Strategic Planning and "Really Do It!" Implementation

Empowering Collaborations That Generate Real-world Lasting Results--Higher, Faster, Stronger....

Generating real results that last over time, including profitability and productivity, is no longer as cut and dry as slashing expenses and people. Much like a competitive athlete, individuals, teams and entire organizations are driven by real-world demands to be lean enough to move with speed, agile enough to turn on a dime, and still strong enough to get up and grow with a nanosecond's notice.

Our clients seek to enhance profitability through the most consistent resource--their people. We assist in designing consultation and educational processes that will enlist the entire individual as a contributing team member and leader. Then we take it the next step to introduce methods to enable people to "REALLY Do It!"--to turn strategy and goals into strategic action.

"Great companies make something happen above and beyond what their people contribute as individuals, just as great leaders organize people to accomplish more together than they could individually."

Rosabeth Moss Kanter in On The Frontiers of Management , p. 6.

WalkTheTalk To Turn Strategy, Vision, and Mission Plaques Into Achievements

I have witnessed the power of state-of-art strategy, meaningful mission statements, heady visions, heartfelt values, and smart goals--but their power is released only when they were backed with actions.

Otherwise, they remain great-looking plaques on the wall or fallen dreams and empty words that can sink spirits and deplete energy.

I co-labor with clients to develop compelling and meaningful strategy, mission, vision, values, and goals and to turn them into proactive individual and organization-wide strategic actions. Proactive strategic action, in the short and long run, is one of the most critical factors for ensuring that you reach your individual and organizational goals.

It takes strategic action to turn goals into achievements. We work with clients who want to move strategic plans, mission, visions and values, and goals into strategic actions .

Winner's Way methodology provides a system for developing a clear understanding of the strategic plans and changes, the reasons backing them, the implementation plans including timing and sequence, the critical role that each individual and team will take, and armed with a plan for making midstream changes if needed, clients have a vision of their desired destination and a map for moving off the starting line and maneuvering predictable detours or obstacles.

The Winner's Way system also provides them with the ability to deal effectively with unpredictable challenges that can blindside any of us. With The Winner's Way, you can prepare yourself and others to confront mistakes, and even failure, head on and to get back up and into the fray.

Strategic Planning and Facilitation That Moves People to Strategic Actions

Our clients face the challenges of competitive business in fast-forward times. They need strategies for designing and introducing strategic changes designed to achieve their goals while grounded by the core values that will keep the organization strong over the long haul. Our customized strategic planning process includes designing and maintaining an organizational structure that will be ready to forge ahead to implement strategic growth goals.

Trained as a Psychologist to mediate rugged engagements in work and family settings, I also enjoy the process of facilitating difficult discussions, negotiations, and new member selections. My work includes facilitating Board retreats where strategy, direction, and new members were under consideration.

I have worked with organizations and advised managers and Boards on strategic planning for business challenges including:

• determining and implementing strategic mergers and acquisitions including facilitating mergers of cultures,

• facilitating challenges inherent in changes including changes of leadership, processes ("the way we do things around here"), or organizational structure,

• designing creative and profitable strategies that enhance core competencies and, when appropriate, introducing and building new strategic competencies to power clients toward their strategic goals,

• introducing new Information Technology systems and readying people for the fallout inherent in such large-scale change,

• restructuring organizational design, including leadership shifts and downsizing,

• determining and implementing strategic culture change, including implementing a "team culture" where personal leadership and team membership are the norm.

I only work with associates with similar depth and breadth of experience who are expert at communication and facilitating difficult communication and negotiation and organizational development processes.

Strategic Planning Customized to Engage Hearts, Minds, and Energy Across The Organization to Move Strategy from Plans and Goals to Strategic Actions.

In The Zone Peak Performance Consulting clients strive to design competitive strategies that will power them toward their strategic goals. We believe that the best-made plans are nothing more than dreams if they are not propelled by strategic actions that can turn them into achievements. We provide our clients with a proven process for designing customized strategic plans designed to engage people so they have the desire and resources, including mindsets, to turn strategic plans into strategic actions.

To move strategy from words on a paper, rallying cries mouthed without conviction, or unfounded rumours that distract everyone, we co-labor with clients to present and implement strategic changes in a manner that enlists enthusiastic buy-in by people across the organization and even those outside of the formalized organizational structure. This includes building a culture of team with stakeholders at all levels--customers, clients, shareholders and advisory Boards.

It starts with ownership. We get to know the people and teams who make up your culture, across organizational levels and titles. Through a series of individual and, when appropriate, team meetings, customized based on the organization and its goals, we get to know what people really think. These confidential dialogues provide the information for developing the critical themes that, when addressed, will bring you and your group or organization to higher levels of achievement where you can up productivity, profitability and scores, and pride.

Questions will be customized based on initial dialogues. For example--

• What are the strengths as well as areas to develop to take this team or organization to the next level?

• Which strategies have been successful and which ones met with less than expected results?

• What are the strengths as well as areas to work on re strategy; what are the threats to any particular strategy being successful; what are the real or potential obstacles to implementing a particular strategy?

• What leadership styles work and which ones don't?

• What does 'team membership' mean on this team?

• What organizational values are critical for success? What are the behaviors that express these and what are the behaviors that are in conflict with them?

• What supports accountable follow-through and what gets in its way?

• What are you willing to do to contribute to continued growth, success, and a positive culture?

• What is important to you to do during your time in this organization? What legacy do you want to leave?

Strategic Planning Take Planning Strategically. Then we craft a plan, a customized design of events, topics, and learning experiences that address the common themes identified in the meetings. We revise the plan with the client to accommodate the group's needs and logistical issues including whether the group will be more stressed with an offsite or onsite location. We review the experiences, including the agenda and questions that the group will be posed during their strategic session. Then materials and the agenda are finalized and the doing begins.

It starts with communication . We go beyond the planning process to assist clients to develop communication plans to drive the message throughout the organization. Based on the organizational culture, we collaborate with our clients to craft messages introducing strategy and change in a variety of formats. This enables people to hear and understand the changes and plans and why their individual contributions are critical to the continued success of all individuals and to the entire organization.

It takes a village, or at least a team where everyone knows and accepts who is on first and why. We work with clients to build "team cultures" including team membership at every level. Our systems model, based on research on peak performing teams in competitive work and sport settings, enables clients to build a team culture capable of implementing the plan and dealing with challenges and recouping from unforeseen factors that can sideline, or detour, any strategic change.

Accountability is key. Even prior to communicating the plan or changes designed in the strategic planning process, our clients develop strategic goals and time frames to power them along their journey. These include accountability checks, predetermined times and means for each person to check in with the team to ensure accountable follow-through and to enlist team support for dealing with unpredictable challenges that are built in to today's ever-changing world.

Celebration is critical--and injects joy and purpose to long sieges of work and implementing new changes that can rattle even the most steady. Accountability includes high fives for milestones reached and challenges overcome. We design innovative celebrations, including the small cost-effective daily ones like a "breather" at the water cooler or today's equivalent. With goals that motivate and built-in recognition processes, our clients build cultures where achievement is the norm and working toward it is enjoyable. In doing so, they create organizations where people want to spend time, to do business as employees, customers, and vendors. And feeling good becomes an internal motivator that keeps people moving forward and coming back.

Follow-up is critical to follow-through. It is too easy to plan, feel inspired, and then get so busy with the work stuff that you "do nothing" to follow through. We prefer to design in a follow-up checkpoint to ensure accountable follow-through and we build in time to consult with individuals and teams to iron out kinks in the implementation of change or strategy or new ways of working together.
We want to see you REALLY Do It!--to turn your strategy into achievement. In the words of Gretzky the Great--" an assist is as good as a goal"--we enjoy providing the assist.


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