How to plan a strategy workshop

Usually, the reason for a strategy workshop is that decision-makers in the top management of a company have the vague feeling: "We have to do something or change something so that we can achieve the desired success in the medium and long term." But it is still unclear what needs to be done. So a strategy workshop is scheduled.

Why should the workshop take place?

Whoever is entrusted with the preparation of a strategy workshop must know its occasion. For example, if the company does not yet have a strategy, one must be developed. If, on the other hand, the existing strategy is to be reviewed, the priority is to monitor its success. And does the company want to develop its strategy further? Then the focus is on assessments of market developments or technical developments.

Sometimes the strategy discussion is not about strategy at all. This is often the case, in particular, when operating results are declining or the decision-makers have the feeling: Something is fundamentally going wrong. People often talk about the need for a new strategy. But in fact, the players are looking for a quick solution to a problem that is only partially understood.

What do you need to consider?

Once the occasion for the strategy workshop is known, its planning can begin - by asking yourself the following questions, among others:

Aim of the workshop

• What is the result or goal to be achieved and is it achievable?
• Which target/interest groups need to be considered?
• What signal should be sent to them?

Workshop framework

• Which people should be invited?
• When should the strategy workshop take place?
• What data base should be available at the meeting?
• What data and information still needs to be obtained?
• How does it come to budgeting, release of activities and costs incurred due to the potential decisions?

Necessary reconciliations

• Who needs to be involved in the planning in advance?
• What are the expectations of the notified participants for the workshop?
• How is communication going to stakeholders who are not participating in the workshop? 

Open up the strategy process?

The viability of strategic decisions depends heavily on the quality of the underlying information and thought models. Therefore, workshop planners should - if possible - open the strategy development process to outside influences.

This starts in your own organization by not only involving people who need to be involved because of their function. Ask yourself: Which people should participate in the workshop so that the intended goals are achieved?

It is usually advisable to involve the following groups of people in the opinion-forming and decision-making process associated with strategy development:

• Decision maker - in other words, the people who ultimately call the shots in the organization qua function,
• Knowledge carrier - i.e., the people in the organization who have a sound technical and experiential knowledge of the issues involved in strategy development (e.g., related to the needs of the target customers, existing IT structure),
• Experts - i.e. external consultants who, for example, have in-depth know-how about (anticipated) future technological development and/or market development,
• Multipliers - in other words, the people in one's own organization who, once the strategic decisions have been made, have to communicate them to the employees in everyday operations, for example, and win them over as comrades-in-arms.

Companies often proceed according to the maxim of secrecy - especially when strategic decisions have to be made due to past failures. Consultants are then often commissioned to bring in missing know-how while maintaining confidentiality in order to remedy deficiencies. This makes sense! Under no circumstances, however, should decision-makers forget to involve representatives of their own organization in the strategy work, since they - unlike external experts or consultants - know the strengths and weaknesses of the company, for example in the areas of innovation, customer orientation and product development. In addition, knowledge carriers, for example, are more supportive of strategic decisions if representatives of them have been involved in the process.

Hire neutral workshop facilitators?

The participants in strategy workshops usually have a different view of the problem due to their professional biography and function in the organization. This means that they have different assessments of what is necessary, sensible and expedient, and thus reach different conclusions. Accordingly, it is important to have a neutral person who moderates the opinion-forming and decision-making process so that it ends with strategic decisions that are supported by all participants. 

To the author: Kevin Pfander works as a strategy and change consultant for the management consultancy Dr. Kraus & Partner, Bruchsal near Karlsruhe, which supports companies worldwide in developing and implementing their strategy (www.kraus-und-partner.de).