Plan A: Facilitating The Reader's Annual Planning event.

The Reader’s Managing Director Jemma Guerrier explains how recent organisational change required a review of their established approach to annual planning. Building on an established partnership with WRKWLL (having already worked together on leadership development days, Four Seasons profiling and mentoring), the process started with a co-designed, WRKWLL-facilitated leadership away day:

“I wanted to reboot the process, and I wanted people to feel different after having a day together.”

The away-day goal was to produce an annual planning process which the team could feel shared ownership of. The away day gave space for cross-pollination of ideas, exploration of inter-dependencies between teams and enabled some potentially difficult decisions around prioritisation.

“I just knew that I would be able to trust the quality of the facilitation, and that WRKWLL would bring more than just facilitation skills to the process. I knew I would have an expert sounding board for planning the day as well as running the day effectively, as well as delivering personal development to the people in the room.”

WRKWLL partner Emily Lomax worked collaboratively with Jemma to develop the specific tools needed for the annual planning process. They adopted a more structured approach than The Reader had used in the past, including a greater emphasis on documentation to guide colleagues in advance of the session, detailed consideration of the shape of the day’s agenda, and the development of a range of bespoke interactive activities.

“For me, it’s about being able to work really effectively with someone before a day and not just on the day. For this particular one, where we’d been through a lot of organisational change, I really needed someone to work with me on crafting what was needed.”

The annual planning away day was hugely productive, receiving a range of positive feedback from participants. Jemma attributes this to the quality of the preparation, Emily’s facilitation skills and willingness to share her own leadership experience, ability to offer external challenge and her ability at drawing out the perspectives of everyone in the room.

“The objectivity that Emily brought definitely gave people energy and it made them feel that they were being developed, not just doing something together. They believed that we’re really investing in doing something different by working with WRKWLL.”

The day itself was just the start, and ultimately fed into the Reader’s overarching planning process that will continue through the year and beyond. WRKWLL continued to offer support during the next phase, being available to review draft documents, and offer guidance during the next steps of the planning process.

Reflecting on what sets WRKWLL apart from other consultancies, Jemma suggests.

“WRKWLL are head and shoulders above in terms of the added value and thought that they bring. The value is as much in the planning, crafting and design and their challenge to you in terms of what you want to achieve.”

Finally, she sums up why the Reader has chosen to commission WRKWLL to undertake a wide range of work.

“I’d say a huge benefit of working with WRKWLL is that you never feel like you’ve got to onboard somebody again every time you meet with them. You just always feel like they’re part of the extended team and have been here all the time.”

Where is your organisation in your planning cycle? Could you benefit from an external perspective and fresh approach to planning and facilitating your away day? We’d love to discuss how we can help!