STRATEGIC PLANNING & STRATOP
Building a customized, strategic operating system
What is StratOp?
StratOp is a process guided by a Paterson Center-certified facilitator, which results in a fully functioning, sustainable, strategic operating plan for your team, organization, or business.
The StratOp process was designed and developed by renowned leadership consultant and entrepreneur Tom Paterson (learn more about Tom Paterson here and the Paterson Center here). Tom recognized that most consultants either emphasize strategy at the expense of operations, or plan around operations at the expense of strategy—which is like asking a pilot at 30,000 feet which of the plane’s wings is most important. Both are essential!
A plan that succeeds and prevails must simultaneously address both strategy and operations, which StratOp defines as follows:
Strategy: Planning for tomorrow—today.
Operations: Taking care of today—today.
The StratOp simultaneously integrates both strategy and operations to create a holistic, maximally effective, and renewable plan.
As a certified StratOp facilitator with decades of both corporate and non-profit experience, I can help extract your team’s best wisdom and thinking—and then guide you through a customized scope and sequence of tools to assure your StratOp operating system is built on the strengths of yesterday, the realities of today, and challenges and opportunities of tomorrow.
Strategic planning for the long haul
The robust StratOp process is not like your typical half-day offsite, losing its shine as soon as the excitement wears off—and failing to stay relevant or guide your decisions day to day. Your customized StratOp results in a lasting and renewable action plan for your organization, mapping out the steps necessary to reach your strategic, operational, and financial goals.
Your StratOp is a living, adaptable plan that grows with your company, guiding you toward achieving your goals for the long haul. Think of it as your team’s operating system.
What is a typical StratOp timeline?
The journey from curiosity about StratOp to a fully installed StratOp is a process that unfolds in five movements, taking place over several months.
Movement One: Phone conversation(s) and online pre-work
Depending on the size of your organization or team, I will invest one or more phone conversations with your senior leader(s). We'll ask each other questions to bring clarity about expectations, desires, and the rollout of your StratOp. During Movement One, we will:
Establish StratOp’s suitability for your organization.
Determine your organization’s preparedness for a StratOp.
Get a taste of your organization’s values, history, and desires.
Understand some of the challenges facing your organization currently.
Discuss the StratOp process, timelines, and pricing.
Discern which key voices on your team should be involved in the StratOp process.
Schedule onsite dates.
Movement Two: StratOp onsite, phase one | 2–3 full days
Over these rigorous days together, we'll accomplish the bulk of the first three phases of the StratOp process: Perspective, Planning, and Action. By the end of this movement, we will have generated the primary draft of your StratOp plan.
PERSPECTIVE: GAINING CLARITY
Day one opens with nine perspective-building tools to flesh out:
An overview of the StratOp process and expectations.
Who’s in the room?
Where have we been?
Where are we now?
PLANNING: VISION & OPPORTUNITIES
Through the next five tools we will discover:
Who are we?
Where could we go?
Where should we go?
Then by completing tools 15–20, we'll get specific in our planning by:
Identifying your primary customer, their values, and their core assumptions.
Understanding and addressing the “product life cycle” of all your existing offerings and products.
Completing our Strategic Control Panel, which outlines your performance model, results drivers, and risk/constraints table.
ACTION: FOCUS ON THE FUTURE
Moving from planning to action with the remaining 5–6 tools, we will:
Gain crystal clarity on “What’s important now?”
Create a formal, detailed Action Initiative Profile.
Identify operational sub-teams and complete ensuing steps of operationalization and execution.
Train sub-team leaders in the process of completing Action Plans for review in 4–6 weeks.
Movement Three: Sub-teams dig deeper | 4–6 weeks
Over the next 4–6 weeks, sub-teams meet and complete the deeper analysis and detailed planning we launched during our two-day StatOp intensive. Each team works together to define and contextualize its W.I.N.™ projects.
Movement Four: StratOp onsite, phase two | 1–2 full days
I’ll return for another onsite. Each sub-team presents the plan for its W.I.N. project, and we’ll spend our time together reviewing and fine-tuning your proposed steps, timelines, and objectives.
FINALIZE AND INSTALL
By the end of this movement, your StratOp plan will be “scrubbed” and installed. From this point, your organization begins its first six-month cycle of your new operating system.
Movement Five (elective): Hone your StratOp via email and/or on-site visits | 6 months
Over these first six months of execution, I’ll be available via phone, email, or (if the situation warrants) on-site for questions, fine-tuning, and problem solving. This is often necessary in the beginning, when your StratOp uncovers the need for new discussions about organizational structure. By the end of this time, your organization will be equipped with the rhythm and tools necessary to review and adjust your plan every six months.
One of the unique strengths of StratOp is its sustainability. More than a quick fix, it's a lasting, adjustable, sustainable operating system for your organization. Every six months moving forward, you'll initiate the StratOp strategy of re-evaluation and renewal to help your organization maintain the prevailing, cutting-edge progress you've begun.
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