Business Briefs

For businesses, and people for that matter, the beginning of the calendar year can be a bit of a grind. The holidays have passed, summer vacations are relatively far off and everyone is trying to build momentum for a strong, healthy year.

Amongst all the nose-to-the-grindstone stick-to-itiveness, however, you and your leadership team shouldn’t lose sight of strategic planning. Your competitors probably haven’t, and the business landscape is always shifting in ways large and small. If you’ve let strategic planning slide a bit recently, here are some ways to reinvigorate it.

Push back against procrastination

Ideally, most companies should engage in an active strategic planning initiative at least once a year. This would involve doing research and holding meetings that eventually result in actionable, measurable goals.

However, some businesses may get so caught up in day-to-day operations that strategic planning goes by the wayside. Sometimes, this is a positive sign. Perhaps the company is so busy and profitable that it must focus on maximizing the opportunities at hand.

But it can be dangerous as well. A sudden market shift or disruptive competitor may leave the business flat-footed. Generally, companies shouldn’t let more than three years pass without productively engaging in strategic planning.

Go to your happy place

Because strategic planning is all about the big picture rather than the day-to-day, the process tends to work best when you put the people involved in a fresh setting. This is why the company retreat has long been an iconic undertaking, often depicted in movies and TV shows.

Granted, there is the potential for excessive spending and counterproductive distractions when organizing and holding one of these events. But if planned carefully and undertaken mindfully, getting your strategic planning team out of the office, or away from their computer screens at home, may pay off.

Engage an outside facilitator

Intuitively, it may seem like a business owner or CEO should lead a strategic planning session. And this can certainly be a cost-effective approach. But the objectivity of an outside professional may be worth investing in.

First, a facilitator may be able to better create a “there are no bad ideas” environment. Team members are often more willing to speak freely when they’re not directly addressing the owner or chief executive of the company. Plus, experienced facilitators are usually good at “working the room” (making people feel at ease), as well as adhering to a productive agenda.

Devise an action plan

Strategic planning should never be all talk and no action. Typically, the first session will review the business’s mission (what it does), vision (where it’s going), current financial results, and perhaps some of its recent notable successes and setbacks. It’s critical, however, to be results oriented. This means:

• Setting several clearly worded goals,
• Devising reasonable strategies for pursuing those goals, and
• Identifying the specific objectives that will enable you to accomplish the goals.

One way to ease the pressure of strategic planning is to not try to do everything at once. If you can accomplish the three points above in one session, schedule a follow-up meeting to devise an action plan with a timeline and assigned responsibilities. That plan can then be formally approved by business ownership.

Helpful voices

One last point: Don’t restrict strategic planning to only internal voices. Your professional advisors can also lend their expertise to the process, whether by attending a session or reviewing an action plan. For help with the financial side of strategic planning, contact us.

© 2024

Businesses of all shapes and sizes are well-advised to buy various forms of insurance to manage operational risks. But insurance itself is far from risk-free. You might overpay for a policy that you don’t really need. Or you could invest in cheap coverage that does you little to no good when you need it.

Perhaps the most insidious risk associated with insurance, however, is fraud. Dishonest individuals, whether inside your company or outside of it, can exploit a policy to defraud your company. Let’s explore three of the most typical forms of insurance fraud and some best practices for fighting back.

1. Premium diversion

According to the website of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, this is the most common form of insurance fraud. It occurs when an employee or insurance agent fails to submit premium payments to the underwriter. Rather, the person steals the funds for either personal use or to cover other business expenses.

It might seem like there’s not much you can do to stop an unethical insurance agent from committing this crime. But you can reduce the odds of running into a fraudster by performing a thorough background check on any insurance agent or broker that you choose to work with.

Internally, if possible, segregate the duties of the employee who submits premium payments from the person who accounts for those funds. Don’t allow one employee to control the whole process. In addition, educate all staff members about the danger of premium diversion and the consequences — such as termination and prosecution — of committing it or any type of fraud. Implement a confidential hotline so employees can report suspicious activities.

2. Workers’ compensation schemes

Under one of these scams, an employee exaggerates or fabricates an injury or illness to receive workers’ compensation benefits. For example, a worker might mischaracterize a relatively minor injury suffered at work as a major one. Or an employee could submit a claim for a condition that isn’t related to work.

To help prevent false workers’ comp insurance claims, develop required reporting processes for employees. Staff members should provide detailed information about incidents and any medical treatment they received. Your insurer should be able to provide comprehensive forms and suggest industry-specific measures to ensure employees provide truthful, relevant claims information.

Also, conduct regular audits of workers’ comp claims. Doing so may uncover patterns of fraudulent activity — even long-running schemes. For instance, if one employee repeatedly submits claims but is known to engage in physically demanding or dangerous activities outside of work, it may be appropriate to scrutinize those claims.

3. Health insurance scams

Here, a perpetrator might add a fictitious employee to your company’s plan or use a stolen or “synthetic” (mixture of real and false) identity to enroll a nonexistent dependent. The fraudster then pockets whatever reimbursements come in.

To reduce the risk of such scams, establish strong plan verification procedures. These might include background checks on all participants, including submissions of required documentation such as Social Security and driver’s license numbers. Additionally, conduct regular plan audits to reconcile those enrolled with current payroll records and department headcounts.

Just a few

Unfortunately, these are just a few of the types of insurance fraud that can strike your business. Any one of them can cost you real money, slow down productivity as you deal with the mess, and hurt your reputation in the marketplace and as an employer. We can assist you in tracking your insurance costs and establishing internal controls that help prevent fraud.

© 2024

In the wide, wide world of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), most business buyers conduct thorough due diligence before closing their deals. This usually involves carefully investigating the target company’s financial, legal and operational positions.

But why let them have all the fun? As a business owner, you can perform these same types of reviews of your own company to glean critical insights.

Now you can take a deep dive into your financial or legal standing — and certainly should if you think something is amiss. But assuming all’s well, the start of a new year is a good time to perform an operational review.

Why to do it

An operational review is essentially a reality check into whether, from the standpoint of day-to-day operations, your company is running smoothly and fully capable of accomplishing its strategic objectives.

For example, let’s say a business relies on superior transportation logistics as a competitive advantage. Such a company would need to continuously ensure that it has the right people, vehicles and technology in place to remain a major player. The point is, you don’t want to fall behind the times, which can happen all too easily in today’s environment of disruptors and rapid technological change.

Before getting into specifics, gather your leadership team and ask yourselves some big-picture questions such as:

• Are our IT systems up to date and secure, or will they soon need substantial upgrades to keep our data safe and our business competitive?
• Are our production facilities capable of handling the output we intend to work toward in the coming year?
• Are staffing levels across our various departments appropriate, or will we likely need to expand, contract or reallocate our workforce this year?

By listening to members of your leadership team, and perhaps even some key employees on the front line, you can gain a sense of your staff’s operational confidence. If they have concerns, better to address them sooner rather than later.

What to look at

Getting back to M&A, when business buyers perform operational due diligence, they tend to evaluate at least three primary areas of a target company. As mentioned, you can do the same. The areas are:

1. Production/operations. Buyers scrutinize mission-critical functions such as technological obsolescence, supply chain operations, procurement processes, customer response times, and product or service distribution speed. They may even visit production facilities and interview certain employees. Their goal, and yours, is to spot performance gaps, identify cost-cutting opportunities and determine ways to improve productivity.

2. Selling, general & administrative (SG&A). This is a financial term that summarizes a company’s sales-related expenses (including sales staff compensation and advertising costs) along with its administrative costs (such as executive compensation and certain other general expenses). A SG&A analysis is a way for business buyers — or you, the business owner — to assess whether the company’s operational expenses are too high or too low.

3. Human resources (HR). Buyers typically review a target business’s organizational charts, staffing levels, compensation and benefits, and employee bonus or incentive plans. They also look at the tone, quality and substance of communications between HR and staff. Their goal — and yours too — is to determine the reasonability and sustainability of each of these things.

A funny question

Would you buy your company if you didn’t already own it? It may seem like a funny question, but an operational review can tell you, objectively, just how efficiently and impressively your business is running. We’d be happy to help you gather and analyze the pertinent information involved.

© 2024

As each year winds to a close, owners of established businesses can count on having plenty of at least one thing: information. That is, they have another full calendar year of financial results to peruse, parse and ponder over.

Indeed, you shouldn’t let this valuable data go to waste. Within your company’s financial statements lies a treasure trove of insights that can help you spot trends, both positive and negative.

That’s where benchmarking comes in. It can take several forms, but let’s focus on three types of internal benchmarking reports that can be particularly useful.

1. Horizontal analysis

A relatively easy starting point is to put two of your company’s financial statements side by side and compare them. In accounting, a comparison of two or more years of financial data is known as horizontal analysis. Differences between the years are typically shown in dollar amounts or percentages.

Naturally, what you’re hoping to find is growth. For instance, if accounts receivable increased from $1 million in 2022 to $1.2 million in 2023, that’s a difference of $200,000 or 20%. Horizontal analysis helps identify such trends. It’s then up to you and your leadership team to explain what caused them and, in the case of this example, keep that trendline moving in a positive direction.

You can also use horizontal analysis to sharpen your understanding of your business’s profitability. While public companies usually focus on earnings per share, private companies generally want to look at profit margin and gross margin. Rather than analyze only the top and bottom of the income statement (revenue and profits), you may want to drill down and compare individual line items such as the cost of materials, rent, utilities and payroll.

2. Vertical analysis

Vertical analysis works its magic within one year’s financial statements. Essentially, each line item in that set of financial statements is converted to a percentage of another item — often revenue or total assets. Accountants typically refer to financial statements that have been subject to vertical analysis as “common-size” financial statements.

For example, a common-size income statement that shows each line item as a percentage of revenue would explain how each dollar of revenue is distributed between expenses and profits. Alternatively, from a profitability standpoint, vertical analysis could show the various expense line items in the income statement as a percentage of sales. This would show whether and how these line items are contributing to your profit margin.

3. Ratio analysis

Ratios also depict relationships between various items on a company’s financial statements. For instance, profit margin equals net income divided by revenue. Ratios are typically used to benchmark a business against its competitors or industry averages. But you can use ratios internally as well.

Within a single set of financial statements, for example, you might calculate total asset turnover (revenue divided by total assets). This ratio estimates how many dollars in revenue the business generated for every dollar it invested in assets. Generally, the more dollars earned, the better. You can also, of course, compare ratios from one year to the next or over longer periods.

Know your options

Many companies use a combination of horizontal, vertical and ratio analyses over time to highlight positive trends and catch operating inefficiencies. What’s important is knowing your benchmarking options and maximizing the value that your financial statements can provide. For help choosing and executing the optimal benchmarking methods for your company, contact us.

© 2023

Business owners, with the year just about over, you and your leadership team presumably have a pretty good idea of where you want your company to go in 2024. The question is: Can you get there?

When it comes to success, the driving force behind most businesses is sales. If products or services aren’t moving off the shelves, literally or figuratively, you’ll likely fall short of your financial objectives. Here are some big-picture ways to reinvigorate your company’s sales efforts heading into the new year.

Review territories and customers

A good way to start is by reassessing your sales territories. The pandemic suddenly and severely curtailed business travel — so much so that some experts believe it will never return to pre-pandemic levels.

If your company has changed its approach to and budget for business travel in recent years, review the geographic routes that your sales staff used to physically traverse. You may see efficiency gains by creating a strategic sales territory plan that’s less focused on travel and more aimed at aligning salespeople with regions or markets that contain their most winnable prospects.

Also, as always, nurture your top-tier customers. If purchases from them have slowed recently, find out why and prioritize reversing this trend. For your sales staff, this may mean shifting focus from winning new business to tending to these important accounts. See whether you can craft a customized plan aimed at meeting a legacy customer’s long-term needs. It might include discounts, premiums and/or extended warranties.

Explore technological upgrades

Too much paperwork used to be a common gripe among salespeople. More often than not, “paperwork” is a figurative term these days, as most businesses have implemented technology to track leads, document sales efforts and record closings. Nevertheless, outdated or overly complicated software can slow sales momentum.

You might conduct a survey to gather feedback on whether your current customer relationship management or sales management software is helping or hindering the efforts of your sales team. Based on the results, you can then make a sensible decision about whether to upgrade or change your systems.

Incentivize staff

One thing about sales that will likely never change is the need to occasionally or regularly incentivize salespeople to go above and beyond. After all, what allows a business to grow is not only retaining top customers, but also creating organic sales growth from new products or services.

Consider creating a sales challenge that will motivate staff to achieve the specific financial results you’re looking for. One facet of such a challenge may be to replace across-the-board commission rates with higher commissions on new products or “tough sells.”

Investigate other ways to incentivize your team as well. Examples include boosted commissions or bonuses based on:

• Actual customer payments rather than billable orders,
• Increased sales to current customers,
• Number of prospects converted, or
• Number of customers who agree to prepay.

Ultimately, be sure to align commissions or other sales compensation methods with your company’s carefully projected and clearly communicated financial objectives.

Ring in the new year

Here’s hoping your business rings in the new year with sales on an upward trajectory and a sales staff fully equipped and motivated to be as productive as possible. We can help you generate or assess realistic sales projections and identify optimal, obtainable financial objectives.

© 2023

The job market remains relatively tight for businesses looking to fill open positions or simply add top talent when the fit is right. That means it’s still important for companies to continuously reassess where they’re looking for applicants and which job candidates they’re focusing on.

In October, global employment nonprofit Generation, in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), released a report entitled The Midcareer Opportunity: Meeting the Challenges of an Ageing Workforce. Its results are based on OECD data along with a survey of thousands of employers, job candidates and employees in the United States and Europe.

Among the eye-opening findings of the report is that responding hiring managers disclosed a strong preference for candidates between the ages of 30 and 44. Applicants between the ages of 45 and 64 were favored least.

Positive attributes

There’s no denying that many Baby Boomers (generally, those born between 1946 and 1964) have retired. And some older members of Generation X (generally, those born between 1965 and 1980) may soon be joining them. Nonetheless, a large contingent of older workers remain active in the workforce. Underestimating the value of these individuals when hiring could represent a costly blind spot for your business.

Older workers tend to share many positive attributes. For starters, they’ve lived and worked through many economic ups and downs, so these workers are usually budget-savvy. In addition, many are well-connected in their fields and can reach out or point to helpful resources your company may be unaware of. Seasoned workers are often self-motivated and need less direct supervision, too.

Onboarding and performance management

Many businesses currently feature workforces largely comprised of Gen Xers, Millennials (generally, those born between 1981 and 1996) and members of Generation Z (generally, those born between 1997 and 2012). Adding older workers to the mix can present challenges to company culture, so adjusting your onboarding process and approach to performance management may be necessary.

First, ensure internal communications emphasize inclusivity. If you’re concerned that your existing culture might hinder the onboarding process for older workers, begin addressing the potential obstacles before hiring anyone. Emphasize your company’s commitment to an equitable approach to hiring and professional development under which everyone’s contributions are valued and career path is empowered.

Second, consider involving other staff members in the hiring process. For example, you could ask those who will work directly with a new hire to sit in on the initial job interviews. You’ll likely experience less resistance if an older employee’s co-workers are involved from the beginning. Just be sure that every participant understands proper interviewing techniques to avoid legal problems.

Third, as appropriate and feasible, offer training to managers who might suddenly find themselves supervising employees with many more years of work experience. Learning to listen to an older worker’s suggestions while sticking to the company’s strategic objectives and operational procedures isn’t always easy.

Finally, consider a mentorship program. Bringing in new employees of a different age group is an opportune time to investigate the potential benefits of mentoring. By pairing newly hired older workers with younger staff members, you could see both groups learn from each other — and the business benefit as a result.

A deep pool

On a more positive note, the Generation/OECD report found that about 89% of responding employers indicated that their midcareer and older workers performed just as well, if not better than, younger hires. The message is clear: If your business is hiring, don’t overlook the depths of this particular hiring pool. For help identifying and analyzing your company’s employment costs, contact us.

© 2023

All but the smallest businesses today are generally expected to offer employees “big picture” benefits such as health insurance and a retirement plan. Among the risks of doing so is that many popular plan types must comply with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). That means lots of rules and much documentation.

No matter how careful your company is with ERISA compliance, it could receive a request from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for plan-related documents. Such a request usually initiates a DOL civil investigation — commonly referred to as a “plan audit.”

The first rule of the day is: Don’t panic! The second is to respond in a timely fashion. Here are the basic steps that a DOL plan audit will usually take:

Initial document request. Generally, a plan sponsor learns of an audit when it receives a letter or phone call from the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) advising those responsible for the plan — typically referred to as “plan officials” — of the investigation and requesting a detailed list of documents. The investigation may be general in nature or target a specific issue.

On-site review and interviews. The investigator may arrange to visit the plan sponsor’s offices and could request additional documents for review during the visit, such as payroll and claims processing records. Often, the investigator will also interview plan officials.

Investigation findings. If the investigator finds no ERISA violations, EBSA will send a closing letter stating that the investigation is complete, and no further action is contemplated. If the investigator does find violations, EBSA will issue a voluntary compliance notice letter identifying the violations and inviting plan officials to voluntarily make corrections.

Corrections and settlement. Whenever possible, EBSA seeks voluntary compliance through full corrections of identified violations and restoration of plan losses. After negotiating corrective actions with plan officials, the agency issues a detailed settlement agreement.

A typical agreement requires evidence of corrections and provides that, if EBSA determines that the agreement’s terms have been fulfilled, no further enforcement action will be taken regarding the specified violations. When voluntary compliance isn’t achieved, EBSA may refer a case to DOL attorneys for litigation. Some situations are inappropriate for voluntary correction — such as those involving fraud, criminal misconduct, or severe or repeated fiduciary violations.

Fiduciary violations. ERISA imposes a mandatory 20% penalty on any amounts recovered from a fiduciary or other person for a fiduciary breach, including amounts recovered under a settlement agreement. Generally, EBSA assesses the penalty in a separate letter, though the penalty may be addressed in the settlement agreement.

Closing letter following corrections. After EBSA confirms that corrective action has been completed and any penalties have been paid, it will send a closing letter indicating that compliance was achieved.

The steps described above could be completed in a matter of weeks or take a year or more. It all depends on factors such as complexity of plan design, issues identified in the investigation and number of potential violations. The availability of documents and individuals for interviews, as well as how cooperative your company’s plan officials are with EBSA, will also affect the duration and severity of the investigation.

Again, if your business receives notification about a DOL plan audit, address the inquiry immediately. Failure to provide requested documents to EBSA can lead to a penalty assessment. A prompt and cordial response, on the other hand, can establish a positive rapport with the investigator.

Above all, obtain the assistance of experienced advisors and legal counsel. Contact us for further information, as well as for support throughout the audit process.

© 2023

If someone was to suggest that you should have your business appraised, you might wonder whether the person was subtly suggesting that you retire and sell the company.

Seriously though, a valuation can serve many purposes other than preparing your business for sale so you can head to the beach. Think of it as a checkup that can help you better plan for the future.

Strategic planning

Today’s economy presents both challenges and opportunities for companies across the country. Chief among the challenges is obtaining financing when necessary — interest rates have risen, inflation is still a concern and many commercial lenders are imposing tough standards on borrowers.

A business valuation conducted by an outside expert can help you present timely, in-depth financial data to lenders. The appraisal will not only help them better understand the current state of your business, but also demonstrate how you expect your company to grow. For example, the discounted cash flow section of a valuation report can show how expected future cash flows are projected to increase in value.

In addition, a valuator can examine and state an opinion on company-specific factors such as:

• Your leadership team’s awareness of market conditions,
• What specific risks you face, and
• Your contingency planning efforts to mitigate these risks.

As you go through the valuation process, you may even recognize some of your business’s weaknesses and, in turn, be able to address those shortcomings in strategic planning.

Acquisitions, sales and gifts

There’s no getting around the fact that, in many cases, the primary reason for getting a valuation is to prepare for a transfer of business interests of some variety — be it an acquisition, sale or gift. Even if you’re not ready to make a move like this right now, an appraiser can help you get a better sense of when the optimal time might be.

If you’re able to buy out a competitor or a strategically favorable business, a valuation should play a critical role in your due diligence. When negotiating the final sale price, an appraiser can scrutinize the seller’s asking price, including the reasonableness of cash flow and risk assumptions.

If you’re thinking about selling, most appraisers subscribe to transaction databases that report the recent sale prices of similar private businesses. A valuator also can estimate how much you’d net from a deal after taxes, as well as brainstorm creative deal structures that minimize taxes, provide you with income to fund retirement and meet other objectives.

In the eyes of a potential buyer, a formal appraisal adds credibility to your asking price as well. And if you want to gift business interests to the next generation in your family, a written appraisal is a must-have to withstand IRS scrutiny.

Going the extra mile

You probably have plenty of other things on your plate as you work hard to keep your business competitive. But obtaining an appraisal is a savvy way to go the extra mile to get all the information you need to wisely plan for the future. We can support your company throughout the valuation process and help you make the most of the information you receive.

© 2023

If your company sells products or services to other businesses, you’re probably familiar with the challenge of growing your sales numbers. At times, you might even struggle to maintain them. One way to put yourself in a better position to succeed is to diversify your approaches, so you’re not limited to a single method by which salespeople interact with customers.

Have you ever considered value-based sales? Under this method, sales reps act as sort of business consultants, working closely with customers or prospects to identify specific needs or solve certain problems. The objective is to provide as much value as possible from the sales that result. This approach has its risks but, under the right circumstances, it can pay off.

What is value?

Before embarking on a value-based sales initiative, you’ll need to identify what kinds of value you may be able to provide. This can’t be a fuzzy concept; sales reps should be able to put dollars and cents to their value-based sales propositions or at least build a compelling case. Value generally takes four forms:

1. Dollars gained; your product or service will lead to an increase in revenue for the subject based on a reasonable financial projection,
2. Dollars saved; your product or service will demonstrably save the customer or prospect money,
3. Risk reduced; your product or service will address and help minimize one or more identifiable threats to the business in question, and
4. Qualitative; if you can’t make a case for one of the other three value types, you may still be able to argue that your product or service improves the quality of the subject’s operations in some way.

At least one of these four types of value will be the ultimate objective when salespeople engage customers or prospects. However, to identify that objective, your sales team will need to put in considerable effort.

How does the process work?

Perhaps the biggest downside of a value-based sales approach is that it’s labor-intensive. As opposed to, say, making cold calls with a product or service list and a series of talking points, your salespeople will need to do a “deep dive” into targeted businesses. They’ll need to learn details such as each company’s mission, history, management structure, financial status, strengths and weaknesses.

Then, when interacting with customers or prospects, they’ll need to focus on education — both their own and the subject’s. In other words, a sales rep will need to ask the right questions to learn as much as possible about the customer’s or prospect’s business needs and challenges. Meanwhile, the salesperson will need to act much like a consultant, informing the subject about industry trends, potential solutions and perhaps how comparable companies have overcome similar issues.

As you can see, value-based sales is more about relationship building and knowledge sharing than straight selling. Because of this, it can be a gamble. Some sales reps may spend extensive time and effort with a customer or prospect, even helping that business in certain ways, only to reap little to no sales revenue. On the other hand, when the approach works well, your company may be able to build a dynamic, long-lasting relationship with a lucrative customer.

Are there such sales in your pipeline?

If value-based sales sounds like something that could benefit your business, discuss it with your leadership team and sales staff. You’ll likely want to review your sales pipeline and determine which customers or prospects would be good fits for the approach. Contact us for help tracking, organizing and analyzing your sales numbers.

© 2023

It’s not uncommon for employees to grumble about having to attend too many meetings. Sometimes they have a point; an excessive number of meetings can become a problem at some companies. However, there’s one kind of meeting that business owners and their leadership teams should never scrimp on: strategic planning.

That doesn’t mean you need to have one every week, or even every month. But regularly scheduled strategic planning meetings are critical for establishing, reviewing and, if necessary, adjusting your company’s short- and long-term objectives. Here are four best practices for running effective meetings:

1. Set a focused agenda. Every meeting should have an agenda that’s relevant to strategic planning — and only strategic planning. Allocate an appropriate amount of time for each item so that the meeting is neither too long nor too short.

Before the meeting, distribute a document showing who’ll be presenting on each agenda topic. The idea is to create a “no surprises” atmosphere in which attendees know what to expect and can thereby think about the topics in advance and bring their best ideas and feedback.

2. Lay down rules as necessary. Depending on your company’s culture, you may want to state some upfront rules — either in writing beforehand or by announcement at the beginning of the meeting. Address the importance of timely attendance, professional decorum and constructive criticism. Emphasize that there are no dumb questions or bad ideas.

Every business may not need to do this, but meetings that become hostile or chaotic with personal conflicts or “side chatter” can undermine the efficacy of strategic planning. Also consider whether to identify conflict resolution methods that participants must agree to follow if particularly heated arguments arise.

3. Name (or engage) a facilitator. A facilitator should oversee the meeting. This individual is ultimately responsible for starting and ending on time, transitioning from one agenda item to the next, and enforcing the stated rules. Ideally, a facilitator also needs to be good at motivating participation from everyone and encouraging a positive, productive atmosphere.

If no one at your company feels up to the task, you could engage an outside consultant. Although you’ll need to vet the person carefully and weigh the financial cost, a skilled professional facilitator can make a big difference.

4. Keep minutes. Recording the minutes of every strategic planning meeting is essential. An official record will document what took place and which decisions, if any, were made. It will also serve as a log of potentially valuable ideas or future agenda items.

In addition, accurate meeting minutes curtail miscommunications and prevent memory lapses of what was said and by whom. If no record is kept, people’s memories may differ about the conclusions reached, and disagreements could arise about where your business is striving to go.

© 2023