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Why Hire a Professional Strategic Planning Consultant?

Companies, who are focused on their trajectory of growth, don’t give strategic planning a second thought. They know from experience that strategic planning is mandatory to accelerate growth. Apart from themselves, they have seen others too – companies that have leveraged the power of strategic planning for a fresh and independent perspective, including the latest tools and methodologies for smart decision-making.

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Who needs strategic planning?

While it’s true that multi-national companies may find it easier to deploy strategic planning services, it is the smaller companies who actually can benefit more from it, as they are the ones who need to chart a strategic future course for fast-paced growth from a healthy ROI.

An experienced consultant can provide the right direction to the team, guiding them to a thorough, objective and rational strategic planning approach.

How does a strategic planning initiative add value?

An outside consultant comes without the emotional baggage of in-house teams. They add an objective view – completely free from the office culture, thinking, prejudices, politics, personal sensitivities and groupthink. The consultant serves as a strategic thinking facilitator, providing a sounding board for the management.

What is the role of the strategic planning consultant?

Have you heard of rubber-stamping the status quo?

It relates to people who take the safe way out by nodding their heads and sanctifying the management’s proposal. Companies that understand the true value of a strategic planning initiative want them to be candid, conduct a critical evaluation and give honest inputs to usher in positive change.

Here are a few things that you should expect from a Strategic Planning Consultant of merit:

  • Coming with a Process: They must come with an effective process to evaluate and understand the company, its competitive position, strengths and weaknesses, including a methodology for developing comprehensive solutions.
  • Digging deep: It is important to maintain the integrity of the process so that it does not become a regular drill to be done mechanically. Answering challenging questions, some soul-searching, can shed light on the reason for the company’s lack of performance.
  • Throw sacred cows out of the window: It is mandatory to the success of the strategic planning process that key issues are exposed and not shoved under the carpet. These issues should be discussed in a mature, professional, objective and rational manner. Anything relevant to the company’s affairs should be taken up.
  • Challenging the status quo: The organization’s performance can only be improved by taking up issues boldly, and by making radical changes calmly.
  • Consultants must call a spade a spade: It is essential for them to be open about their views. Discussion should be directed towards organizational, individual or group issues, whatever they might be.
  • Keeping what works: Every business has things that are working. A consultant should recognize these aspects and see that they are retained.
  • Throwing out what doesn’t work: The consultant must without thinking about his profit, take an objective stand on issues that need to be plucked out of the system. Only then can a fresh perspective be introduced.
  • Ownership and involvement: The consultant must patiently find out all the pros and cons of the organization and get an insight into the client’s business as well. Only then will they be able to embark on building a solid planning strategy to bring the company back on track. The consultant can also add steam to the planning team by working alongside them, doing market research, analysis, formulating and evaluating strategic options, helping make financial projections and the like. From Strategy to Action Plan: Planning strategy is not about making a fat, impressive looking document that stays put on the shelf to be looked at in awe. It must come up with a detailed action plan that can be executed without delay.

Evaluation through scheduled follow-up meetings:

Even the best strategic planning needs to be followed up to ensure its success. At every follow-up meeting, project owners will be accountable for progress and results through a documented report. Sticking to follow-up meetings will allow for course corrections if required. The consultant must act as a watchdog, making sure that the execution stays on track.

Make it a point to hire a planning strategist, especially if you are just starting out or have become a mid size company having high growth plans.

Final Thoughts:

A strategic planning consultant works with various organizations and is aware of the workings of the industry. Bringing them on-board will surely help the in-house team, especially if the company is short on resources. There are many benefits of teaming up with a strategic planning consultant – for, they will save you not only time but money as well.

Strategic Planning is essential for every company to counter the competition and rake up the ROI. But it needs to be initiated by an expert consultant. If you are looking out to engage one, please feel free to call us – CerveauSys Strategic the best Business Strategy, HR & OD Consultants in Pune/Mumbai to assist you in Strategic Planning for a fast-paced growth.