Strategic Planning For Dummies®

Chapter 19. Ten Ways to Ruin Your Strategic Planning Meeting

In This Chapter

• Improving the success of your planning meetings

• Avoiding typical pitfalls of strategic planning meetings

The three words strategic planning retreat provoke reactions anywhere from sheer exuberance to ducking for cover. In many organizations, retreats have a bad reputation because it's easy to step into one of the many planning pitfalls. Holding effective meetings can be tough, and if you add a lot of brainpower mixed with personal agendas, and you can have a recipe for disaster. That's why so many strategic planning meetings are unsuccessful. The sections in this chapter focus on the ten guaranteed ways to ruin your next meeting.

Refusing to Use a Facilitator

If you were having a party for 100 of your closest friends, assuming money was no object, would you cook for all of them or hire a caterer? More than likely, you'd hire a caterer. Not because you're incapable of whipping up potato salad, burgers, and homemade fries, but because it's more fun to sit back, relax, and enjoy the party. Besides, a caterer is trained and paid to make sure that everything goes smoothly. Why take on the extra stress?

A strategic planning meeting is no different. You or someone else in your organization are more than capable of running the meeting, but it's not the best approach. By hiring a facilitator, you can be fully engaged in the strategy and planning and leave meeting process and structure to someone else. Furthermore, hiring ...