TESTIMONIALS
As a key member of your organization's executive team, you often depend on what your peers in similar organizations have to say about the value of services delivered by consultants. This is especially true when seeking an outside consultant delivering somewhat "squishy" services such as strategy development and planning, organization planning, and facilitation services.
See below what clients have said about the strategy services delivered by Steve Sorensen at Strategy in Progress.
Closely Held Businesses
“Steve worked with the owner and the senior leadership team to clearly define and set owner risk/return expectations, and establish key strategic goals over the planning period. This process provided a strategic framework for our senior management team to develop challenging, yet achievable business unit operating plans.”
Tom Sheehan, President of Midland Information Resources (Information Distribution and Printing Company)
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“Steve helped guide the senior management team through the development of annual Division and Business Unit level operating plans consistent with corporate strategic plan parameters. He effectively facilitated annual planning retreats with the management team and then was actively engaged in periodic operating plan execution and follow-up sessions. Steve provided me with useful insight to ensure that our planning sessions were productive and focused on strategic and key operating issues.”
Gregory O’Gary, President of Weitz Industrial Services Group, (Division of Large General Construction Company); Des Moines, Iowa
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“Steve has facilitated various types of business planning sessions with our management team over the last 5 years. Steve has been able to quickly grasp our Company’s fairly complex business model and strategy and apply his facilitation skills and strong business acumen to challenge our team to continue to think critically and strategically about our business and our future. He has been able to adapt to and apply our previous planning methodologies while also introducing our team to new ways to strategically think about the future of our Company. Steve truly understands the strategic, operational, and organizational challenges which small businesses face as they strive to achieve profitable sustained growth.”
Chris Clover, CEO, Mechdyne Corporation (Marshalltown, Iowa)
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“Steve has been providing strategy related services and business advice to our firm for more than 7 years. Steve began by leading our executive team through a successful multi-year strategic planning process including subsequent plan review/update sessions. Most recently, Steve facilitated a process to aid Missman in a focused strategy for implementing new leadership and identifying strategic objectives. His guidance helped us to identify and understand our firm’s next generation leaders’, their desires, concerns, and questions regarding our firm’s future, and ownership structure. Steve’s organized approach, keen business insight, and strong facilitation skills helped our management team stay focused on strategic issues and develop practical strategic solutions to our challenges and critical issues. He has been successful in helping our team move forward strategically as a firm.”
Pat Eikenberry, President, Missman Stanley
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“Steve did an outstanding job as our facilitator. He really pulled our team together and kept our two-day strategy retreat moving.”
Gary Kahn, President of First Newton National Bank
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“Steve has helped us from time to time for over a decade by providing third party facilitation and support services for a wide variety of organizational initiatives. Steve is experienced, insightful, probing, and quite effective in facilitating a group and organizing group outcomes.”
Mark Kilmer, President, Republic Companies
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“Steve facilitated the senior management team in the development of an overall business strategy. Then, working with a larger planning team and using a highly participative small group process, Steve helped the team develop a multi-year strategic plan that is both challenging, yet realistic. The plan ensures that our company focuses its resources on the highest priority corporate issues. Steve worked closely with us to implement a “customized” planning process that fit our culture. He will continue to help us stay focused on plan implementation by facilitating with the planning team periodic plan reviews and updates.”
President of large Midwestern manufacturing Company
Not-For-Profit Organizations
"Steve has guided our strategic planning process for the past three years. His guidance, insight, and leadership helped us develop a workable plan that is both challenging and achievable. His understanding of our business and his insight has helped us navigate a crucial time in our organization so that we can enjoy continued success.”
Barbara VenHorst, President of Junior Achievement of the Heartland.
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"The management of our organization has been strengthened through the professional services provided by Steve. He has brought to the table strategic insight and experience that has broadened the thinking and thereby, the potential of the organization for the long term. These skills are extremely beneficial to today’s management that must focus best use of all resources within a company."
Ms. Christine L. Wehrman, CEO, The American Rental Association
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"Steve provided very important guidance to a process being driven by a group of community leaders who recognized a crucial need to completely overhaul the regional economic development process.
His facilitation skills helped us smoke out both the real cause of our challenge and the real solutions to it. His ability to simultaneously deal with the powerful combination of ambiguity, political dynamics, inertia and parochialism present in the community was a crucial factor in our ultimate success. As we figured out what, he carefully guided us into” how “and helped us construct a framework for the future. It is truly fascinating to see how close today’s successful model looks like what he helped us design.
Steve’s combination of vision, patience and strong task orientation really helped launch us on a 3 year journey which has resulted in near unanimous acceptance by a previously fragmented community! "
Mr. John Stavnes, Regional President, Wells Fargo
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"(Steve) provided Strategic Planning for our non-profit community organization. … He always kept all the parties focused on the task at hand. More importantly, he managed his consulting time extremely well and all attendees knew he appreciated their busy schedules.
Steve (also) put together and recommended an organization flow chart to make the agency more efficient. This was adopted and implemented in large part.
He also assisted with developing a (CEO) “Succession Plan” to assist the Board and its leadership. He worked closely with the Board and C.E.O. to identify issues critical for a smooth transition when the C.E.O. retires.
The Center’s experience, as well as my personal experience with (Steve) provided for one of the most satisfying consulting results in the history of the organization."
Mr. Tom Fedje, CEO, Edgerton Women’s Health Clinic