Implementing a Process and Planning Cycle
Industry – Government/Technology
Capability: Strategic Planning – Implementing a Process and Planning Cycle
The Situation
Our client is a support organization within a large Federal agency that is responsible for providing critical infrastructure and services to support its agency’s evolving mission. Consequently, the organization encompasses a large, highly skilled workforce that is grouped and sub-grouped by various functional areas and un-related domains of expertise.
In 2012 the organizational leadership faced mandatory personnel cuts and a promise of a tighter fiscal environment for both the near and long-term. Our client required a planning process that focused on long-term strategic solutions without losing sight of short-term realities.
The Strategy Bridge Solution
Our facilitators first worked with both the leadership team and the workforce to assess the current operating reality in order to provide the team a 360 view of the organization. Then, leveraging the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence framework and our strategic planning expertise, we:
- Planned, prepared agendas and materials, and facilitated multiple leadership strategic planning offsites and senior leadership meetings.
- Facilitated a collaborative dialog and kept the discussion focused and productive during offsites where vision, mission, goals, and objectives were defined and agreed upon.
- Synthesized the team’s ideas, conclusions and recommendations into a set of documented next steps to help the organization’s leadership move forward with implementing the recommendations, as well as prepare for the next strategic planning cycle.
The Outcome
Strategy Bridge’s facilitation and coaching enabled the leadership team to elevate their focus from a short-term operational focus to a long-term strategic focus. The 360 view of the organization brought relevance to the strategic objectives that were developed at the planning offsite, and confirmed that the goals established aligned with the strategic intent. Consequently the organization’s leaders, each representing very different skills and functional expertise, reached consensus on the vision of the future for their organization with a well-honed set of strategic goals and objectives. Over 90 members of the organization’s personnel participated in the initial strategic planning cycle and directly contributed many of the ideas that were implemented at the close of the initial cycle. The team is ready to enter the next strategic planning cycle, building upon their initial strategic planning framework and results.
