Every business faces challenges, problems, and messes. Our strategic process helps you tackle them all with clarity.
Are you tired of consultants who shower you with post-it notes, promise quick fixes, then leave you with a glossy report that gathers dust?
You know your business better than anyone. You’ve built it from the ground up. But sometimes being too close makes it harder to see the path forward clearly.
That’s where our Strategic Planning Sessions make the difference.
We don’t arrive with pre-packaged answers or claim to know your business better than you do. Instead, we bring something more valuable: the expertise to help you access the answers that already exist within your organisation.
Flexible Format, Focused Results
Whether you prefer an intensive full-day session, focused half-day workshops, or a series of structured planning sessions, we adapt our approach to suit your team’s needs and schedule.
What remains constant is our commitment to drawing out your organisation’s expertise and transforming it into actionable strategies.
Why Strategic Planning Matters
Every day, you handle urgent tasks while tomorrow’s opportunities slip through your fingers. It’s not about working harder. It’s about making space to work smarter.
The most successful organisations aren’t just busy. They’re intentional. They make time to plan.
But here’s what others won’t tell you: strategic planning itself is a discipline. Just as you wouldn’t expect a master chef to automatically be a brilliant accountant, being an industry expert doesn’t automatically make someone a planning expert.
Our Approach to Your Planning Session
You are the expert at your business. We’re experts at drawing out and framing that knowledge.
We guide you through carefully chosen exercises that transform your team’s everyday efforts into clearly defined insights and actionable strategies.
By the end of your Strategic Planning Session, you’ll have clear goals and the confidence to explain your path forward to stakeholders.
The Power of Classification: Ackoff's Framework
Russell Ackoff, a pioneer in systems thinking, provided us with a valuable framework for understanding different types of challenges. This classification helps organisations better understand the nature of their challenges and approach them with appropriate strategies.
Ackoff identified three distinct categories: Puzzles, Problems, and Messes. (Note: these are Ackoff’s terms, not ours, but they’re useful for understanding what you’re actually facing.)
Puzzles: When All Pieces Are Present
Puzzles represent the most straightforward category of challenges. They have specific parameters, contain all necessary information, and lead to a single, verifiable solution. Like a mathematical equation or a well-structured business case, puzzles can be methodically solved once you understand their components.
Definition: A structured challenge with a single, definitive solution, where all necessary information is present and the outcome is certain once solved.
Problems: When Creativity Meets Complexity
Problems present a more nuanced challenge. While solutions exist, they’re not immediately apparent and often require creative thinking to uncover. Unlike puzzles, problems may have multiple valid solutions, each with its own trade-offs. They demand analysis, insight, and often require us to look beyond conventional approaches.
Definition: A challenging situation with multiple possible solutions, though finding the optimal path forward requires analysis, creativity, and careful consideration of options.
Messes: When Nothing Seems Fixable
Messes represent the most complex category in Ackoff’s framework. These are systemic challenges where multiple problems intersect and interact, creating a web of interdependencies. Organisational change, market disruption, and cultural shifts typically fall into this category. Messes can’t be “solved” in a traditional sense. They must be managed and navigated strategically.
Definition: A system of interconnected challenges that lacks clear boundaries, involves multiple stakeholders, and requires ongoing management rather than single solutions.
The Importance of Ackoff's Framework
We explain Ackoff’s Framework, above, but if you’d rather listen to a discussion of what it is and how it might apply to you, here’s a light chat between David and Steve in which they explain this important planning tool through conversation.
Practical Application for Your Organisation
Understanding these distinctions helps organisations:
- Identify the true nature of their challenges
- Allocate appropriate resources and approaches
- Set realistic expectations for outcomes
- Choose suitable methodologies for addressing each type
The key insight from Ackoff’s framework isn’t just in identifying these categories. It’s in understanding that we often mistakenly treat messes as problems, or problems as simple puzzles requiring straightforward answers.
This misclassification leads to applying inappropriate solutions and wondering why they don’t stick.
The Difference
David Olney brings 15 years teaching Complex Problem Solving at the University of Adelaide and nationwide consulting experience.
Steve Davis contributes more than 20 years of hands-on small business expertise across diverse industries.
Together, we combine academic rigour with practical business sense.
But credentials aside, our true value lies in what we don’t do during your Strategic Planning Session: we won’t force your unique business into a standardised template.
Instead, we’ll help you craft a plan that’s authentically yours. Built from your expertise. Aligned with your values. Focused on your definition of success.
Ready to Transform Your Business Knowledge into Clear Action?
Book your Strategic Planning Session today. Half-day, full-day, or series of sessions. We’ll adapt to what your organisation actually needs. Give Steve a call or use the enquiry form and we’ll be in touch.