Approach

The overall approach is one in which the facilitator takes the senior management through a process that results in the “best” plan. This approach is in contrast to the more traditional consulting approach where the consultant writes the plan after interviewing the senior managers.

 

The difference in the two approaches is that the process approach focuses on crystallizing what the senior managers, as a group, believe should happen, rather than producing a document that supposedly contains this information. The plan that really gets implemented, regardless of the approach taken to create the plan, is the one that is in the minds of the senior managers.

The process has three major steps....
- why the organization exists and what goals must be achieved to be successful.
- the significance of the strategic factors.
- what strategies and actions must be taken to meet the goals.

Although the process is structured, it is also flexible and is adapted to match the requirements of the organization.

Benefits

The benefits that normally accrue to an organization which uses this approach include....
- personal commitment by the participants to achieve the goals. - evaluation of a full range of strategic options and the selection of the combination of options that best meet the goals.
- concrete and specific results.