At the end of the financial year I gather up key staff and retreat to a place where quality time can be spent planning. The interruption free environment allows us to throw away what we have done so far, start with a fresh canvas and create the future. There are planning events continuously throughout the year however the financial year end session has a greater bearing as it marks a milestone, gives us an opportunitiy to celebrate successes from the last year, allows us to decompress and reflect and then move on to face the challenges and excitment that the new year will bring us.
To some extent these planning days are structured with a framework generally followed so as to ensure that we arrive at the end of the planning days with outcomes. That said there is a high degree of free-form, as there has to be to engender a creative environment. The Strategy Session framework workbook is available at the link below albeit with confidential material removed.
Strategy Session Workbook here [Word 166K]