Can CEOs Facilitate Strategic Planning?

Strategic planning with the core leadership team is critical - but can CEOs act as effective facilitators?

Not if the CEO wants to participate!

Facilitating and participating at the same time is tough for anyone - and if you’re the CEO, forget it - people still react to you as their superior.

Strategic planning is a critical activity of all organizations. Properly conducted, planning sessions can galvanize the leadership team to common objectives. Done poorly they can leave executives demoralized and head the organization into choppy waters.

Who Should Facilitate Critical Strategic Planning?

So if the CEO should not facilitate - then who?

Selecting an internal facilitator from within the leadership team hobbles that individuals ability to both facilitate and participate.

A Board member as facilitator presents an even greater array of challenges for freewheeling brainstorming and sensitive input from members of the leadership team. The power imbalance is too severe.

The best choice for facilitator is an external consultant - skilled in facilitation - and generally knowledgeable in the organizations sector but not associated with the organization, members of the Board or leadership team.

The Skilled External Facilitator is Best

A skilled external facilitator can raise issues that are being avoided and point out dysfunctional behaviors. They can gather sensitive input in advance of the meeting from other executives and members of the Board. This input may be critical but may otherwise not be raised during working sessions for fear of attribution.

A seasoned facilitator can bring a wealth of group processes and activities to help scope issues, brainstorm options, looks outside of the box, make decisions and build consensus.

They can raise those sensitive issues discovered in preparatory work, steer questions with a fresh perspective and keep discussions on track while encouraging all members of the leadership team for their input. An outside facilitator can level the playing field between the CEO and the other members of the team - and manage any conflict.

Let the Passion Flow

Planning sessions - the best planning sessions - come with heated debate and passionate discourse. The facilitator needs to ensure that this passion comes forth from every member of the team - not just the CEO.