There are many ways to approach strategic planning or organizational development initiatives.

In my experience leading and managing these projects, only multiple approaches can bring great results. In other words, only coaching or advisory don’t lead to great outcomes.

For this reason, I use a comprehensive approach that combines coaching one-to-one (with the CEO, COO, or the Project Leader), team coaching, team facilitation, assessments (individuals and as a team), advisory. Sometimes, I include training if required (for example, on strategy).

The first step is to have a strategy call with you and/or the project leader, to clarify your goal and get your initial thoughts about what happens and what you have identified as potential root causes that led to the current problem.

After that, I create a potential road map to tackle the challenge and get your expected results. Once we agree on the process and the proposed framework, we begin the work together.

The first step is often a combination of individual interviews, and if applicable, some team assessments.

The interviews are very important to have a private conversation with the project leader, project members, and other stakeholders (other business units, or clients if applicable) to understand what they think about the strategy, change, or M&A initiative).

The outcomes of these interviews form the input for the next steps and define the scope of work moving forward.

The next steps and duration vary based on the problem, goals, and findings. Generally, we aim to meet together in person if possible or through online team sessions. Sometimes, it’s a combination of both.

For strategic planning, the process normally takes from three to six months, however, sometimes we condense the work in only a few weeks although not always ideal for giving enough time to people to generate more ideas and build business cases.

For M&As initiatives, the framework includes cultural assessments, teamwork for the post-integration, and behavioral changes. It may take from three to twelve months.

Finally, for change projects, it depends on the scale of the initiative but it might take up to twelve/twenty-four months.