by Glenn Ebersole
Strategic planning is an awesome and powerful process that sometimes gets a bad rap because of some bad experiences people have had when engaging in some form of strategic planning meetings. Many times the combination of personal agendas, absence of open minds, and preconceived judgments about the strategic planning process can turn strategic planning meetings into real disasters. And frankly, there are many reasons why so many strategic planning meetings are unsuccessful. Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach has developed a list of the top 10 reasons why strategic planning meetings fail. And the Top Ten Reasons are:
# 1. Restricting strategic planning to once a year at some annual event. Strategic planning must become a habit to enhance the performance of your company or organization.
#2. Failing to conduct research or “to do your homework” prior to strategic planning meetings. For strategic planning meetings to be effective, the attendees must have information to make sound strategic decisions.
#3. Developing such an overly ambitious agenda with insufficient time to complete. This will cause frustration among the attendees and may also cause mental fatigue and loss of interest.
#4. Inviting too many people to your strategic planning meeting. If there are too many people, there is a possibility of confusion.
# 5. Assuming that everyone at your strategic planning meeting thinks like the leader of the meeting. A good leader will know that this is not true and will not structure the meeting to their preferences.
#6. Failing to use an effective professional facilitator. The absence of an effective facilitator is an invitation to a dysfunctional or failed meeting.
#7. Having too tight a structure for the strategic planning meeting. It is essential to build in some fun, games and breaks.
#8. Failing to identify and address issues before moving on and/or before the meeting itself. A good leader will make sure issues are cleaned up so they do not negatively impact the strategic planning meeting.
# 9. Ending your meeting without a commitment from the attendees about the new strategic direction. And also failing to end the meeting on a very positive note.
#10. Totally ignoring needed follow-up after the meeting. A fatal mistake is underestimating the amount of effort it takes to execute the developed strategic plan.
I trust that I have provided some insightful information about the reasons strategic planning meetings fail. If you would like to learn how to ensure that your strategic planning meetings and related efforts will not fail, and how strategic planning can benefit you and your business or organization, please contact Glenn Ebersole today through his website at www.businesscoach4u.com or by email at jgecoach@aol.com
Glenn Ebersole, Jr. is a multi-faceted professional, who is recognized as a visionary, guide and facilitator in the fields of business coaching, marketing, public relations, management, strategic planning and engineering. Glenn is the Founder and Chief Executive of two Lancaster, PA based consulting practices: The Renaissance Group, a creative marketing, public relations, strategic planning and business development consulting firm and J. G. Ebersole Associates, an independent professional engineering, marketing, and management consulting firm. He is a Certified Facilitator and serves as a business coach and a strategic planning facilitator and consultant to a diverse list of clients. Glenn is also the author of a monthly newsletter, “Glenn’s Guiding Lines – Thoughts From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach” and has published more than 225 articles on business.
To find out more about the benefits & rewards of effectively working with a strategic thinking business coach, please contact Glenn Ebersole through his web site at http://www.businesscoach4u.com or jgecoach@aol.com