Strategic Planning
WHAT IS STRATEGIC PLANNING?
The abundance of ideas within organizations can create complexity and a sense of confusion. The strategic planning process enables us to navigate this complexity and the multitude of ideas and opportunities, unravel them, identify and prioritize the best ideas and share a common vision. Subsequently, this process allows for the development or consolidation of a range of coherent and effective tools such as action plans, financing strategies, business development strategies, communication strategies, etc.
There are several possibilities for conducting this type of strategic process, depending on needs and budgets, whether for a public or private organization: a strategic plan, the most comprehensive formula; a strategic reflection, a simpler formula that gets to the essence; and on-site shoulder-to-shoulder sessions at your offices or off-site. The shoulder-to-shoulder session takes one to two days and can be integrated into a plan or reflection.
HOW IS STRATEGIC PLANNING CARRIED OUT?
With Espace Stratégies, the strategic planning process follows a participatory approach developed with the client. Participants can be key individuals from the board of directors or the management committee, employees, members of the management team, financial partners or service takers, stakeholders in the socio-economic environment, domain experts, or any other relevant individuals.
The strategic planning process begins with an opening phase to lay all ideas on the table, without judgment, considering at this stage that all ideas are valuable. The process concludes with a closing phase where strategic choices are made among all presented opportunities and based on the objectives set in the opening phase.
Depending on the project’s scope, Espace Stratégies recommends setting up a follow-up committee to ensure effective coordination and successful project completion.
HOW TO CONSULT THE STAKEHOLDERS OF MY ORGANIZATION?
Stakeholder consultation provides a broad view of the organization and fosters the mobilization of everyone towards the organization’s challenges. In addition to traditional reflection workshops, stakeholders can be engaged in various ways, such as online surveys, street surveys, focus groups, one-to-one interviews, public consultations, and an economic forum or regional symposium.
THE ESPACE STRATÉGIES APPROACH
The approach we have developed is inclusive, participative, and collaborative. It directly involves the client in the strategic planning process. At the end of the process, the client has already integrated the solutions raised during the workshops, having participated in the entire reflection. This enables the client to take ownership of the tools that allow them to develop autonomy. We encourage our clients to go further during the workshops, and we commit to evaluating ideas with an external and independent perspective.
SERVICES OFFERED
To address various growth themes, Espace Stratégies offers several consulting services. For strategic planning, the most relevant ones include:
FOR WHOM?
PORTFOLIO
Suicide Action Montréal
Suicide Action Montreal (SAM) aims to prevent suicide and its impacts by ensuring access to quality services. ES accompanied a working committee of the organization, including board members and the management team, in its strategic planning. The proposed approach aimed to identify current challenges and position the organization within its ecosystem, clarify the structure of its service and program offerings, confirm its long-term vision and establish its strategic directions, the foundations of its action plan.
La Table régionale des organismes communautaires
La Table régionale des organismes communautaires (TROC) of Bas-Saint-Laurent brings together about a hundred organizations in the region that mainly intervene in health and social services. The pandemic provided an opportunity for the organization to review its priorities and ways of operating. TROC invited Espace Stratégies to assist in its strategic planning. Together, the teams consulted members, gathered in various focus groups and reviewed the organization’s mission, strategic priorities, values, choices and action plan.
La firme Tétreault Sauvé Lauzon
Tétreault Sauvé Lauzon provides accounting, tax and business law services to corporations. In a growth context, the company chose Espace Stratégies to help mobilize stakeholders towards a common vision, assess the relevance and priority of actions to achieve its objectives, find the best growth plans and communicate upcoming changes clearly. Since the conclusion of this exercise, the company has experienced accelerated growth.
