Strategic planning meetings can accomplish more than creating a roadmap for the organization. Some additional benefits include:
Effective deployment of resources
Increased productivity
Strong team development
Solving major problems
Here's an example from my past that includes all of these. I worked for a company that conducted strategic planning every year around budget time. They would invite about 50 managers to participate in the process. Before we went to the meeting, we would participate in a focus group (see Chapter 7, Focus Groups) to identify the top challenges facing the company.
After the top issues were identified, we were assigned teams. Our job title had absolutely no bearing on what team we were assigned. For example, the year that leadership development was identified as a top issue, I wasn't on that team. At the time, I was the human resources director and leadership development would have been my responsibility.
Teams would work together to do...