STRATEGIC PLANNING Our Roadmap Guides Your Course
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Facilitationʼs Strategic Planning Roadmap Guides Your Course
STRATEGIC PLANNING
Our Roadmap Guides Your Course
© 2021 FireFly Facilitation, Inc., All rights reserved.
Kimberly Douglas, CEO & Founder www.fireflyfacilitation.com
IAF Certified™ Professional Facilitator | Master kdouglas@fireflyfacilitation.com
INIFAC Certified Virtual Facilitator™ 678-388-0448
Facilitationʼs Strategic Planning Roadmap Guides Your Course
In a recent PWC survey* of 6,000 executives on the value of strategy in their organization, only 37% of the
respondents said their company had a well-defined strategy and a clear sense of where it's heading. So to
reverse that statistic, 63% are unclear of what route their organization was taking strategically.
Think about your organization… and when was the last time your strategic plan was reviewed?
Considering the uniquely changing workforce and the impact on organizational structure in the past couple
of years, it’s likely time to take a look to see if you've got your GPS positioned to accommodate this rapidly
changing environment. Where to start? Let me serve as your guide…
I am Kimberly Douglas, CEO & Founder of FireFly Facilitation, Inc. I have worked with hundreds of teams
over the last 25+ years in numerous Fortune 500 companies. I am a recognized expert in helping leaders
create a compelling strategic plan and building the strong team to make that vision for success a reality. Let’s
begin your journey to strategic planning success.
THE FIREFLY STRATEGIC PLANNING ROADMAP
There is a well-known saying: "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." I have
found that the most effective teams are exceptionally clear on two things—where they are
going and how they must work together to get there. In taking hundreds of teams through the stra-
tegic focusing process, I found this metaphor to strongly resonate with people:
The road we are on is our Mission.
If this organization ceased to exist, what
would the world lose?
The mountain in the distance is our
Vision for success
Three years into the future, how will we know
if we have been successful in living up to our
mission?
The guard rails are our Core Values.
How will we commit to work with each other
to reach that mountain?
Mile markers are the key Milestones.
How will we measure our progress against
the vision and course-correct if needed?
Facilitationʼs Strategic Planning Roadmap Guides Your Course FIREFLY’S 5 STRATEGIC TURNING POINTS To switch gears for a minute… Have you ever been on a trip and not known the route? You knew you had to stay focused, but oncoming lights blurred your vision, other bright lights made it difficult to see, perhaps it was raining. It caused you to slow down and not make optimum time to your location. Did you know that one of the reasons the population of fireflies appears to be diminishing is because of ambient light or "light pollution"? There are too many distractions. All these other bright lights keep fireflies from performing at their best. Can the trip and firefly scenario be true for the people on our own teams? Absolutely. If we don't have a clear, defined and common vision of success shared with our team and to focus our time, attention, and resources on, what do we do? You're probably aware that the value of strategic planning is not only deciding what you will do, but also deciding what you will not do. When done well, strategic focusing can be one of the most exciting and effec- tive team development tools available to a leader. By making these 5 key changes to your next annual strategic planning session, this FireFly Facilitation roadmap and helpful templates will guide you in developing a plan that gets the whole organization aiming in the same direction…and drives your results to even higher levels of success! Mission: Change #1: Begin at the End Have you ever really thought about what would happen if your organization no longer existed? What impact would it make? I was trained as a strategic planning consultant to begin with a very clear picture of where you are today. "How can you effectively plan for the future without the hard, cold reality of your current state?" some ask. I say that most leadership teams and their staff are acutely aware of the difficulties of their current state. My experience has shown that they are better served to think aspirationally first. Now, in almost every case (the exception being when there are extremely divergent views of the current state), I begin with the end in mind, creating the vision for the future. Once this picture is clearly in each per- son's mind, I assure you a more targeted, accurate assessment will follow.
Facilitationʼs Strategic Planning Roadmap Guides Your Course
Vision: Change #2: Hone (in) on the Range
Instead of talking about a mountain for the vision, today I refer to it as a mountain
range. The vision for future success is rarely a singular point in the future. I used
to spend quite a bit of time during and after a strategic planning session working
with the board or a sub-committee to refine a mission and/or vision statement
that would be "suitable for lamination." I think it is much more important that
everyone in the organization be in agreement directionally and less to be in
agreement literally. I have found that the conversation sparked is more important
than the actual statement we developed (which always ended up reading as
though it had been created by a committee… because, in fact, it had!). In
essence, per our combined vision, we knew we had it when we got there.
Core Values: Change #3: Open it Up
Road trip - everyone get on board! It is more important than ever to get as much
involvement as possible from the entire organization. Strategic planning should not
be the sole province of the board of directors and a handful of senior staff. The more
you can involve—and I mean truly involve—in the creation of the plan those who will
be accountable for actually executing it, the more commitment (as opposed to mere
compliance) you will obtain. People like to see their "fingerprints" on something they
are being charged with carrying out. And with the many virtual capabilities available
today, we can reach your team, whether local or abroad, and we can accommodate
anywhere from 6-8 people or 180+. But best of all… we can talk to them, see their
faces, get their input, and, as I said… truly involve them in the process.
Facilitationʼs Strategic Planning Roadmap Guides Your Course
Milestones: Change #4: Plan for Less, Get More
Do you still coast through a five to ten-year cycle for your planning horizon? Do
you track your progress to stay on course? I now recommend that my clients look
no more than three years into the future to set their vision. Change is happening
much too quickly for there to be accuracy in planning beyond that. There isn't
"visibility," as you might hear the pundits say. People truly can't envision a longer
future. Twelve months ago, could you—or anyone—have predicted the world we
find ourselves in today? Set the vision two to three years out; then couple that with
a very concrete, practical action plan for the next twelve months setting measur-
able results and clear accountabilities for who will champion each milestone
along the way.
Change #5: Swat the SWOT
This change may be heresy in some strategic planning circles. Still, I have switched
from the conventional SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) anal-
ysis to the lesser-known but much more effective Force Field Analysis for assessing the
current reality. I simply facilitate the identification and discussion of those forces work-
ing for and against our success in making this vision a reality – and this sets the stage
for developing our strategic priority areas. By now, I expect youʼre excited to get
started on your own journey. I have included a couple of templates on the next
pages to begin defining and visualizing your own Picture for Success. However,
you may need some assistance along the way… donʼt forget, Iʼll always be avail-
able to be your guide in planning and facilitating your teamʼs strategic plan.
Facilitationʼs Strategic Planning Roadmap Guides Your Course
Company XYZ | Our Picture for Success
Our Mission
Our mission is to...
Core Values
Core Value #1: Definition | Core Value #2: Definition | Core Value #3: Definition | Core Value #4: Definition
Vision
Our vision for success 3 years into the future is...
Our Strategic Priorities for the next three years are...
Priority #1 Priority #2 Priority #3 Priority #4
Kimberly Douglas, CEO & Founder www.fireflyfacilitation.com
IAF Certified™ Professional Facilitator | Master kdouglas@fireflyfacilitation.com
INIFAC Certified Virtual Facilitator™ 678-388-0448
© 2021 FireFly Facilitation, Inc., Atlanta-based expert facilitator helping leaders create compelling strategic plans, build strong teams, address and manage change, and develop the skills for innovation across North America. All rights reserved.
Facilitationʼs Strategic Planning Roadmap Guides Your Course
Create your 12-month Action Plan
Our Timeline: 1/1/21 – 12/31/21
Strategic Priority
1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr
Areas (SPA)
SPA #1 Milestone #1 Milestone #2
• Metric #1
• Metric #2
• Metric #3
SPA #2 Milestone #1 Milestone #2 Milestone #3
• Metric #1
• Metric #2
• Metric #3
SPA #3 Milestone #1 Milestone #2 Milestone #3
• Metric #1
• Metric #2
• Metric #3
Strategic Priority Area: ________________________________________ How might we measure our success?
____________________________________________________________
Work Group Names: ____________________________________________________________
_____________________________ _____________________________ ____________________________________________________________
_____________________________ _____________________________ What are the major deliverables or key milestones to achieve success?
_____________________________ _____________________________ What needs to be accomplished? By when? By whom?
_____________________________________ __________ __________
What does success look like on 12/31/21 _____________________________________ __________ __________
(what are we trying to accomplish)? _____________________________________ __________ __________
____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________ __________ __________
____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________ __________ __________
____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________ __________ __________
____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________ __________ __________
____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________ __________ __________
Kimberly Douglas, CEO & Founder www.fireflyfacilitation.com
IAF Certified™ Professional Facilitator | Master kdouglas@fireflyfacilitation.com
INIFAC Certified Virtual Facilitator™ 678-388-0448
© 2021 FireFly Facilitation, Inc., Atlanta-based expert facilitator helping leaders create compelling strategic plans, build strong teams, address and manage change, and develop the skills for innovation across North America. All rights reserved.Facilitationʼs Strategic Planning Roadmap Guides Your Course
If you're thinking about scheduling an annual
planning meeting in the coming weeks…
let Kimberly serve as your guide.
Kimberly, CEO/Founder of FireFly Facilitation Inc., is a recognized
expert in helping leaders create a compelling strategic plan and
building the strong team to make that vision for success a reality.
She has worked with hundreds of teams over the last 25+ years, in
such organizations as Coca-Cola, Home Depot, CDC, Habitat for
Humanity, and even the U.S. Marine Corps. Kimberly holds a
master of science in industrial/organizational psychology, is a Senior
Certified Professional in Human Resources, and a Certified Professional Facilitator | Master. Prior to found-
ing FireFly over twenty years ago, Kimberly was Coca-Cola's Organization Effectiveness leader for the USA
Marketing team; Director of Consulting with the Hay Group; and served in HR leadership roles in the health-
care, hospitality, and telecommunications industries.
In her critically acclaimed book, The Firefly Effect (Wiley), Kimberly shares tools, techniques, and insights to
help every leader build a team that works together collaboratively and creatively for stronger business per-
formance in these challenging times.
Create the roadmap to drive success
"Kimberly was a pleasure to work with on two projects. One was a major
undertaking to develop the health system's strategic plan and to create the
roadmap to drive success. She worked with us over two years in this process
and was wonderful. The second was a less intensive project, but very politically
charged and involved high level interpersonal conflict. Again, she was delightful
to work with. A true professional."
Mary Campbell, Director of HR Vibra Healthcare
A fresh and insightful perspective
"Kimberly did an outstanding job helping our organization to develop and align
our HR strategy for the future needs of our fast-growing business. Kimberly
challenged our team to push the envelope, think outside the box and avoid
complacency. Kimberly did an outstanding job at connecting the dots for us with
a fresh and insightful perspective. Lastly, Kimberly did her homework about our
business and its services, which greatly helped to provide a great service to our
team."
Randy Patterson, VP, HR – North America, Recall
*Survey Source: https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/gx/en/unique-solutions/capabilities-driven-strategy/approach/research-on-strategy.html
Kimberly Douglas, CEO & Founder www.fireflyfacilitation.com
IAF Certified™ Professional Facilitator | Master kdouglas@fireflyfacilitation.com
INIFAC Certified Virtual Facilitator™ 678-388-0448
© 2021 FireFly Facilitation, Inc., Atlanta-based expert facilitator helping leaders create compelling strategic plans, build strong teams, address and manage change, and develop the skills for innovation across North America. All rights reserved.You can also read
