Strategic Solutions Limited was founded in 2005 by managing partner Ronnie Sutherland to help organizations create and implement their strategic plans. We do this by facilitating strategic planning meetings.
We are passionate about providing exceptional and adaptable service, which means working with our clients so we can get to know your organisation's culture. Our approach ensures that your team's strategic planning process is valuable, enjoyable, and sustainable.
You need processes and frameworks that are accessible and easy to understand, so we deliver solutions that empower you to become proficient in strategic planning and thinking so you can continue executing solutions in the future.
Ronnie Sutherland is the Managing Partner at Strategic Solutions Limited. He studied Electrical Engineering at the College of Arts Science and Technology (CAST). He holds a bachelor's degree (BBA) in banking and finance, an MBA in finance, and a post-graduate diploma in marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the (UK).
Ronnie sharpened his skills in strategic planning over the thirty years he worked in senior leadership roles in some of Jamaica’s largest and best-run organizations, such as Neal & Massy, Bush Boake Allen (UK), Seprod Group, Jamaica Producers Group and LASCO. Notably, he has leadership experience in a diverse set of business sectors, including automotive, manufacturing, distribution and media.
Over the last eleven years, Ronnie poured his passion and strategic planning expertise into creating and successfully leading two impactful radio stations (FYAH 105 and EDGE 105) that are winning in an intensely competitive radio market. That kind of hands-on building from the ground up sets him apart as an exceptional strategic planner.
As strategic consultants, the two most popular questions posed to us are:
Let's take a look at the three primary strategic planning consulting models
The consultant merely facilitates the strategic planning process and a core group does the work. So the facilitator provides a general structure, templates, tools and project management. The work group is fully responsible for the environmental scan, and drafting the final product. This is usually the least expensive form of strategic planning consulting because the core group does the heavy lifting.
In this model, the consultant is the primary planner. For this reason, the consultant conducts the environmental scan, prepares the board retreat, and writes the plan following the board retreat.
A properly done strategic plan could involve hundreds of hours of work the core team could ably do. To delegate all that amount of work to a consultant makes this the most expensive strategic planning option.
While this is a lucrative option, we never use this model because it is not good for the organization. We believe the consultant as a planner model does not engage the organisation's leadership sufficiently for the not strengthen the organization's capacity.
This is the most common type of strategic planning consulting, and it allows the organization to rise to its planning abilities while knowing that a consultant will do the work that the organization cannot.
Many options exist for assigning work within the hybrid model between the consultant and the organization.
For this reason, we typically offer three different work-share options to our prospective clients, with a corresponding cost. This allows the organization to determine the work they have the capacity to complete, while leaving the rest of the work for us the consultant.
The biggest challenge we see organization face is the "multiple Destination Trap". The team members have different ideas of success and are working on different projects to get there. Or worse, the team can't decide or get aligned on what it is, so the target change from day to day and month to month.
This causes uncertainty, frustration, and lack of progress and is the largest source of underperformance.
In order to escape the Multiple Destination Trap, your team needs to be aligned on both strategic elements like your Vision, Mission, Values, Priorities, Goals and Actions as well as operational components like: How do we communicate, Who is doing what, and how are we going to track progress.
Once your team is aligned on the strategic elements of your plan, it's critical that you schedule in time to review your plan so that it stays top o mind and doesn't get put on the back burner as the urgent day-to-day (operational) work takes over.
Moreover, the more closely you can tie your big-picture strategic work to the operational, the greater progress you will make towards your long-term goals.
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