Strategic Questions for Strategic Planning

If they aren’t planned and facilitated effectively, strategic planning meetings can easily become one or all of the following:

• Snooze fests
• A game of Liar’s Poker
• Boxing matches
• Coffee klatches

Not one of these is worth your time or money. To base your strategy session on substance and get started on a real plan, be sure you gather the following data from your partners:

• Do you want more of a specific type of work?
• Do you want stronger people to do the work?
• Do you want to rid yourselves of certain clients? Can you afford to?
• Are you content with the money you make?
• Do you want to work more or less?
• Will your current managing partner remain in that position for the foreseeable future?  Has a successor been named or even considered?

It’s critical to find out what the firm’s owners want, and then determine how those desires intersect with marketplace and operational realities. This isn’t all you need to do to chart your firm’s course, but if everyone can agree on the answers to the questions above, you’re on the right road.