In any team, keeping the organizational machine well maintained and in proper working order requires having the right people in the right position to leverage their skills and abilities. In a well-oiled machine, the entire organization is being leveraged to their full potential, allowing everyone to build upon each other’s work.
Why should strategic planning be any different?
We were struck by this thought during our work last week with Experience Kissimmee in Florida as we helped facilitate the creation of their strategic plan.
Experience Kissimmee, a travel and tourism authority based in Florida, is comprised of a well-respected staff, executive leadership, and a board of experienced industry professionals. Individuals across the entire organization have unique perspectives and expertise based on how and where they contribute to the success of their organization.
Already a well-tuned machine, it was a seamless transition into a well-tuned planning process designed to leverage every individual of their organization during the appropriate phase to glean from their expertise and create a better plan.
Without being esoteric and to help you think about how you can best leverage the expertise of your team during planning, here’s a set of tips you can leverage as you design your own planning process:
- Leveraging your people at the right place and the right time: Experience Kissimmee thought about how to best leverage the experience of their staff. They landed on a flow that allowed their individual contributors to develop their SWOT and current state, have the executive team draft the plan, and then have the board react and provide feedback to the bones of their strategy.
- Allow your team to play their position: Every player on your team has a unique perspective. Let it be heard. Allowing everyone to play their position builds a level of respect across your team.
- Level-set expectations and communicate clearly: The executive team and board were very thoughtful and intentional about communicating expectations to their team during the process. Forward facing these expectations created better outputs during each phase of the process.
Think it sounds efficient? It was. It was the gleaming example of how being thoughtful and strategic about layering during the planning process makes the plan inherently more strategic and impactful.
Nice work, Experience Kissimmee!
