Do We Hire a Strategic Planning Facilitator?

Do We Hire a Strategic Planning Facilitator or do we do it internally?

So, the big question is “Does your organization hire a Strategic Planning Facilitator, or do you save money and do it internally”? Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantage of both scenarios.

Some very large companies and non-profits don’t need to hire a business consultant to guide them through the strategic planning process because they have the luxury of having someone on their staff that is specifically trained to deal with strategic initiatives and strategic planning. Lucky them, as these strategic leaders already have the skillset to help guide them through their own strategic plans and keep them on track to make sure all their objectives are being met, or pivot when necessary. Saying that, I know quite a few businesses that still hire a strategic planning facilitator during their strategic planning sessions. The optimum reason leadership takes this route is it’s nice to have a voice from outside the organization to help keep everyone on track and moving forward during a very arduous process.

The big reason non-profits and businesses leaders build their own strategic plans is ultimately cost saving. By taking this route you may save $10,000 -$30,000 or even more for more complex strategic plans. I encourage people to ask - Is the presumed savings really a savings? Strategic plans can be very difficult and without a business consultant you can easily get stuck, which can be a huge time waster. I have even seen strategic plans get completely shelved, or stalled because organizations can’t think their way through the process. So, while it can be a huge cost savings, it can also cost you money and time in extra staff hours, or worst, be labelled as incomplete. An incomplete will most certainly cost you money as your business will not be able to realize all the great cost saving and revenue generating ideas that your organization could have seen from your strategic plan.

So why hire a business consultant, or a strategic planning consultant to help you with your strategic plan? First and foremost, a strategic planning facilitator should have the experience and education to help guide you through a very arduous process. It’s very easy to get stuck during a strategic planning process and it’s the business consultants job to unstuck your team and point you in the right direction. Strategic planning consultants are big picture thinkers and have the ability to ask the right questions that will get your organization the answers you are looking for to create an effective strategic plan. Strategic planning consultants can also act as good mediators and make sure good healthy discussions are happening throughout the process. Most importantly, the strategic planning consultant will have experience writing strategic plans and they will make sure you have a detailed document that includes your mission, vision, values, internal and external threats, opportunities and clear measurable objectives that will set your organization up for success. A good business consultant will also set good KPI indicators for your organization, give direction and follow-up with leadership on a regular basis to make sure you are hitting all your targets and are successful. I recently worked with a non-profit from San Francisco, California that saw tremendous value in having a business consultant follow-up with them on a regular basis to make sure their stratgic plan was on target.

Do you hire a strategic planning facilitator, or business consultant to help you with your strategic plan, or do you go alone? There’s really no right or wrong answer. Yes, you could save some money, but ultimately a strategic planning consultant can take the workload off your plate and make sure a good viable plan is created. An effective strategy and business plan is critically for the growth trajectory of your business, or non-profit and one of the most important exercises your leadership team can give to your organization. Spending money on a good strategic planning facilitator can be really good money spent and set you up for future success.