Many companies do a great deal of strategic planning and presentation preparation and then go offsite for a few days once a year to establish the company’s goals and direction for the next 12 to 36 months. The executive correctly understand that they needed to engage in this exercise to get everyone on the same page.  It is also an annual perk for the staff involved.

Unfortunately, in our experience, these sessions can be generally useless unless the underlying process is very well developed and executed. There are many traps that can sideline good intentions. In fact, most executives that we have engaged over the years say that they’re unhappy with their strategic planning process. So while they know that strategic planning is necessary, they don’t fully realize the benefits they were hoping to attain from it. Continue reading →