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Case Study:
Facilitation of Board Planning Sessions

This hypothetical example illustrates our approach.

Situation:
A company's Board of Directors and executive team is struggling to develop a strategic plan that everyone can support. The company's management has outlined goals for both the long term (3-5 years) and short term (one year) but these goals are expressed in terms that are difficult to measure. Adding to the trouble, a dominant personality is very vocal about his thoughts and biases. As a result, any discussion about the goals is limited. In fact, there is little open discussion and minority opinions are withheld. 

The end result: The strategic plan is approved, even though measuring its success will be difficult.

We've seen this situation before: Boards that are dominated by strong personalities that leave little opportunity for open discussion and debate, or board members who no longer contribute to the board's value to the organization. 

Clearly, this decreases the value the board can deliver to the business. But there are effective, proven solutions to remedy this problem.

Dortch Consulting Group Solution:  

• Prior to the meetings we review your short-term and long-term plans and then interview board members to better understand their perceptions of the organization and the board's role and performance. 

• We then facilitate the meeting to ensure all viewpoints are expressed and discussed. 

• In our follow-up meeting notes we capture the thoughts, suggestions and changes expressed by members.

From strategy sessions to longer off-site meetings, we are well versed in meeting facilitation. We know how to keep things moving, ask the right questions, engage all participants, and steer the discussion - all of which results in greater meeting productivity and measurable results.