Facilitating Strategic Planning

 

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Certificate-Series Details

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13 hours to earn Certificate of Completion

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5 courses

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Personalized feedback to sample Strategic Plan

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$295 (US funds) to earn Certificate, unless otherwise arranged.  Collaborating organizations might charge similar fees.  Their services include the additional value of facilitated cohort meetings.

How to Always Produce Relevant, Realistic and Flexible Strategic Plans

This self-paced Series conveys the core knowledge and skills needed to successfully facilitate strategic planning for any purpose in any type of organization. The Series is for facilitators and planners.  You’ll learn to customize the planning process to suit the nature and needs of the organization. You can guide planners through the strategic thinking and discussions to generate a strategic plan that remains relevant, realistic and flexible. Meanwhile, your planners can compose the plan by completing a template that adapts to a variety of different planning models.  The Series’ graduates can answer all of the questions in this assessment of your knowledge about facilitating strategic planning.

NOTE: It requires approximately 13 hours to earn the Certificate of Completion.  If you are using the Series to develop a Strategic Plan for an organization, the time to complete the Plan depends on the purpose of the planning, nature and needs of the organization, the complexity of the situation outside and inside of the organization, model of planning that is being used and the scheduling of the planners.

Learning Outcomes
  • Explain the purposes and benefits of strategic planning to leaders and planners in their organizations
  • Plan the necessary group structures and processes to facilitate for maximum participation, collaboration and engagement
  • Equip planners to customize the planning process to suit the needs of the organization and the purpose of their planning
  • Engage the wisdom and expertise of your Board members to strengthen strategic thinking and discussion
  • Gain buy-in and commitment of your employees to the planning and implementation process
  • Reference numerous techniques in facilitation to guide and support planners during their robust strategic thinking and planning sessions
  • Assess key trends outside of your organization and generate lists of significant opportunities and threats facing your organization
  • Show planners how to use at least one practical framework to identify the most useful strategic priorities based on their strategic thinking and discussions
  • Support planners to clarify the critical success factors in planning, and the core competencies and unique value proposition for their organization
  • Ensure planners’ action plans are highly aligned, integrated and realistic for maximum effect and efficiency in their organization
  • Show planners how to develop an easy-to-reference Strategic Plan document that contains all of the most beneficial components needed in a Plan
  • Explain how planners can customize the communication of their Plan to each of their different groups of stakeholders
  • Overall, ensure that their strategic planning remains relevant, realistic and flexible for their organization

More specific learning objectives are itemized in each of the courses in this Series.

Tools & Resources
  • Five Training Videos
  • Pre and Post Assessments
  • Learning Journal
  • Sources for Additional Learning (recommended interactive exercise(s), book(s), discussion group and questions for reflection about the topic)
  • Access to CDI’s Discussion and Networking Group

 Downloadable Resources

From “Facilitating Group Decision-Making & Problem Solving” Course

  • How to Draft a Basic Contract for Facilitation
  • How to Know When to Facilitate, Train or Coach
  • How to Acculturate Groups
  • How to Design Groups for Successful Facilitation
  • Basic Guidelines for Effective Meeting Management
  • Common Techniques in Facilitating Groups
  • How to Enhance Participation in Groups
  • How to Achieve Group Consensus in Decisions
  • How to Intervene in Groups
  • How to Manage Conflict in Groups

From “Overview of Sensible Strategic Planning” Course

  • An Overview of Sensible Strategic Planning
  • Eighteen Tips to Enhance Your Strategic Planning
  • Comparison of For-Profit and Nonprofit Strategic Planning
  • Glossary of Strategic Planning Terms

From “Customizing Your Strategic Planning Process” Course

  • Template to Customize Your Strategic Planning Process
  • How to Ensure You Are Really Ready for Strategic Planning
  • How to Organize Your Strategic Planning Committee
  • How to Ensure Your Board is Involved in Strategic Planning
  • How to Select the Best Model for Your Strategic Planning
  • How to Plan the Facilitation Role
  • How to Match Your Planning Process to Your Organization’s Cultures
  • How to Train Planners About Their Strategic Planning Process
  • How to Get Strong Buy-In to Your Strategic Planning
  • How to Budget for Your Planning

From “Deciding Your Strategic Priorities” Course

  • Adaptable Template for Documenting Your Strategic Plan
  • Common Techniques in Facilitating Strategic Planning
  • How to Plan Your Mission, Vision and Values Statements
  • How to Develop Your Mission, Vision and Values Statement
  • How to Take a Wide Look Outside Your Organization
  • How to Take a Good Look Inside Your Organization
  • How to Decide Your Most Important Strategic Priorities
  • Useful Strategic Goals to Develop Your Organization
  • Useful Actions to Survive Tight Times

From “Making Assignments & Monitoring Your Strategic Plan” Course

  • How to Write Accurate and Useful Action Plans
  • How to Conduct a Reality Check of Your Action Plans
  • How to Draft a Financial Plan from Your Strategic Plan
  • How to Write Your Strategic Plan Document
  • How to Ensure Your Strategic Plan Document is Complete
  • How to Ensure Your Strategic Plan Will Be Implemented
  • How to Communicate Your Strategic Plan
  • How to Monitor, Evaluate and Change Your Strategic Plan
To Earn a Certificate in “Facilitating Strategic Planning"
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Complete 5 courses in this order:

  1. Facilitating Group Decision-Making & Problem-Solving
  2. Overview of Sensible Strategic Planning
  3. Customizing Your Strategic Planning Process
  4. Deciding Your Strategic Priorities
  5. Making Assignments & Monitoring Your Strategic Plan
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 Demonstrate Learning

    • Correctly answer at least 80% of post-assessment questions after each course
    • Email Learning Journal to faculty shortly after each course
    • Successfully complete capstone project unless otherwise arranged
    • Pay the Series’ $295 fee, unless otherwise arranged
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 Earn a Certificate
Receive a Certificate in “Facilitating Strategic Planning”  from CDI

How it Works: To Enroll & Get Started

Enrollment Instructions

1-icon Create your account. Go to CDI’s learning site. Read the brief “Welcome” section and click on “Create new account”.

2-icon Select a course or series. Click on CDI’s Catalog of Courses and Certificate-Series, and select the desired course or series.

3-icon

Enroll. Click on “Enroll me” in the course or series. Use Paypal for major credit cards, or enter an enrollment key if you have one.

Log-in & Learning Instructions

4-icon Log in. If you are not already logged in, then log into CDI’s learning site, using your username and password.

5-icon Start your course. Click on your course in the upper right. (For a series, follow the specified order of courses.) In the course, follow “Start Here”.

6-icon Proceed at your own pace. Interact with others in the discussion group. For support, see CDI Help Center. Email us if you finished a Certificate.

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Got a question? Want to talk to us?

Contact CDI at info@ConsultantsDevelopmentInstitute.org or its sponsoring organization, Authenticity Consulting, LLC, at (763) 971-8890.