You Know The Way Forward—But Do They?

By Tyler Head

Taking a more strategic approach to planning is the best way to execute strategic planning.

We told a light-hearted story about putting together a 1,000-piece puzzle in the previous insight. We paralleled it with a deeper dive into the significant value of leading with a clear picture of success, building and maintaining momentum, and the power of taking action and making necessary adjustments. Those three steps are of the highest priority as you approach a new year, specifically regarding moving people in the desired direction organizationally. The following insight will outline how we approach strategic planning with companies like yours.

We believe the secret to long-term success is how well you actively engage, develop and grow your people over an extended period.

However, we know first-hand that managing the millennial and gen-z workforce is no easy task—a mutual understanding is the way forward. Trust me…I am working shoulder-to-shoulder with a baby boomer, and we are in communication frequently 😉. Nonetheless, we love to help companies like yours develop into companies like that—the kind that can withstand generational gaps, communicate effectively, and thrive exponentially over time.

Because we are passionate about helping companies grow and prosper, we are pulling back the curtain and sharing with you the secrets behind our strategic planning process. There is great benefit in using an objective, outside, third-party facilitator. However, if you choose to go it alone, using the insights below will dramatically improve your likely hood of meaningful success.

Today, we will highlight three parts that we believe make our way of Strategic Planning wildly successful. This consistent success isn’t because of us but is in direct relation to our strategic approach and the way we get everyone involved in the process of creating a shared purpose.

The Setup

Get your day-to-day operational employees in the conversation.

We approach it differently. When you invite the DRYVE team to facilitate and guide you through strategic planning, the setup is as powerful as the execution. Following a strategic meeting with you, the CEO, and upper-level leadership, we help you craft an invitation for ALL relevant parties to come to the table—particularly include someone to represent every department of your organization, from the ground-up, top-down and everything between. Of course, you, as the company leader(s), will help direct us in who needs to be there. Why? Because traditionally, the most critical asset is missing from these conversations—our day-to-day operating employees. We believe it essential to invite relevant parties to the table, especially when it comes to achieving higher overall engagement, profitability, and a healthier culture in the long run. We both know the traditional top-down approach of leadership is dying…And dying fast. 

The Execution

Again, we do it differently. Following the hand-off and invitation to be apart from the CEO, we invite all people present to learn how to participate in the whole process through what we like to call the Triple-C Method (Collaboration, Clarity, and Commitment). We focus on working those three words through the strategic planning session—think: kneading dough.

Following that, we invite and engage in conversation on your company’s mission, vision, and core values. We clarify, if needed, while provoking input from those around the room, which aids in your team’s view of the value, importance, and relevance of these foundational cornerstones of your business in moving forward together. Next, we take a deep conversational dive into what is working and what is not working, and how/where/what we want to capitalize on in the future. Most of this may be old news or already evident as the leaders. Still, the value is exponential by taking this approach as you continue to knead the idea of “we can” with your action and words to your organization on a larger scale—this is a focal point throughout the whole session.

For those who may not believe the “We Can,” the shift begins to happen on a cellular level in this session. Furthermore, it aids in constructing a subconscious buy-in from your people that will ripple throughout the company. As more of your people are invited to lean-in, they weigh in. Then they buy-in, and it’s here where the choice to stay in creates long-distance success. From there, we can highlight with great clarity 3-5 key objectives to move the ball forward in the coming year—but with a much deeper reach into your company than traditional approaches.

The Follow-Up

We do just that, and we do it well. We believe strategic planning is a beautiful, engaging entry point into developing a healthy and high-performing culture. Upon finishing a strategic planning session, we follow up with you and any upper-level leadership you want in the room. We listen intently to your thoughts, observations, and potentially even reservations and share our observations from the session with you. In direct relation to our collaborative approach to Strategic Planning, the way forward for your company is no longer confined in your head and or on the whiteboard in a small conference room but within the minds and coming out of the mouth of 10+ more of your key employees. Where you take them from there is up to you, and we can help.

At DRYVE Leadership Group, we love working with healthy companies and helping them operate and perform at an even healthier level. We love to start with company-wide strategic planning because it immediately exposes many of your people to a collaborative model that is the way forward.

If any of this sounds intriguing to you and you’d like to learn more or would enjoy having a 3rd party guide you through an engaging and meaningful strategic planning session, book a Leadership Strategy Session today.

Or, if you are near Springfield, Missouri, send an email to Randy Mayes or Tyler Head, and let’s sit across the table from one another!

Click Here to see how strategic planning helped the Academy of Hair Design visualize its way forward.

We wish you the best as you find your strategic way forward in the New Year!