases of learning, based on the Evolutionary Spiral. One of the multi-use tools that make up the Genuine Contact Toolkit, the Evolutionary Spiral offers a roadmap of your learning and development. Every phase provides the tools and tips for taking your organization through a Strategic Planning process the Genuine Contact Way.

  1. Discernment: You will begin by establishing working definitions that capture your perceptions of what strategic planning is and is not. You’ll establish your concept of a strategy focused organization or culture, developing clarity about what you need to set up for successful strategic plan implementation. You will be presented with five beliefs for the purpose of considering their implications for your strategic planning efforts within the performance environment of complexity and constant change.
  2. Readiness: In this phase, you will learn what you’ll need to do to ensure sufficient readiness in an organization for strategic planning. You’ll be guided in developing a readiness checklist complete with actions that you can take towards readiness for the strategic planning.
  3. Engagement: You will be taken through a series of activities to engage you with the art of strategic planning. You’ll increase your confidence and  capacity for leading strategic planning and working with the strategy focused organization. In this phase, you will  learn the tools that you will use during construction of your plan. You’ll come to a new understanding of working with the weaving together of people with process with strategic planning technology.
  4. Construction: In this phase, you practice taking a group of people through constructing a strategic plan with the tools and tips you have learned. You’ll come through this phase with increased competency in leading an organization through strategic planning. You’ll create a presentation to orient teammates to the way you want to do strategic planning, a presentation that will become part of your own toolkit for your work in the future.
  5. Implementation: Through role play, you’ll have the opportunity in this phase to explore what is necessary for implementation of a strategic plan, exploring obstacles and opportunities. This phase provides clarity about what needs to be put in place for successful implementation of a strategic plan. You will add a presentation about implementation to your toolkit for your work in the future.
  6. Monitoring and Adjustment: You’ll look at the difference between performance management and monitoring & adjustment. In this phase you will identify what monitoring needs to include and why. If monitoring shows that the implementation of the strategic plan is off course, adjustments will need to be made. You’ll learn what is meant by a strategic plan refresh if the decision is that the plan itself needs adjusting.

The module is designed with follow-on facilitated peer-with-peer mentoring circles to support your ongoing learning with Strategic Planning the Genuine Contact Way. These mentoring circles include group discussions facilitated by a Genuine Contact Trainer about what has been learned while applying your learning so far.

Supporting Learning in Teams and Groups

At Dalar, we are big believers in whole teams and groups learning together. To support group learning, we are pleased to offer the following team discounts:

  • 20% off for 3-5 participants
  • 40% off for 6-10
  • groups of 11+ please contact us for pricing or in-house training opportunities

Project, intact, cross-functional, and leadership teams, small organizations, boards, and volunteer groups are some examples of the kinds of groups eligible for these discounts. Contact Rachel Bolton for registration details.

This offer is applicable to Early Bird and Regular Rates of registration. It cannot be combined with any other discounts available (i.e Genuine Contact Organization member discounts).

Part of the Genuine Contact Way

This module offers a complete set of skills and knowledge that creates value on its own. It’s also part of the Genuine Contact Way – a modular approach designed with intention. You can engage with specific modules to meet particular goals in your work and life. When you’re ready to expand your learning, comprehensive Learning Paths are available, including Simplifying Leadership, Participatory Methods that Get Results, Designing Thriving Organizations, Aligning with Your Genuine Self, and Train the Trainer.

A Global Network of Authorized Trainers

Birgitt Williams and Rachel Bolton are authorized Genuine Contact Trainers. They are part of a global network of professional trainers and facilitators who teach the 19 learning modules included in the Genuine Contact Way of Working – including this one. You’ll find a complete listing of upcoming workshop dates – online and in-person and offered in several languages to suit your learning preferences in the International Genuine Contact Organization’s upcoming events calendar.

Terms & Conditions of Registration