Why Use This Approach?

This approach avoids common mistakes in the strategic planning process. Common mistakes lead to strategic planning exhaustion; the futility associated with strategic plan implementation; the challenge of creating buy-in to a strategic plan; rigidity in the plan that doesn’t take a changing environment into account; and the most common mistake of having people feel as though they are doing their jobs plus having to work on the strategic plan implementation.

Strategic planning the Genuine Contact Way is rooted in what works. This approach:

• keeps strategic plan implementation at the core of the strategic planning process rather than limiting the work to just creating a strategic plan
• engages people without leaving them exhausted;
• involves people throughout the organization, developing an understanding of what is in the plan and why, as the plan develops so there is no need to expend energy to get people to buy in to a plan; 
• innovation is built into the plan as an essential part of the functioning of the organization; 
• monitoring for the purpose of timely adjustment is built in; 
• periodic strategic plan refresh is built into the planning to keep the plan alive, viable, and relevant to the environment.

We keep it simple, with simple tools to handle complexity. We recognize that change is constant and any planning needs to take into account a changing performance environment. We recognize the value of conversations and collective wisdom gathered in participatory meeting processes to come up with the best plans, the best way of closing the gap between potential and results. 

Who Needs to Be Involved?

Ideally, everyone affected by the strategic plan and those responsible for implementing it are involved in strategic planning. Some organizations use a whole system approach to involvement, figuring out who has a stake in the strategic plannning, inviting a broad spectrum of stakeholders. 

Formal leaders, managers, and consultants have clear roles in preparing the organization as a strategy focused organization and leading the strategic planning with that intention in mind.

How Does It Work?

Learning in this module is offered through 6 phases of learning, based on the Evolutionary Spiral. One of the multi-use tools that make up the Genuine Contact Toolkit, the Evolutionary Spiral offers a roadmap of your learning and development. Every phase provides the tools and tips for taking your organization through a Strategic Planning process the Genuine Contact Way.

1. Discernment: You will begin by establishing working definitions that capture your perceptions of what strategic planning is and is not. You’ll establish your concept of a strategy focused organization or culture, developing clarity about what you need to set up for successful strategic plan implementation. You will be presented with five beliefs for the purpose of considering their implications for your strategic planning efforts within the performance environment of complexity and constant change.
2. Readiness: In this phase, you will learn what you’ll need to do to ensure sufficient readiness in an organization for strategic planning. You’ll be guided in developing a readiness checklist complete with actions that you can take towards readiness for the strategic planning.
3. Engagement: You will be taken through a series of activities to engage you with the art of strategic planning. You’ll increase your confidence and  capacity for leading strategic planning and working with the strategy focused organization. In this phase, you will  learn the tools that you will use during construction of your plan. You’ll come to a new understanding of working with the weaving together of people with process with strategic planning technology.
4. Construction: In this phase, you practice taking a group of people through constructing a strategic plan with the tools and tips you have learned. You’ll come through this phase with increased competency in leading an organization through strategic planning. You’ll create a presentation to orient teammates to the way you want to do strategic planning, a presentation that will become part of your own toolkit for your work in the future.
5. Implementation: Through role play, you’ll have the opportunity in this phase to explore what is necessary for implementation of a strategic plan, exploring obstacles and opportunities. This phase provides clarity about what needs to be put in place for successful implementation of a strategic plan. You will add a presentation about implementation to your toolkit for your work in the future.
6. Monitoring and Adjustment: You’ll look at the difference between performance management and monitoring & adjustment. In this phase you will identify what monitoring needs to include and why. If monitoring shows that the implementation of the strategic plan is off course, adjustments will need to be made. You’ll learn what is meant by a strategic plan refresh if the decision is that the plan itself needs adjusting.

The module is designed with follow-on facilitated peer-with-peer mentoring circles to support your ongoing learning with Strategic Planning the Genuine Contact Way. These mentoring circles include group discussions facilitated by a Genuine Contact Trainer about what has been learned while applying your learning so far.

Anna Caroline Türk is a senior consultant and coach at TruthCircles, a Dalar Cooperation Partner. She has applied this approch of Strategic Planning since 2012 in German and international organizations and can therefore attest to the power of this approach and tools. Her sweetspot and passion is to blend strategic alignment and implementation with genuine conntections and ongoing leadership development for the people involved.