Virtual Program:
Facilitating Strategic Planning in Business
Great Facilitators of Strategic Plans in Business Have Consulting, People,
Business and Systems Skills
Common complaints about for-profit strategic plans are that they are
either 1) based too much on the owner's fantasies and not enough on facts,
or 2) focused only on the owner's facts about the business, but not enough
on the facts surrounding the business.
A great strategic planning facilitator for businesses has more than people
skills and knows more than process skills. She also knows how business
organizations work, the major functions within them and how they are connected.
That knowledge ensures a planning process that is based on sound strategic
thinking about the realities inside and outside of the organization.
This highly accessible, state-of-the-art program and its prerequisite
guide and support you to develop the strong skills that are necessary
to produce relevant and realistic strategic plans that get implemented
in business.
To understand what we mean by strong knowledge in business facilitation,
see the topics in the
Syllabus.
Benefits to You
- Increased people, organizational, systems and consulting skills
- Enhanced credibility with businesses and planners
- Stronger working relationships with planners
- Increased effectiveness in facilitation
- Tools and templates for all phases of facilitating strategic
plans in business
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- Core skills in coaching oneself and others
- Close and confidential network of peers
- More rewarding and joyful facilitating!
- Certification from Consultants Development Institute
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Audiences for This Program
This program is for highly motivated people, working inside or outside
of business, who seek to develop strong strategic planning facilitation
skills, along with increased people, organizational, systems and consulting
skills, for example:
- Facilitators who want to add business organizational skills to their
process skills
- Experienced business leaders who are considering consulting as their
next career
- Board members or employees who want to facilitate high-quality strategic
plans for their organizations
- Investors who want to select high-quality facilitators for businesses
they invest in
You do not have to come to the program with a current planning project
in order to greatly benefit from this program. You can also be working
on a planning project, even a project that is already into the middle
and end-phases of the planning process. In those situations, the
program's peer coaching group process still focuses on wherever you are
in the planning process.
From This Program, You Will Be Able To:
As a result of completion of this program, you will be able to:
- Customize the planning process to ensure relevant and realistic strategic
plans for your business clients
- Guide planners to ensure careful preparation from which to develop
their strategic plans
- Cultivate full participation of planners to produce plans with strong
commitment and ownership
- Stimulate strategic thinking that is grounded in realities in and
around the business
- Contribute, as needed, to discussions about the business’s governance
and management practices
- Guide planners through discussions, debates and healthy conflict to
fully supported decision-making
- Ensure planners produce a strategic plan document that is practical,
useful and easy-to-reference
Abundant Sources for Your Learning During the Program
- Virtual methods of access to content, coaching, peer exchange and
sharing
- Vast range of practical guidelines, tools and templates for facilitating
strategic plans, including from our text, Field Guide to Strategic
Planning Facilitation in Business
- Nine virtual modules, each including:
- Self-scheduled 1-2 hours of readings from the text and recommended
articles between meetings (see the Syllabus
of topics)
- 90-minute, virtual seminar among participants and faculty, to
discuss and reflect on the content from the readings
- 90-minute, virtual peer coaching group meeting among participants
and faculty, to coach each member on applications of the content
- Ongoing peer coaching exchange in private group emails among participants
and faculty
- Comprehensive Learning and Development Journal to cultivate deep reflection
and learning from all modules in the Program
For more information about each of these sources and the unique philosophy
of learning in this program, see About CDI.
(We also can provide this as in-house program for your organization.)
Time Required to Complete the Program (Virtually or In-Person)
The program can be provided virtually or in-person at your location
or ours. Plan to spend a minimum of 36-45 hours of effort in-person
or in the virtual nine modules in the program (equivalent to an intensive
4-day workshop). The length of the program depends on the cohort's preferred
scheduling of the seminar and peer coaching group meetings. (There are
five to six members of a cohort.)