You can’t afford to miss your goals… you need to take advantage of the market opportunities
Are you brainstorming a list of initiatives you believe in, or are you making strategic choices that tie together? The answer to that question usually explains why you see certain companies grow while others plateau.
In our experience, the best way to build a strategic plan isn’t to go it alone. The best way is to bring in trained strategists who’ve done it before, where choices get prioritized through frameworks, not based on who has the loudest voice.
Your team has great ideas. And you’re excited by all the possibilities. But you can’t execute them all.
When you back the right bets, the market notices.
And that’s where Valen helps.
Three months after working with Valen, the right ideas are more likely to be funded, initiatives have owners, metrics, and regular reporting, and your CFO and board are smiling.
Our proprietary frameworks are designed to guide corporate and business-unit leaders through strategic planning with actionable insights, effective facilitation, and a comprehensive approach that aligns vision with resources and execution.
We’re not just experienced executives; we’re trained design thinkers, classic strategists, agile practitioners… and we’ve done this for over 25 years.
Before any sort of brainstorm, we take time to formulate and ask the big questions. The questions whose answers will guide our path.
Whether it’s a growth metric, or “done / not done” we define what success looks like for every objective
Valen provides collaborative tracking tools and sets regular accountability cadences with your senior leaders
Priorities are not just a list of initiatives, they are chosen from a strategy that defines how you’re going to win
Establish a clear, inspirational vision that aligns and guides your organization.
Develop strategies to achieve growth, competitiveness, and operational effectiveness.
Link strategic planning with annual budgeting for effective resource allocation and execution.
Establish a framework that connects long-term goals with annual budgeting, enhancing alignment and resource management.
Step 1 – Clarity of Direction
We first work with you remotely to clearly articulate who you are, craft the big strategic questions facing the organization that the plan needs to answer, and set the boundaries and direction the strategic plan should deliver.
On Day 2, we work to be clear about what winning looks like for each of those choices, and draft objectives, goals and initiatives for each Where to Play decision. Then we assess high-level supporting capabilities and systems.
We want to define here where you’ll compete, and how you’ll win in those areas.
Step 3 – Operating with Focus
This is where big aspirations get translated into clear prioritized actions, defining owners and the timing. Then we assess tradeoffs and identity risks, ensuring your strategy doesn’t just live in documents, it drives decision making and shapes resource allocation. The best strategic plan is one your team actually chooses to run the business. One with system visibility, that empowers leaders and managers to hold their team accountable to the plan.
Many internal planning exercises rely on brainstorming initiatives or assembling departmental wish lists. Our process starts with defining strategic questions, then uses structured facilitation to force clarity, focus, and tradeoffs. It results in a cohesive, organization-wide plan, not just a deck of disconnected ideas
You’ll leave with a clear Strategic Plan that includes:
Strategic Direction
Prioritized Where-to-Play and How-to-Win choices
3-5 strategic priorities with owners, metrics, and timelines
Functional alignment and action plans
Tools to manage strategy execution long after the workshop
We design the process for quality and efficiency. Most engagements include:
3-5 executive interviews before the main workshop (45-60 mins)
2 prep calls (60 mins) with leader responsible for the plan to align on scope and
expectations
A 2 day in-person or virtual strategy workshop
Optional functional workstreams and coaching over 3-6 weeks post-workshopMany internal planning exercises rely on brainstorming initiatives or assembling departmental wish lists. Our process starts with defining strategic questions, then uses structured facilitation to force clarity, focus, and tradeoffs. It results in a cohesive, organization-wide plan, not just a deck of disconnected ideas
We use design thinking principles in our facilitation to ensure all leaders are heard, and our tools (like the OGSI framework, WTP/HTW mapping, and SFA scoring, effort/impact matrix) create clarity and consensus. We also include pre-work to gather input and surface key tensions ahead of time
Yes. We’ve helped public and private companies translate strategy outputs into board-approved strategic plans, investor narratives, and M&A preparation documents
We don’t leave you with a static Power Point or a fancy PDF. We deliver a collaborative, editable, organized Excel file with full OGSI strategy buildout and offer:
Post-workshop refinement and coaching
Quarterly strategic reviews
Functional plan support (e.g., sales, ops, innovation)
You’ll also get a master timeline and accountability cadence to drive execution
We force precise decisions and tradeoffs. Every metric drives specific, architected action and every strategic priority and must:
Align with a clear customer problem or opportunity
Be matched with capabilities or competitive advantage
Be actionable, not aspirational
Typically, your senior leadership team (6-12 participants). We recommend including those accountable for execution, not responsibile for execution. Occasionally we also involve select board members or operational leads based on scope and direction conversations.
That’s okay. We’ll help you define what “winning” looks like through this process. With metrics-based exercises, we work backwards from business outcomes (e.g. revenue growth gap, margin improvement, customer mix shift) to define priorities and pathways
Our core Strategic Planning Sprint engagement starts at $35,000 and includes full facilitation, planning tools, a finalized strategy playbook, and optional coaching support. Every plan is customized to your organization’s size, complexity, and ambition
Valen’s Strategy Consulting Practice provides fact-based, strategic analysis that guides strategic decisions and creates a competitive advantage.
