Often reactive short-term piecemeal approaches are put in place to address crises and issues.
Although they may bring about some relief, they are insufficient to bring about transformation.
Piecemeal approaches are fragmented, leaving gaps in terms of what needs to be done.
A proactive approach helps to focus on the desired future and what is needed to realize them.
You get what you focus on –  problems, or solutions.

Your community or organization is a system and for it to function effectively all components must work together.
Planning for only one or two areas of your community or organization breaks down because they are interdependent with other areas.
It is essential to create a plan for your whole community or organization.
Make sure you are headed in the same direction and have a shared roadmap.

Organizational plans and initiatives often falter because they are not operationalized.
To be achieved the organizational plan must be cascaded down to departments and employees to carry out day to day.
Just as a stream must flow to nourish those downstream, goals and strategies must flow to every function and employee in the organization to work together to create the desired future.

Many planning processes start with today’s current situation.
This is like looking in the rear view mirror hoping to get safely to your destination.
We believe plans must be Future Focused, engaging the community and leaders to anticipate what is likely to change in the future environment so that they can develop a vision and plan for the future.
If you start with the present situation, you are planning for the past.
“Begin with the end in mind.” Reverse-engineer how to get there.

In many planning processes, organizations identify activities that they hope will move them to
their desired future.
Unfortunately, with such processes you have no way of measuring progress towards your desired economic future.
In our planning process we assist you to establish Key Success Measures and Performance Indicators with specific targets over the time span of your plan so that you can systematically track economic development progress along the way,
allowing you to make continuous improvements as needed.
“You can’t control it, if you can’t measure it”. Measuring is the first step to taking control

In many planning processes, organizations develop a mission and vision, and then do “silo objective setting” in which each department/function sets unrelated goals.
Valuable momentum is lost when this happens.
It is more effective to create organizational strategies, which are cascaded to each department to develop plans consistent with those of the organization, yet are flexible to the mission of the department.
Just like the geese fly 73% faster, organizations achieve greater momentum when they are aligned.

Every year large numbers of plans are developed, many of which will fall victim to the “SPOTS
Syndrome” (Strategic Plan on Top Shelf).
Over 75% of plans fail because there is no system in place for implementation.
Raven offers more than simply planning.
We offer a systematic implementation process to ensure you achieve the desired results from your plan.
“The only good plan is one that is fully implemented.”

We don’t just facilitate the planning and/or implementation process – we build capacity as we
facilitate the process and then engage your leaders in facilitating the process with their
department and employees. “Teach a man to fish”