Leading a strategic planning process can be overwhelming to start

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 first because Cecilia brought a ton of experience, and she was really easy to talk to. 

I think another key factor was finding someone who would feel confident and be direct working with strong A-type personalities 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.  Now, four years later,  the future for our entity and staff is very bright.  Cecilia and her team were an amazing force in facilitating our first real strategic planning process.

What’s refreshing about Cecilia is that she has been doing this for a long time and has seen it all.  By drawing comparisons to other industries, business models, or cycles, she reveals things that you just can’t see. And she doesn’t hesitate; if you are off track, she tells you right away. For me, that was a phenomenal experience!

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 process and pushing us to address the harder issues. The strategic planning session was very effective in helping us agree on a new mission statement, a framework for evaluating opportunities and making go/no-go decisions, 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.  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 and increased our confidence – even when we had to say “no”.