STRATEGIC PLANNING: Strategy exists to serve the goals and values of the organization. It is a means, not an end. In today’s environment of uncertainty, strategy is iterative, adaptable, and dynamic – it includes defense and offense.

It is a means, not an end. In today’s environment of uncertainty, strategy is iterative, adaptable, and dynamic – it includes offense and defense.

Great strategies achieve two outcomes:

1. Increased Resilience – so you can take a hit and recover swiftly
2. More Options – so whatever scenario occurs, you can pivot and adapt

Gone are the days when a pre-fabricated “one-size-fits-all” model of planning can be used for any organization. Gone are the days when organizations could almost photocopy plans from a few years earlier and put them in a new binder to gather dust on a shelf while the “real” day-to-day work went on.

This is a new frontier for most organizational leaders and for strategic planners. Great strategic plans today are sophisticated and flexible pieces of work. Producing this sort of plan requires skilled facilitation. We believe that the wisdom needed for developing a great strategy already exists within the boards and management teams we support.

Our work is focused on gathering that collective wisdom and distilling it into a clear and compelling plan. It is the artistry and subtle choices of the facilitators that yield the potential of the participants in the planning process and the quality of the strategy that emerges.

We believe there are only a handful of people in the country who can do this kind of facilitation really well, and at SAS, we have dedicated our careers to being the very best.