Together we can harness the power of your executive team in addressing sticky issues, and setting and committing to transformative action.
The concepts and techniques embodied in facilitated planning sessions have been around for several decades. I first encountered the approach in a business context with IBM Canada in the early 1970s. Since that time, the techniques have been refined and new technologies introduced, making it a powerful and effective way to reach consensus and generate commitment to a shared direction with an assembled group of individuals.
My reference to “strategic” facilitation is grounded in having the assembled group focus first on determining “the right things to do,” before determining “how to do those things right.”
Underlying principles of a facilitated group session
The effectiveness of any plan is the product of its quality and its acceptance. A superior strategy to which few are committed is just as ineffective as a mediocre strategy that has full support. To help ensure both quality and acceptance are generated, facilitated sessions are based on three fundamental principles:
“Planning cannot be done to or for an organization; it must be done by the responsible managers.”
– Russell Ackoff, Corporate Planning
- The success of the efforts of a group of responsible individuals is a result of their collective knowledge of the organization and its requirements, and their individual attitude towards those needs.
An individual’s commitment to a plan is self-generated and follows naturally as a consequence of involvement in the planning activity.
- Involvement in the group thought process makes participants co-authors of the plan and generates their commitment to its implementation
One must divide to conquer.
- A pre-determined structure and a designated process leader keeps a group focused on the issue at hand — time is not wasted on peripheral issues. Dialogue around objectives is not interspersed with action plans, problems with solutions, or strategies with tactics. The group produces a far more logical and meaningful plan in a dramatically shorter period of time, dealing thoroughly with each topic before moving on to the next
Using these three principles, the facilitated session generates a broad agreement – or consensus – on the dimensions of the topic under discussion, and a commitment to the conclusions drawn from the dialogue.
How I contribute to the result
I help clients tackle the tough issues by creating a retreat environment that encourages:
- open information sharing,
- freedom to deal with the “sacred cows,”
- working towards definitive conclusions, and
- building personal commitment.
I bring a strong action orientation. Planning sessions are intensive and productive working sessions, deliberately designed to “turn up the gas,” and stretch the participants in terms of output and learning.
Follow this link to review my biographical background, client experience, testimonials, and commitment to the profession.