Before the strategic planning meeting
Before the group starts on the prework that's required to conduct a strategic planning meeting, a few logistic items have to be finalized. The first is where to conduct the meeting.
Meeting location
While many of the meetings we've discussed so far will happen inside the normal office environment, a strategic planning meeting can be held onsite or offsite. Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages to each:
Onsite meetings:
Advantage: Participants can address operational issues and questions when they arise. And it's cost effective because there are no offsite meeting expenses.
Disadvantage: Participants could be pulled away from the strategic conversation too many times and this might hurt the overall development of strategy.
Offsite meetings:
Advantage: The meeting can be used to reward and recognize key staff members as well as the development of strategy. Participants can focus on the strategy portion of the meeting (versus the operation).
Disadvantage...
