SEQUUS directors, get to the table when some very important strategic decisions are made. Our experience as strategic planning facilitators is called upon by some of our most important institutions. We were there when the decision was made to breathe new life into the Winnipeg Stock Exchange. The Manitoba government called on us to pioneer client-focussed strategic planning in the Highways department. We shepherded three financial institutions through a recent merger. And we led the meetings that initiated a turnaround in a major arts organization. Professional associations of dentists, accountants, trainers, property appraisers, public health officials, community developers and others have used our help to set new, long term directions.
Some of our biggest and most successful private corporations have used SEQUUS to help them assess themselves against critical success factors in their sector, develop new visions, identify strategic alternatives, select the best strategy, and develop implementation plans. We work with retailers, software developers, television networks, financial service providers, insurers, law firms, manufacturers, professional service providers, biotechnology companies, car dealerships, and other bottomline-oriented clients. Health care, education and social service organizations face many, serious challenges today. SEQUUS has been on the inside when boards and management get together to develop their response to a world that is changing around them. Our clients include some of our major hospitals, health authorities, our universities, our social service agencies, and education boards. In the world of sports and recreation, we have been there when the Canada Games faced major challenges, when the PanAm games conducted a progress review, and when the Royal Winter Fair built a new governance structure. We have done the same for museums, theatres, aboriginal groups, festivals, religious organisations, and even entire communities.
AL HOLMES LEADS THIS SIDE OF OUR PRACTICE...
Al Holmes spends up to 50% of his time organizing, facilitating and reporting on strategic meetings of clients in a wide range of sectors. He has been doing so for almost 30 years. His first such assignment was with the Manitoba Telephone System in the mid-seventies when he took a small group of future leaders away for several days to develop a long term vision for that corporation. (He recently went back to assist MTS-Allstream with its planning process.) Since then he has facilitated hundreds of such meetings. Many of the meetings he leads are with Boards of Directors and Senior Executives who are struggling with the long term direction or re-direction of their organizations. Others are with teams and intact work groups who need help with operational issues. Many involve multiple stakeholder groups, each with its own set of interests and priorities. He has developed an approach and methodology along with supporting worksheets, instruments, and reporting formats that have proven to be very popular. Al has led strategic planning sessions with organizations as diverse as the huge Great West Life to the tiny Dugald Costume Museum and from Manitoba Agriculture to the Manitoba Theatre Centre.
Public Sector: Al has led strategic meetings with many government departments, crown agencies and crown corporations including ongoing assignments at Manitoba Hydro, the Liquor Commission, Workers Compensation, Manitoba Agriculture Credit Corporation, Saskatchewan Agriculture Credit Corporation, Manitoba Crop Insurance, Saskatchewan Crop Insurance, the Canadian Wheat Board, the Grains Commission, the Small Enterprise Development Corporation of Zimbabwe, the Addictions Foundations in both Manitoba & Bermuda, Tourism Winnipeg, Team Winnipeg, Legal Aid Manitoba, and many others long forgotten. He led the Manitoba government’s first project in “client-focused” strategic planning in the department of Highways and Transportation. He led planning sessions for Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food and for Saskatchewan’s Natural Resources department. He also worked with Manitoba Agriculture to kickstart the planning sessions that led to their ground-breaking Vision 2000 document and video (recently updated to Vision 2010). And he led planning sessions throughout Industry Canada.
Education: In the education sector, he has helped develop plans for the South Winnipeg Technical Centre, Teulon Collegiate, St.Vital School Division, the Brandon School Division, the Kenora District Board of Education and the Universities of Manitoba, Winnipeg and Brandon, the Winnipeg Mennonite Elementary Schools, the recently formed Canadian Association of Public Schools International as well as various divisions of the provincial department of education.
In health care: Al has led planning sessions for the Manitoba Community Long Term Care Authority, the Deer Lodge Foundation, the Interlake and South Westman Regional Health Authorities, Brandon General Hospital, Riverview Health Centre and the St. Boniface Clinic.
Private Sector: In the private sector his planning clients have included Puratone, Transcontinental-LGM Graphics, Keystone Ford, Great West Life, RICE Financial, SAAN Stores, ABI Biotechnology, Cangene, GBR Architects, CNRAIL Westman Cable Television, Idea Marketing, Infocorp, Videon, Acsion, OMT, Wawanesa, the Women's Television Network, the Aboriginal People’s Television Network, the law firm Scurfield - Tapper – Cuddy, MTS-Allstream and others. He also facilitated the planning session that led to the re-vitalization of the Winnipeg Stock Exchange.
Non-Profit Sector: In the non-profit sector, he has led planning sessions for the Fred Douglas Society, Ducks Unlimited, Seed Winnipeg , Manitoba Theatre Centre, CUSO, New Directions for Children and Adults, the Winnipeg Jazz Festival, the Ontario Metis and Aboriginal Association, Marymound, YM-YWCA, Keystone Agriculture Producers, Pulse Canada and the Pulse Growers in Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan, the Manitoba Crop Diversification Center, Kitayan Community Futures Corporation, South East Child and Family Services, Hope Centre, the Canola Growers, the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and the Manitoba Law Foundation.
Coops and Credit Unions: In the cooperative sector, he has worked with individual credit unions such as Assiniboine, Astra, Vanguard, Kilarney, Teacher's, Hyline, Minnedosa, Boissevain, Tiger Hills and Westoba Credit Unions right up to the Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan Credit Union Centrals and the Credit Union Deposit Guarantee Corporation. He has led planning sessions for most of the large agricultural cooperatives and their spin off agencies including Xcan, and CSP Foods. He has led several merger processes in the financial services sector.
Community Planning: He has developed community plans for the Lake of the Woods Community Economic Development Association, the Town of Neepawa and surrounding RM, the Town of Altona, the Town of Teulon, the City of Thunder Bay and the former Winnipeg Economic Development Board.
Associations: He leads planning sessions for associations such as the Human Resource Management Association, Manitoba Child Care Association, the Appraisal Institute of Canada, the Manitoba Dental Association, the Manitoba Society for Training and Development, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, the Canadian Paraplegic Association, the Canadian Association of Retirement Planners, the Canadian Association of Fairs and Exhibitions, the Health Care Products Manufacturers Association and the Community Futures Partners of Manitoba.
Games and Exhibitions: Al works with fairs, games and exhibitions. He led the long term planning for the Manitoba Provincial Exhibitions including the Royal Winter Fair in Brandon, led a mid-term review of the progress towards hosting the 1997 Canada Summer Games in Brandon and led a progress review with Board and Staff of the Pan Am Games society, and led many planning sessions for the Red River Exhibition.
Teaching: In addition, Al is often called upon to teach Strategic Planning theory, approaches and methods to others in the field. He regularly teaches Strategic Planning as part of the annual week-long workshop, ‘Managing and Leading in the Non-Profit Sector’ (which Al developed and delivered all across Canada and around the world). He leads the popular Strategic Planning workshop for QNET “Vision to Action” several times a year. Al recently spoke to the leaders of Northern Communities on the benefits of planning at the community level and is a frequent speaker on the topic at Vision Quest and other events sponsored by the Community Futures Partners of Manitoba.
SURVEY-BASED PLANNING: Sometimes you need to collect information from large numbers of key stakeholders to assist you to plan. Frontline staff can provide a unique perspective on internal strengths and vulnerabilities. They also can help uncover threatening trends and emerging opportunities. Clients, members, funders, suppliers, partners, and even competitors can provide another perspective.
When the numbers are large and time is limited, surveys and focus groups can be used to collect input and establish performance benchmarks.
We have developed many instruments for collecting data from key sources on performance dimensions that matter. We customize these standard instruments to take into account the unique needs of any given organization.
Planning that responds to hard data takes on a new, more serious dimension. It sometimes confirms the impressions that leaders already have but often opens up surprising new avenues for consideration. Follow-up surveys can measure the change that results from planning.
We have created a new website to house all of these surveys that we have developed to assist with strategic planning. You can access it through this link....
PRINTABLE BROCHURE: For a full description of our Strategic Planning Services, click here and download a copy of our brochure.
