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It is surprising how often important events, such as strategic planning discussions, are poorly planned. This is all the more surprising when the costs of the event (the venue, attendance by a number of senior people - some from far bases - and loss of routine time) and the long-term impact of the discussions are considered. This article offers some pointers on how to ensure that the strategic event is well-planned and effective.

TIME FRAME FOR PLANNING

Planning for an event should commence well before the intended date. The following factors can influence the time required to finalize the event:

The participants: are they from one location, or nationwide, or international? Are they from the company only, or do they include visitors/speakers from other organizations? (Where company participants from one location only are to be invited, the planning time is shortest (possibly as short as 4 weeks); where participants are drawn from different organizations and physical locations, planning time is longest (this can be as long as 3 - 4 months).
The venue: is it a popular venue? (Finding an open date may be difficult).
Preparation required: if, for example, a formal environmental scan is to be conducted as background to the discussions, adequate time should be allowed for this purpose.
Invited speakers: if it is intended to invite a high-profile speaker, he/she may only be available a couple of months into the future. This is especially true when it is intended to invite a senior politician or government employee.
The Facilitator: is a suitable Facilitator for the event available on the intended date?

In general, the shortest possible planning horizon for a purely internal event where the participants are in one physical location (or relatively close by) is probably of the order of two weeks. At the other end of the spectrum, an event drawing on a variety of participants (possibly internationally) may require planning to commence up to one year before the intended date.

THE NATURE OF THE EVENT

The nature of the event has an influence on the planning process. Consider whether the event should be:

An information-giving event
A strategic planning event
A conference, at which information is shared.

The nature of the event determines the composition of the participants. If it is to be a strategic planning event, issues of participation arise. Who are the stakeholders to the planning? In general, a stakeholder may be defined as:

Any individual or group who will be influenced by the decisions taken, or who may influence the nature of the decisions.

Stated differently, stakeholders hold authority, power and influence over the decisions, and should be made participants to the process in some way. This creates the difficulty of escalating numbers of participants. A serious planning meeting within a single organization should ideally have no more than 30 participants (10 - 20 is an ideal number). If the stakeholders exceed reasonable numbers, subsidiary events or follow-up events should be considered.

The nature of the event also determines the physical arrangements required for the event. A strategic planning meeting should ideally be held in a private space, with U-shaped seating so that the participants may actively interact with one another. Events which are aimed more at conveying information than on interaction, would typically require auditorium-style seating where the emphasis falls on the effective use of audio-visual aids and on speaker visibility.

THE OBJECTIVES FOR THE EVENT

There is probably no single issue of greater importance than defining adequately the objectives for the event. Robert Mager, the great guru of instructional objectives in the 'sixties and 'seventies, used to say that "if you do not know where you are going, you are likely to end up somewhere else and not even know it". A variation of this is: "If you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there".

Objectives for an event should be specific, and should indicate the expected outcome of the event. A statement such as "to discuss strategic issues" is not specific enough. A more specific set of objectives might be the following:

Main objective:
To determine business strategy for the XYZ Company for the next three years.

Subsidiary objectives:
1 To determine the likely effects on the business of (a, b and c)
2 To determine possible strategies to optimize business conditions
3 To determine a follow-up action plan for implementation before the end of the year


A set of well-defined objectives for an event will:

Assist in visualizing the nature and format of the event for planning purposes
Indicate to participants what they can expect and should achieve
Act as guidelines to the Facilitator as to how the group should be facilitated
Assist the organizers in determining the success of the event
Ensure a better quality output.

DETAIL PLANNING

Prior planning should include consideration of the following details:

Dates (and alternative dates) - determined by the availability of facilities and of the participants

Venue - determined by factors such as accessibility, facilities and availability of suitable dates. A special venue, such as a nature reserve or other special environment is often chosen, especially when overseas participants are invited, but may require early booking to ensure availability.

Participant invitations - these should go out in initial format as soon as objectives and dates have been determined in order to enable participants to set aside the dates. At this early stage, the programme is usually not finalized, and further documentation should go to participants when the programme has been finalized. The second set of documents should also include any prior reading matter, maps to the venue, and for participants from outlying locations or overseas, the travel arrangements.

Administrative support - there should be adequate arrangements for administrative support both to participants and organizers. This usually takes the form of secretarial services (ideally provided by a secretary from the organizers' organization). Such support is required before the event (sending out invitations, making travel arrangements, ensuring that stationary supplies and equipment are provided), during the event (taking messages, providing photocopies, liaising with the venue management, assisting delegates with amended travel arrangements etc.), and after the event (ensuring that planning documentation is sent to all participants, updating contact lists and managing the various invoices arising from the event).

Programming - the program should be drawn up to ensure adequate time for the individual items, especially where intensive group discussion is envisaged. A common mistake is to load the program too heavily or to include items not directly related to the objectives ("...since we will have everybody together we might as well include...."). Considerable program difficulties can arise where a large number of speakers (for example all regional and branch managers) are asked to provide a series of short inputs. It is often assumed that 12 speakers, each speaking for 5 minutes, can be accommodated within the space of an hour. This just does not work, since
The program should also be flexible enough to allow for cases where an issue unexpectedly assumes serious dimensions, and needs to be talked through before the rest of the program can be considered (this happens frequently where the stakeholders perceive a threat in a proposed approach).

Subsidiary events - if any subsidiary events are considered (such as plant visits, game drives and the like), these should be fully discounted in the programme. A game drive commencing at, say, 17h00, implies that the formal programme should end at 16h00 in order to allow participants the opportunity to change and prepare for the drive.

Equipment and furnishing - the venue management will have to be advised in good time what seating arrangements and audio-visual equipment will be required. Despite prior arrangements and agreements, the meeting administrator and the Facilitator should carry out a check on these issues well in advance of the starting time of the event.

Role clarification - it is extremely important that the event organizer, the senior managers involved in the event and the Facilitator agree beforehand which roles they will play during the event. For example, the most senior decision-maker at the meeting will often wish to participate in the discussions without his/her comments being taken as final decisions. In such a case, the Facilitator will need to provide a clear indication that, in discussion, all participants carry equal weight, and will have to manage carefully the extent to which the discussion becomes skewed because of other participants deferring to the senior decision-maker. By the same token, if a Facilitator is used during the course of the event, his/her authority over the meeting needs to be agreed beforehand - it can easily happen that a senior participant wishes to enforce alternative approaches and models, which makes the task of the Facilitator well-nigh impossible.

Moving away from the talk-shop - no strategic event should be held without very clear action planning at the end. The program should include adequate time for follow-up planning, which should consist of specific actions designed to ensure that issues decided upon are taken further. Nothing de-motivates and irritates participants more than, at the end of the event, hearing something like the following: "Thank you for your valuable inputs. These will certainly be considered. Please drive home safely".

FACILITATION OF THE EVENT

Most organizations prefer to engage an independent Facilitator for strategic events. This has a number of advantages, including the following:

An independent Facilitator stands outside the politics of the organization, and has nothing to gain by supporting a particular organizational viewpoint
An outside Facilitator is not part of the organizational hierarchy, and therefore does not have to defer to any individual or group within the organization
An experienced Facilitator will be able to handle conflicts and differences of opinion in a manner which will maintain a positive climate during the session
The Facilitator will manage the programme and the various discussions in a manner which ensures that all the planned business is attended to in the available time
An experienced Facilitator will be able to add value during the event (by providing perspectives arising from his/her experience with similar issues in other organizations) and after the event (by providing the principal with a broader strategic perspective on the discussions and strategic impact of the decisions
A Facilitator, as manager of the discussion session, can create a climate in which all the participants feel free to express their opinions without having to defer to seniority. By the same token, he/she can free up the more senior members of the participants to participate actively in the debate without having to worry about maintaining order
An experienced Facilitator can elicit a broad spectrum of opinions on a particular issue, and then draw these together to find a consensus approach which is likely to be acceptable to the majority of the participants.

CONCLUSION

In our experience, a deep level of wisdom and insight exists within an organization. A strategic planning session is a fairly quick and inexpensive way in which to tap this insight, and to design strategies and approaches which have a good chance of success, since they tend to be viewed as "our solutions" and not as "their solutions". However, considerable planning is required to make the session productive and positive, and if planning is poor and execution of the event is flawed, it can have a surprisingly negative impact. We trust that this short article has given you some pointers in the right direction.

StratFac offers a comprehensive and professional strategic facilitation service, from conceptualization of the event through to planning follow-up actions after the event. We can be contracted to handle any project from a simple one-off facilitation, to a complete strategic planning exercise, including planning events and organization redesign in support of strategy.

Contact us.