Facilitator’s Tips: Strategic Planning in Times of Change

It’s been a period of rapid change, turmoil, and uncertainty for many of my clients. When will things settle down? Will they settle down ever? As we near the end of the fiscal year for many clients, some groups I have done annual strategic planning and leadership retreats with are struggling with a big question:

How do we sit down to do strategic planning when all of our goals and milestones seem to be fluid?

While the pace of today’s change may seem to be unprecedented, over the years I have worked with many groups facing big changes in their organizations and industries. And we got through it!

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Strategic Planning in Times of Change – How to Plan and Acknowledge the Challenge

If your group is in a period of change and wanting to do strategic planning, here’s what I recommend.
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1. Identify what’s not changing. The challenge in times of change is that we over-emphasize what is new or what is not clear. It takes up space in our minds because it’s new, and it’s scary. It’s natural to overlook what is staying constant. As a facilitator, I find a way to bring the group’s attention to what is not changing, and suddenly you have a clear picture of the foundation on which you’re building.
2. Make space for airing concerns. You gotta get the concerns out on the table! I find that many groups are hesitant to allow space for a group to process their personal reactions and challenges with the change—because they fear the meeting will become a “venting session.” I recommend timeboxing this segment and agreeing to guidelines in advance, but I don’t recommend skipping it. It can be a helpful step to allow a group to focus and make the shift to more strategic thinking.
3. Reset goals/roles/expectations. These are the three elements that keep a group grounded. If a group has experienced layoffs or significant turnover, it’s particularly important.
4. Group agreements. I have talked before about the importance of drafting group agreements, or the otherwise unwritten rules about how a group commits to behaving. It’s particularly helpful in times of change to discuss what may need to be adjusted to meet the group’s shifting needs.
5. Use scenario-planning. When the future path is not easy to predict and map out, then have the group identify three or four possible scenarios for how the next one to three years will look. Based on each scenario, identify next steps and plan accordingly.
6. Consider a team assessment. Team assessments are especially useful in times of change and can help a group become more resilient. I have used several assessments over the years, and I recently became certified in the Extraordinary Teams assessment. It’s a great tool to align a group around a common set of goals and behaviors—contact me to find out more.

 
As always, let me know what ideas this sparks for you, or what tips you’d add to my list.