strategy planning facilitation for leadership teams
Make your next leadership workshop count with an expert strategy planning facilitator
When a leadership team plans strategy together, something remarkable happens. They don’t just produce a plan, they commit to getting it done.
A professional strategy planning facilitator keeps your leaders focused, manages the group dynamics that derail most planning sessions, and guides your team to true alignment. The result is not just a strategy document; it’s your unified team with clarity and understanding of where you’re going and how you’re going to get there.
what is a strategy planning facilitator and how can they help you?
Your strategy planning facilitator designs and guides your leadership team’s planning process. They make sure every voice is heard, and all perspectives considered, so your team leaves with alignment and commitment to action.
Your facilitator is there to ensure your conversation unfolds constructively, that key assumptions are tested, and that every decision is collectively owned.
Your turning Leaf executive facilitator takes responsibility for the agenda, pace, group dynamics, and outcomes. Their job is to draw out the best thinking from the room, surface the real issues, challenge comfortable assumptions, and guide your leadership team to decisions that everyone commits to.
This is very different from an internal team member “running the day.” When someone within the organisation leads the discussion, they are inevitably a participant, with their own views, their own relationships, and their own hierarchical position to manage.
An independent offsite facilitator unlocks productive conversation, build genuine strategic alignment, and leave with a plan that has 100% team commitment.
benefits: what you get with an expert facilitator
1
Rapid Alignment
Dissolved functional silos and a leadership team pulling together around shared strategic priorities.
2
100% Team Commitment
Leaders take personal ownership because they were part of building the plan, not handed it.
3
Clear Accountability
Structured facilitation produces firm decisions with named owners, not vague intentions.
4
Shared Strategic Understanding
The team surfaces common ground, resolves tensions and commits to moving forward with confidence.
5
Stronger Relationships
Shared honest conversation builds trust and respect across leadership teams, laying the groundwork for real collaboration.
6
Momentum After the Workshop
The process builds energy and excitement that carries leaders back into their organisations ready to act.
when to use a strategy planning facilitator?
A facilitated strategy planning workshop is the right choice when the quality of your leadership team’s thinking and the strength of their alignment will determine whether your strategy succeeds.
Most leadership planning sessions can benefit from an independent, professional facilitator.
If your team faces a significant decision, is in a period of change, or has to prepare its annual or three-year plan, a professional planning workshop facilitator will improve both the quality of the output and (most importantly) your team's commitment to executing it.
A facilitated strategy planning method is especially effective when:
1. You, or your leadership team is new, has not planned together before
2. Your leaders have a history of alignment challenges or tend to work in silos and plan by function.
3. You are entering a new market, launching a new product, or undergoing structural change.
4. You need to have a difficult or honest conversation about what is and is not working with your current strategy.
5. Your previous planning sessions have produced a document but not genuine buy-in or impact (or worse, is ignored).
6. You are a board or executive team that needs to reconnect around a shared direction to improve personal relationships and information flow.
7. You want your strategy workshop to be a catalyst for cultural alignment as well as strategic clarity.
why choose turning leaf for your offsite?
We've spent two decades running strategy planning workshops across hundreds of organisations. Our approach is fast, focused and cost-effective. It’s centred on the highest-impact point in your strategy: making sure your leaders are aligned.
We know what makes the difference between a workshop that energises and aligns a team, and one that everyone forgets about within a week.
At Turning Leaf, our approach is simple. We believe that a plan built together is a plan that gets done — and our entire methodology is designed around that principle.
Our facilitators have all held leadership roles in major organisations. They understand the pressures your leaders are under, the political dynamics that can make or break a workshop, and the facilitation techniques that unlock genuine, productive conversation at the executive level.
turning leaf proven 6 step process
1. discovery and pre-work
Before your offsite, we conduct pre-workshop interviews with key participants and, where appropriate, a team survey. This surfaces the real issues, uncovers hidden tensions, and ensures your facilitator walks into the room already deeply familiar with your organisation, your team, and the key questions you need to answer. There are no surprises on the day.
2. your agenda design
We design your offsite agenda to match your specific strategic objectives — not a generic template. We decide together what conversations need to happen, in what order, and how much time each deserves. The agenda is purposeful and flexible, allowing for the deep dives that matter while keeping energy and momentum high throughout.
3. preparation briefing
We brief all participants clearly on the process before the day begins. People perform better when they know what they are walking into. Clear expectations reduce anxiety, raise engagement, and mean your team arrives ready to think and contribute — not to defend or deflect.
4. your offsite workshop
On the day — whether a half day, full day, or multi-day residential retreat, your Turning Leaf facilitator leads the group through the agreed agenda. They manage the dynamics of the room, draw out quieter voices, respectfully challenge comfortable assumptions, and keep the group on track without suppressing the conversations that really matter. The facilitator drives you but does not influence you. The thinking, and therefore the ownership, stays with your team.
5. decision capture and accountability
Great facilitation produces great conversations. But great outcomes require great follow-through. At the close of your offsite, your facilitator ensures the group has captured clear decisions, named owners, and committed timelines. Nothing is left ambiguous.
6. post-offsite output
We provide a structured summary of the key decisions, strategic priorities, and action items from your offsite — delivered promptly, so the momentum of the day is not lost. Many clients return to this document as a living reference throughout their planning cycle.
what leaders like you say about working with turning leaf
“Thank you so much for the fabulous offsite yesterday — it really achieved all I was hoping for, and more. We nailed the reconnect. And now that 24 hours has passed and I’ve had time to reflect, I feel we’ve finished with a really rich set of ideas that we can develop, as a team.”
Danusia Cameron
Registrar General
NSW Government
“Matt simplified the strategy setting process in a way that made sense for our organisation, and left us feeling empowered to continue the journey.”
Chris Taylor
CEO, AMPC
“I have participated in many such workshops over the past 40 or so years and rate your manner, approach and style as the best I have experienced. It’s even better to walk away with a sense of achievement from reaching agreed, realistic and practical outcomes.”
Rob Ewen Director
Muru Mittigar
“Turning Leaf has been instrumental in our strategic planning for two years running. Their innovative approach was engaging and productive, culminating in a clear, professional strategic plan that has genuinely energised the team.”
Rhett Kentwell CEO, Care1
“Thank you for facilitating such a wonderful and productive strategic planning session. The feedback from participants has been positive, and I’m still feeling happy about it.”
Dominic Aouad
Australian Dental Association NSW
what makes turning leaf different?
1
we understand your challenge
We understand the challenges you face because our facilitators have all held leadership roles in major firms and managed complex businesses.
2
results driven
We only deliver facilitated strategy workshops with measurable deliverables. Strategy guides implementation and massive action from your team.
3
masters of team alignment
No one is better at aligning leadership teams and getting them to commit to action than a Turning Leaf strategy planning facilitator.
4
transformation ready
Our facilitators specialise in transformational change, strategy development, and complex planning environments.
5
proven process
For over 20 years, we have refined our facilitation process across hundreds of engagements. It is tested, trusted, and continuously improved.
6
accredited specialists
All Turning Leaf facilitators are trained and accredited in large-group facilitation techniques - not generalists learning on your time.
what offsite workshop participants say
“The facilitator really got the best out of the team and kept us focused yet allowed us to run when needed.”
“The structured approach captured the goals and actions to take forward, keeping us on track but still allowing open discussion.”
“Engagement from the facilitator did not just give us an answer, but rather gently pushed the group towards coming up with our own answers and strategies. The team feels more aligned and excited about the strategy.”
“It was a well-run two days with sufficient time to discuss topics, challenge norms, move forward, and align on the best path.”
“I really enjoyed the format — the facilitator was very good at getting everyone to engage and bringing out the voices of those who don’t always speak up.”
“Great facilitation that drove us, but did not influence us.”
why you should use an external facilitator?
1
True Independence
An external facilitator has no stake in the outcome and no political position to protect. Your team can speak freely, and the facilitator can challenge anyone in the room, including the CEO
2
Structured Thinking, Not Endless Talking
A skilled corporate offsite facilitator designs a process that moves your team through the right conversations in the right order quickly enough to keep energy high, and build real clarity.
3
Genuine Commitment, Not Compliance
When leaders build the plan themselves, guided rather than told how to think, they own it. Commitment is not manufactured after the fact; it is created during the process.
4
Dissolved Silos and Realigned Teams
Facilitated dialogue surfaces cross-functional tensions, builds shared understanding of complexity, and replaces competing agendas with a common direction.
5
Accountability Built In
A Turning Leaf offsite facilitator ensures your team leaves with clear decisions, named owners, and agreed next steps - not a vague list of “actions to discuss further.”
6
Maximum Value from Your Time Away
Executive offsites are expensive.
A professional strategy offsite facilitator ensures every hour counts
corporate offsite case studies
energy sector — newly formed board and executive team
A fast-growing energy business needed to align a newly assembled board and executive team on a long-term strategy for a complex, shifting market. Turning Leaf conducted pre-workshop interviews and a staff survey, then facilitated a two-day residential offsite.
The leaders successfully aligned on market assumptions and competitive priorities, co-creating a unified vision, value proposition, and strategy across multiple potential futures. The organisation left with 100% team commitment and a clear implementation roadmap.
nsw government team reconnect and strategy reset
Following a period of significant internal change, a senior government leadership team needed to reconnect, rebuild trust, and develop a rich set of ideas for the year ahead.
Turning Leaf facilitated a one-day offsite that achieved all of the client’s reconnection goals, and generated a genuinely rich strategic pipeline.
The client noted that the team was still running on the momentum from the offsite a full 24 hours later.
national insurance organisation — strategy robustness testing
A national insurance organisation wanted to test the robustness of its current strategic policies and choices against a range of possible futures. Turning Leaf supported the leadership group through a facilitated offsite to develop scenarios, examine assumptions, and identify where current settings were exposed.
The ideas generated were successfully implemented to improve organisational resilience and long-range planning capability.
board strategy retreat
The board of one of Australia’s most respected private clubs needed a facilitated retreat to develop an exciting new vision and a set of strategic initiatives for the future of the club.
The Turning Leaf facilitator’s approach, described by one director as “refreshingly low tech” yet highly effective, guided the board through a productive process that culminated in a compelling vision statement and a clear set of agreed priorities.
fast start: we know your industry
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Government Departments
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FMCG (consumer goods)
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Construction & Property
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Building supplies
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Manufacturing
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Automotive
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Government
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Agriculture
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Food & Beverages
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Property (Residential & Commercial)
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Medical and Dental
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Software
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Government Owned Corporations
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Luxury Branded Goods
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Retail, Fashion and e-commerce
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Financial Services and Insurance
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Utilities and Telecommunications
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Financial Services and Investment
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Mining and Infrastructure
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Professional Services
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Franchising
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Pharmaceutical Services
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Waste & Recycling
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Not For Profit
ask us about our flagship facilitation modules
advanced strategy formation
Strategy development by the people who will be responsible for it. This workshop is for when you have a team that needs to work together to win against competitors and to delight customers.
ai transformation
Is your strategy ready for the coming wave of AI opportunities and challenges? Have you identified where in your value chain artificial intelligence can add the greatest value? This module unlocks the potential for AI in your business.
path to growth
Sales and marketing alignment to win in consumer categories. For when you need proven growth drivers to win in retail, e-commerce and with brands. Brings together category management, sales, and brand growth essentials.
strategy into action
Implementation planning. For when the rubber hits the road - you need a GAME plan (Goals, Activities, Measurement, Evaluation)
role clarity and silo busting
Team formation at its best. Role clarity and working in silos are now classed as psycho-social safety hazards under WHS legislation. Proper team formation is a level 1 control for these risks because it eliminates lack of clarity at the source.
team alignment intensive
Developing a high-performance team. For when you have a team with a challenge and you need to bring them together to work efficiently and effectively to get the outcome you need.
b2b builder
Specialist strategy formation for businesses selling to other business and government. For when your B2B sales proposition needs to generate more interest in buyers without alientating the procurement department.
executive facilitation
For teams ready to transform strategic visions into tangible outcomes and achieve organisational excellence. Unite your executives around common goals, enhance decision-making, and foster cross-functional collaboration.
cx magic
Putting your customer at the heart of your business through Customer Journey. For when you need to improve your customer experience by mapping their journey and identifying critical strengths and weaknesses.
facilitation fees
The cost of professional facilitation varies considerably depending on the specific needs of your team, the numbers involved and the outcomes required.
Fees can range from as little as $6,500 for smaller groups with fewer challenges up to $50,000 for much larger groups with business-critical requirements.
Other drivers of cost include:
On-site or off-site facilitation
Pre-work and research requirements
Post-workshop follow up
Administration needs (eg safety or compliance)
Special requests
The best next step is for us to have a chat about the kind of outcomes you need and how we can ensure you achieve them.