Leading a strategic planning process can be a daunting task, overwhelming to start, chaotic and unproductive, new territory for you

Many organizations do short-term strategic planning: they plan for three years, then reassess where they are before deciding what to focus on next.

We wanted a very powerful, bold vision to guide our mission into the future, and we are indeed much stronger and more sustainable because we took the longer view.

We chose Focused Momentum over several companies we interviewed for a variety of reasons. First, Cecilia brought a ton of experience, and she was really easy to talk to. We knew this project would require an intimate relationship with the consultant we hired. Deep down, we felt we would be happy to work with Cecilia and her team, in part because of her personality.

I think another key factor was someone who would feel confident and be direct working with a physician leadership group. It takes a certain personality to be able to navigate strong A-type personalities that are, you know, associated with physicians. And we felt, and were correct in believing, she could do that. 

Our founder is a classic entrepreneur; he has a founder's strategic mind and seems to operate from a gut-feel, strategy-guy approach. He struggles to translate his thoughts into a business plan.  Using the Focused Momentum approach, we pulled those great ideas out of his head and built a plan the entire team could implement.

Clear direction for strategic planning and a really good focus on the big picture.

Great follow-through.

The Focused Momentum team facilitates conversations within the group without derailing them.  They kept the group on track and allowed us to formulate our thoughts and objectives.

I realize our strategy session with Focused Momentum set us on a path to consider a different future than going it alone.  More than once, we could have been distracted, but each time we stuck to our plan and attracted a great acquisition candidate.

Now, four years later,  the future for our entity and staff is very bright. That was our objective when we first met with Cecilia and her team.  They were an amazing force in facilitating our first real strategic planning process, and this work sowed the seeds of a wonderful harvest.

As my career has evolved, I have brought Focused Momentum along. In my last three organizations, she has helped me establish a common vision and a clear path forward with each new team. Cecilia has helped me make order out of chaos so that I could lead.  

Great strategic framework! Cecilia has the best strategic mind I have ever worked with. 

Cecilia does a terrific job guiding us through the planning process and pushing us to address the harder issues. The strategic planning session was very effective in getting agreement on a new mission statement, a framework for evaluating opportunities and making go/no-go decisions about them, and initiatives for programs and development. 

The strategic clarity we now have has really boosted our team's performance because we have a documented plan. In our environment, we can get distracted easily because it's so complicated. Having a documented plan has really helped people focus on the task at hand.

Focused Momentum’s process guided us to reconnect with our mission and clarify our target market. This helped us evaluate what the client was asking us. Previously, we focused so much on what the client wanted to buy from us that we diluted our ability to deliver on our mission and core business focus.

Once we refocused on our target audience with a clear view of what we would and would not do for them, it became easier to position ourselves against competitors. This process increased our confidence that we were headed in the right direction – even when we had to say “no”.