Are you investing enough in Leadership Development and Strategic Plans?

by Darcy Bien

As many of you know, I have been supporting strategic planning processes for more than 25 years.?It’s been a blessing to work with passionate and dedicated leaders. About ten years ago, I made a conscious decision to solve the biggest challenge with strategy… implementation!?This is the real work that begins after the plan is completed – not something my clients love to hear. ???The reality is this: execution and managing the change gives you the real competitive advantage.

We want to double in five! Are you sure?

A frequently mentioned goal we hear from clients is about growth, “We want to double in five!” Love this ambition… but are you sure? That means revenue growth and structure investments.

Scaling your company requires investment in both the People and the Plan.

Working with nearly 400 companies for strategic planning and around 1,000 leaders, we have seen the good, the bad, and the crazy! Cyndi and I developed a “growth culture” model to help companies understand what it takes to be successful through this growth trajectory.?Overall, our clients implement 2.2 times better than the industry average. Admittedly, the bar is pretty low since more than 67% companies fail at strategy.

Experience shows us that successful companies share three essential traits.

1. Healthy Leaders – people work for people, and grounded holistic leaders are critical in today’s job market.
2. Winning Strategies – the best return on our investment is to focus on the opportunities, starve the problems. This takes saying “no”, so you can say “Yes!”
3. High Performing Teams – we want each individual’s commitment to a group effort, clear purpose, and roles.

We are moving into another challenging cycle, so it’s critical to update your strategy.

We are seeing strong backlogs and pipelines down by 30%. Companies are holding back on spending due to economic pressures, geopolitical realities, and banking concerns. This is a critical opportunity to update your strategy and make sure you have strong leadership to manage the message.

One option to consider is a Strategic Plan “Jump Start.”

I created Jump Start as a quick and affordable service for companies to move forward in a mere month. Priced at only $3,500, here are the steps:

1. Pull together your current leaders and the strategic planning information. Audit what you have and what don’t have.?Feel free to download our Strategic Planning Audit tool. Here’s an example of recommendations following an audit.
2. Gather your key leaders together and discuss the results, what is working, and what’s not working. “Look up” and see what others are doing and what tools are out there to help. I will facilitate a half-day Strategic Training session onsite, an investment in your people, and make key recommendations to move forward.
3. Decide where to spend your time and corrective actions. If you work with me on the “Jump Start,” I will conduct two follow-up sessions to ensure you make the improvements.

SPECIAL OFFER: The first three individuals who commit to my Strategic Jump Start will receive a FULL DAY (versus half day) of training/working session.

Are you investing enough in your People and Plans??If you are not sure, give us a call for a free 20-minute chat. We would love to provide guidance and our free advice. ??