Strategic Planning
Leader Development
CEO Facilitation
Budget Planning
Management Team Retreats
Five-Year Planning
Strategic Dashboard
Strategy Execution
Division/Department Planning
Strategic Advisor
Board Member
Keynote Speaker
Thoughts on Strategic Planning...The John Maxwell Way

STRATEGIC PLANNING
Many organizations do strategic planning simply by determining what the organization will “do” through a series of goals and objectives.  This method of strategic planning results in “best idea of the day” vs. a strategic planning process which truly develops “strategy”. Effective strategic planning should enable your team to develop strategy which, in turn, enables the organization to scale, replicate and adapt to changing market conditions, and gets you out from under what John Maxwell calls the “Law of the Lid.” Going through a systematic strategic thinking and strategic planning process like Strategic Orienteering with your team will clarify your company’s strategic DNA and create in-depth knowledge of your competitors' DNA. The clarity that results will allow your organization to create real growth, less stressful growth, and allows your team to quickly “map and move” based on changes in the market.

Giant’s CEO-level facilitators, former C-level executives that understand the savvy needed to lead an organization, will work with you and your team to build a powerful strategic plan which will:
-    Create real and accelerated growth.
-    Neutralize competitors.
-    Align the entire organization toward a single concept of growth.
-    Make growth both rewarding and less stressful.

LEADER DEVELOPMENT
“Everything rises and falls on Leadership”

At Giant we believe that the answer to the question: “Are leaders born or made?” is usually the latter – couple that with John Maxwell’s axiom that your success is contingent upon the leadership abilities of the leaders just below you – and the motivation to develop your emerging leaders transitions from “a good idea” to “mandatory” for succeeding on purpose.
 
When your emerging leaders learn to apply the practical, common sense principles established in John Maxwell’s Developing the Leader Within You,  360º Leader, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and Winning With People  you will see the company grow beyond your expectations. Focused leader development will lay the foundation for scaling and replicating your own leadership as well.

Giant offers an in-depth variety of the most effective leader development for CEO’s, top management, mid-level managers and new leaders within your organization.  Go to www.maximumimpact.com to learn how your organization can learn the power of building great leaders.

CEO FACILITATION
You understand that you don’t need some consultant to come in and tell you how to run your business. You don’t need an outsider to recommend what your strategy should be. You also realize, however, that when you facilitate your strategic planning sessions yourself, your ability to participate in the session is hampered because you are also facilitating.  As a leader it is not possible to effectively “facilitate and participate” in the strategic planning process.

Giant Partners understands your dilemma.  That’s why all of our strategists are former successful CEO’s and C-level executives.  We understand how to frame strategic discussions so that they stay on point. We know how to manage the egos in the room so that the best ideas, not just the loudest voices, get heard.  Inside the hearts and heads of you and your leadership team there’s plenty of knowledge to succeed in your business. Getting it organized in a way that everyone stays on the same page is the challenge. If this is your challenge, give us a call.

BUDGET PLANNING
It’s that time of year again. This year, before you tackle the numbers, we suggest you take a step back and make sure that your strategy is right. Was last year’s budget a tool that you were able to use effectively throughout the year? Or did things change so much in the course of day-to-day business that many items became irrelevant?

Thinking before you plan is a great way to make sure that your budgets are in line with where you are going strategically. It’s easy to make adjustments in the interest of “industry standards” or “staying competitive”, but are you sure you’re not unintentionally managing yourself into a strategy that your competitor is controlling?   The structure of your budget should follow a strategy that creates real growth and neutralizes your competitors.

At Giant, we know how to ensure that your budget creates a strategic ROI.  We create strategies and budgets that launch organizations into the velocity of growth they desire.

MANAGEMENT TEAM RETREATS
You’ve tried the “ropes course” approach. The “kumbaya-around-the-fire” approach to team building simply doesn’t produce lasting results. The most effective way to build a team and team cohesion is to jointly build a powerful and singular strategy for the organization. 

Our clients have discovered that a focused strategic planning session does more for team building than any ropes course ever did. When true strategic alignment and clarity are present, teams get in synch, growth happens naturally and everyone, especially the CEO, has more fun.

Giant can make your next management retreat a powerful way to grow your company and your team.  Utilizing our CEO-level facilitators and our assistance to find the world’s best strategic retreat locations, your team will be invigorated to lead your organization to new levels of excellence and growth.

FIVE-YEAR PLANNING
Long-range planning requires big picture vision, and sometimes you need an outside view of the forest to get you out of the trees (or in some cases, the weeds).   Because markets and competitive pressures changes so rapidly, it is critical to have a strategic plan that enables the organization to “turn on a dime” as new strategic opportunities or issues arise.

Giant CEO-level facilitators will take you and your team through an in-depth process to create a five-year plan that is more than just another check-mark on your “things to do” list.  We will help you create a strategic plan to transform your organization into a powerful market force.

STRATEGIC DASHBOARD
You want to make sure that this year’s strategic plan gets executed.

Fortune magazine reports that 90% of strategic plans fail to be implemented. Why? First, those who need to understand the strategy in order to execute were not involved in the process; and second there is no mechanism in place to make implementation and ongoing assessment easy.

Typical strategic dashboards utilize paper and online methods to track results, unintentionally creating an atmosphere of negative accountability.  Giant’s method of Positive Accountability, builds a culture of servant leadership in which positive results are achieved through a culture of excitement and reward, not fear and negative pressure.

Giant Partners’ exclusive Strategic Orienteering service ensures that you develop the right strategy, your Blue Ocean Strategy, achieve broad buy-in and put simple mechanisms in place to create what we call “Positive Accountability” — a system to create grass-roots motivation. It gives you and your team the flexibility to map-and-move as you implement your strategy.

STRATEGY EXECUTION
Strategy execution requires people to make aligned decisions and take the appropriate action. In theory, if people understand the strategy, are motivated and understand how their individual actions contribute to the company’s success, execution will largely take care of itself. In practice, one or more of these elements is missing.

If the strategy is too complex or resides solely inside the CEO’s head, then people spend their time chasing things they hope will produce “the results the boss wants.” That guessing game is de-motivating and at its worst, can destroy a team.

How can you as the CEO ensure that your team keeps executing week-in and week-out? The key is developing and communicating a simple, specific strategy and decision-making system. Simple does not mean vague; simple does not mean general. Simple means that every employee can understand with great clarity how and why certain decisions are made. When a simple, specific strategy is backed up with a Positive Accountability system, it allows the company’s leadership to map-and-move (adjust to the inevitable changes in the business environment) and provide true servant leadership.

DIVISION/DEPARTMENT PLANNING
How do you achieve your goals and ensure your department or division’s strategic importance in your organization? Our unique strategic planning process, Strategic Orienteering, will allow you to develop a clear, specific strategy for doing just that. Once the top leadership sees your success, they too will want to know how you do it.

STRATEGIC ADVISOR
In need of a CEO-level strategic advisor to walk along side your path as a leader?  Giant Partners has some of North America’s most powerful strategic advisors helping CEO’s and senior leaders understand both the head and the heart of becoming a great leader.

BOARD MEMBER
Need a board member that does more than just review financials?  Giant’s CEO-level Executive Partners  understand how to build a growth strategy… they understand how to raise up leaders… they understand the importance of providing forward-looking guidance, not just passing judgment through a rear-view mirror.  Each of Giant’s Executive Partners is available for your board through a variety of compensation models, depending on your needs and the structure of your board.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Giant can provide powerful speakers for your meeting or conference.  Each speaker will tailor his/her speech to meet the needs of your organization to create a high-impact presentation.  Each of Giant’s speakers are notable industry leaders as well as great speakers.  Although most speeches require a fee and expenses paid, pro bono work is available for qualified organizations.

THOUGHTS ON STRATEGIC PLANNING...THE JOHN MAXWELL WAY
Our Strategic Orienteering process allows you and your team to learn to map and move and not get stuck in the ruts of your industry.

In the dedication in the front of his bestselling book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership John Maxwell writes, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.”

If you’re the CEO, then “Everything rises and falls on [your] leadership.” That doesn’t mean you have to do it all. It does mean that you have to raise-up leaders in your organization and give them the tools they need to succeed. That is one definition of servant leadership.

The mechanisms that empowered executives need to respond effectively to changes in the marketplace and keep the company moving in the right direction are the intersection of Strategy and Leadership. At Giant we have discovered that real servant leadership not only motivates but also fosters the growth of leaders within an organization, but systems can help or hinder effective communication. Maxwell states:

When your emerging leaders learn to apply the practical, common sense principles established in John Maxwell’s Developing the Leader Within You, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Winning With People and 360º Leader, you will see the company grow beyond your expectations. Focused leader development will lay the foundation for scaling and replicating your own leadership as well.

Growth is intentional.
Is your growth more dependent on Analysis or Accident? Is your organization Impulsive when it comes to growth or is it Intentional? What are you doing to be sure that your organization and your people Succeed on purpose?

John Maxwell has said “Your success is dependent upon leadership abilities of the level just below you.” Unless you develop that next tier, you’ll never be able to raise the company above their ceiling. Their lid, the limits of their abilities, will tank your company’s success.

A key to turbo-charging your organization’s growth is to ensure that your strategic implementation system meshes with the leadership culture you are developing. Does executing your strategy allow servant leadership to thrive? Does your strategic process provide the mechanisms that empowered executives need to respond effectively to changes in the marketplace, and keep the company moving in the right direction? If not, click here to learn more.