Our Strategic Planning Process
Almost without exception, today’s leaders and their teams need to focus more on developing a shared vision for their organization than simply designing an organizational development strategy. Our approach to strategic planning is values-based and highly customized, carefully designed to be unique to your needs, challenges and organizational imperatives. We will help you build on your existing strengths and inspire the extraordinary effort and sustained commitment required to deliver on the future you desire.
Since 1992, we have facilitated hundreds of "Visioning and Strategic Planning" sessions for a wide variety of clients and backgrounds including government, education, business and industry, health care, community groups and / or partnerships groups, not-for-profit and many others.
While we tailor our approach to meet the unique needs of each client, our methodology generally follows four key phases:
Phase One: Pre-Work and Data Gathering
Beginning with a meeting with a steering committee we conduct an environmental scan, relevant research, a SWOT or SOAR analysis, review existing priorities, past strategic plans, and relevant data to ground the process in evidence.
Phase Three: Strategic Focus Development
We work with leadership teams, staff, and working groups to refine core pillars, goals and strategic actions and ensure alignment with organizational priorities and available resources.
Phase Two: Stakeholder Engagement
We engage stakeholders through tools like community focus groups, surveys and facilitated workshops to gather input and identify key areas of focus.
Phase Four: Strategic Plan Finalization
Finally, we consolidate all inputs into a concise, actionable plan that includes a reporting framework for tracking progress and integrating strategic priorities into decision-making processes.
Most strategic planning processes are heavy on aspiration and light on activation. They produce polished documents filled with lofty priorities, but too often those plans gather dust while the organization gets pulled back into business as usual. Our approach breaks that pattern. We believe strategy should be alive — adaptive, measurable, and deeply connected to daily action. That’s why our process doesn’t just help you identify priorities and goals; it builds the systems and habits that keep those priorities in motion long after the planning retreat is over.
By integrating the P-A-C-T model — Purposeful, Actionable, Continuous, and Trackable — we help organizations transform strategy from a static exercise into a disciplined cycle of learning and improvement. The result is a plan that encourages bold thinking without losing touch with reality. It’s structured enough to guide decision-making, but flexible enough to evolve as conditions change. Most importantly, it creates a shared sense of momentum — teams move forward with clarity, confidence, and accountability.
In short, this is strategic planning designed for organizations that want to do more than plan for the future — they want to shape it.
What Makes Us Unique
Applying an LSI Leadership and a GSI Group style approach constructive lens to strategic planning ensures the process is not only analytical but also growth-oriented and inclusive. Constructive thinking styles. These mindsets, attitudes and behaviours foster open dialogue, balanced decision-making, and creative problem-solving.
This lens helps participants engage authentically, challenge assumptions productively, and align around shared goals. By reducing defensive patterns and amplifying collaboration, it creates an environment where diverse perspectives drive innovation. The result is a strategic plan that is both visionary and practical, grounded in shared ownership and capable of delivering sustainable success.
"Peak Experiences provided great facilitation support and direction for our Board in the development of our new 2020 - 2023 strategic plan. He kept our thirty four member board and executive team highly engaged with the use of video technology during a pandemic. If you are looking for support to deepen your planning approach, we highly recommend Frank.
Jason MacLean, Past President
Nova Scotia Government Employees Union
A Constructive Approach
