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Make Strategic Decisions via Productive
Business Strategy Sessions
The Challenge
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Crane Performance
Siding, Inc.
 Challenge: Deliver a fresh approach to creating company strategy.
 Outcome: An innovative process, which included: a disciplined pre-planning model to focus the strategy session, and to assure participants would arrive ready to make decisions and to take follow-up action.
Results: Eight (significant and actionable) strategic initiatives were identified; progress on those initiatives has been rapid and purposeful. The effects on the business have been dramatic.
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Crane’s experienced management team was looking to create an effective strategy and a strong action plan for the year ahead. To support this, Crane wanted a fresh approach for their strategy session, including a process that went beyond standard brainstorming or SWOT analysis, while taking less of the team members’ time.
Crane set out to find a strategic consulting firm that combined real-world experience and understanding of day-to-day business pressures. But that wasn’t enough; Crane also wanted fresh perspectives and skilled facilitation. And, the president wanted a consultant who had the credibility to challenge Crane’s management team.
The Outcome
Kelly Allan Associates, Ltd. (KAAL) was recommended to Crane by the president of another company who had found KAAL to be the “most practical consultants he has ever worked with.”
Crane brought in KAAL to design and facilitate their strategic sessions:
- KAAL met with executive team leaders to identify goals and needs.
- KAAL developed simple, yet meaningful “prep-work” for participants. The preparation included research, written briefings on marketplace realities, data on customer issues, data on crane operations, analysis of financials, etc.
- Participants came to the strategy session with a clear understanding of the issues to be discussed and the decisions to be made. The strategic meeting lasted just under two days, and included time devoted to planning the follow-through on the decisions they had made.
- Throughout the session, KAAL helped the group stay focused on the quality of the decisions they were making while maintaining speed of working through the agenda. From its decades of business experience, KAAL was also able to supply relevant and helpful perspectives to help Crane further improve the decisions they were making.
The Results
At the end of the strategic meeting the executive team had identified and made decisions on eight strategy initiatives.
- Two of the initiatives called for immediate implementation.
- Two were long-range initiatives.
- Two involved conducting immediate, additional research so the team could make better informed decisions three months hence.
- It was decided that the remaining two initiatives, although strategic, were not priority objectives.
The team formed two task forces to address the initiatives that required immediate implementation. KAAL worked with the task forces, as appropriate, and they accomplished their goals within six months.
The KAAL strategic meeting process was used again six months later. This time, meeting length was cut to 1.5 days. Again the group made clear and tangible progress on immediate and long-term initiatives, and created processes for implementation that would start the very next day, “back at the office.”
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“Your help with our strategy meetings has been excellent, to say the least. Your involvement has saved us time and prepares us to come to the meetings ready to have meaningful discussions and to make strategic decisions – and, then, to start acting on them right away. It really helps to have a facilitator who is experienced in the realities of business and the challenges of day-to-day business management. Without a doubt, one of the most critical accomplishments of the year was putting together a consistent strategic meeting plan and, most importantly, implementing it successfully.”
~ Jim Ziminski, President.
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