Strategic Planning Can Change Your
Organization’s Future

Part One: What’s the Value of Time Together?

Management teams who regularly invest time together to plan the future tend to be far more successful in running profitable and growing companies. Setting “uninterruptible” time aside and taking your whole executive team out of the day-to-day operations to an off-site for two to three days may seem like a hefty investment. In the next few months we will explore why this is important and how to use that time most effectively.

Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock in 1984 and more recently, Power Shift, said this about planning:

“There’s a current of thinking today which says that because things are changing so rapidly, it’s impossible to have a strategy. All you need is to be agile and react to immediate change. That is wrong. It allows someone else to determine the constraints under which you’ll operate. Organizations with a strategy will set the terms of competition.”

The Value of Time Together

Here are seven reasons why the investment of time together is so valuable and fruitful.

1. Refreshment – When a team gets away from the daily grind of tactics, pressures and interruptions, it’s like a breath of fresh air. Conversations are richer and interactions tend to flow in new ways.

2. Perspective – It is only by getting away that you can truly see what’s been going on. By stepping back and scanning the numbers, the economic trends, the accomplishments and the breakdowns, an objective view emerges like an outside observer would see it from 50,000 feet.

3. Course Correction – A relaxed state of mind, along with time to reflect as a team, makes it obvious what’s working and not working. When all eyes are seeing the same information and team members have the time to share ideas for improvement, consensus can quickly be built for decisions and new directions.

4. Imagination – Experts will tell you that creativity is stimulated by such things as brainstorming conversations, critical thinking exercises, color, new surroundings, physical movement and materials for drawing. Many of these elements are naturally a part of a strategic off-site and do contribute to “out of the box” thinking.

5. Learning - Experts say real learning takes place when there is a slight level of stress but not overwhelming pressure. Being away from the daily pressure of multi-interruptions, meetings and emails creates focus and the ability to really think. Learning is heightened in a small group environment with such discussions as, “what lessons did we learn from this?”

6. Alignment – When people are away together they interact differently with one another. Social conversations take place more easily which leads to understanding and relationship building. Time spent together at mealtime and breaks from the conference room can add depth and meaning when it comes time for making critical decisions together.

7. Focus – In a well-planned and well-facilitated annual conference, leaders come away with strategies that give both a context (we are doing this because this is where we are going) and a tactical focus (we know what each of us is doing Monday - who’s accountable for each initiative)

About the Author: Elaine Siciliano Morris is principal consultant and founder of Sea Change Inc, an organizational effectiveness firm based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. A frequent keynote speaker and workshop presenter on leadership, corporate culture and personal growth, Elaine works with leaders and their teams to create productive and rewarding work environments. More information about her is available on her website: www.seachangecoach.com, or contact Elaine by phone at 972-407-0648.