Have you ever participated in a strategy conference or management ‘off-site’ where conversations are repeatedly truncated because the information available or depth of understanding on a topic is inadequate? Have you ever been called upon for input at the meeting on a subject and felt it would have been far better if you had been able to prepare for the question prior to the meeting? Have you ever felt like assumptions are being made to readily, on too little information, just to arrive at strategy conclusions? Have you ever found yourself in one of these meetings thinking "We are just not ready to have this meeting"? Have you ever wished more effort had been put into the preparation?

We have shared your feelings - many times.

Having facilitated many, many strategy conferences, we know you can only work with the information available. So

• Start with the Burning Platform. What's not happening? What should be happening? What possible explanations are there for the difference. Getting this step done is essentially a few conversations or, depending upon your size and culture, maybe something a bit more formal like a survey. 
• Then, make a Wish List. Use a number of short meetings and the existing external and internal data (desk research) to come up with a list of four columns; Stuff I wish my colleagues knew more about; Stuff I wish I knew more about; Issues I think are pressing on us now; Issues that I think affect us longer term.
• Then run our Checklist. Armed with the information above, use the T|M|G Strategy Preparation Checklist to see if there are any other questions or issues you think are important to get your head around.(All this probably happened over the space of a couple of weeks, but will equip a few of you to sit down and think about what needs to be done to prepare for a really worthwhile strategy conference)
• Don't just do something, stand there! Well, that's a quote from Fritz Perls. We use it to encourage people to take a little time to think. At this stage, T|M|G usually facilitates two meetings. One is a "first pass" at articulating the strategic issues you need to address and the information needed to address them. The second is to revisit the first meeting having considered some questions posed by T|M|G. (This is us helping you put together the best possible conference) At the end of this meeting there is an Action Plan.
• Get prepared. The Action plan will cover; Stuff delegated internally to be pulled together; Stuff delegated externally to be pulled together; Stuff we need to work on together. Depending upon how much is really needed, the timelines can be determined.
• Get everyone prepared. Having pulled together what is needed, it is time to socialize and pre-expose as much as possible to the conference or meeting participants-including the proposed agenda. The goal here is to give people the chance to both digest, question and prepare. And you want people sharing their ideas and feedback before the meeting or conference too. There is never enough time for this once you are into you usually 1-3 day formal meeting. On some issues there might be short, formal presentations, with feedback. On others, there might be the need for a round table to verify or fully comprehend. There may well be a few teleconferences. Some things are simply some data being shared.
• Finalize the Agenda. By now, you've got the information needed, socialized it, got feedback and a feeling for how the meeting will work. The Agenda must cover what needs to be covered - both commercially and politically. No leader can lead unless followers will follow (leadership by definition means having followers). If there are issues important to people that can not be resolved at this meeting, say so and agree when or how they can be resolved. Ignoring them will only encourage disenfranchisement or worse. 
• Finalize the roles. TMG commonly facilitates the meeting but the CEO, MD or GM is still ultimately in charge. TMG provides a framework for how this is done. IT means the CEO if free to be a participant in the content of the meeting, but at pre-agreed points, or on pre-agreed issues, or via pre-agreed exchanges in the meeting, the CEO and the facilitator will exchange the ‘baton’ of leadership of the meeting.
  
• Hold the Conference or management "off-site". Probably the best you've ever had. Your meeting is set up to make huge progress. You'll have very high levels of engagement; increased ownership; easier decision making; greater trust... And you focus can be on strategic thinking, rather than trying to come to grips with new information, incomplete information and surprise information.

  As with the painting of a house or investing in shares, the

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