Offsites and strategic planning sessions, run by an operator.

Updated September 2026

Not a neutral moderator with a flip chart. I design and run one to two day working sessions and offsites where a leadership team steps back, has its assumptions challenged with an operator’s perspective and the data, and leaves with decisions, or with clearly defined options, owners and next steps. I have sat in the seat these rooms report to: founder and CEO through a Nasdaq IPO, senior executive at New Relic and Cox Automotive, and I know which conversation the room is avoiding.

The offsite is the most expensive meeting your company runs: ten leaders, two days, a quarter’s momentum riding on the room. Run well, it compresses six months of drift into two days of decisions. Run badly, it is a slide deck nobody opens again.

Every room has its own stakes. A team that thinks it is aligned and needs to be sure. A team that knows it is not. A new team that has never made a hard decision together. A PE owner pressing on margin. A milestone the next round depends on. A do-or-die year on the road to an IPO. The agenda is never just the agenda, and a facilitator who has not lived those pressures cannot hear what your room is really negotiating.

I am Ken Gavranovic, the facilitator who designs and runs these sessions for leadership teams, CEC and ICF certified. I have held the seats the room reports to, CEO, COO and senior executive; the rooms I have run range from a new leader’s first offsite with a team he did not build to board presentations as the leader in the chair; and the team leaves with decisions that have owners and dates.

Why an operator in the room changes the outcome.

Most facilitators are neutral by design: they keep time, keep the peace, and keep to the agenda. That neutrality has a cost. When the room politely agrees to a plan that cannot work, a moderator writes it on the flip chart. An operator says the quiet part out loud: this plan assumes two things your own numbers say are not true.

I have sat in the seat these rooms report to: founder and CEO through a Nasdaq IPO, senior executive at New Relic and Cox Automotive, operator in venture-backed startups, a unicorn, PE-backed companies and turnarounds. I know what alignment costs when it is fake, what an operating rhythm looks like when it actually holds, and how decision rights get settled, including in the mess after a merger. Naming the conversation the room is avoiding is the job.

My own teams knew me as a player and a coach, and that is how I run a room. I will hold the process, and when you want it I will weigh in with operator judgment, clearly labelled as opinion. You choose the mix.

People ask what my method is. It is the before, in the room, after discipline above, and it produces two artefacts you can ask any facilitator to show you: the decision list and the decision log.

Before the agenda exists, the CEO and I agree the decision list: a one-page list of the three to five decisions the team must make before the room empties. Each line names the decision, who owns it today, and what "decided" will look like when the room reads it back. It is not a list of topics. "Discuss pricing" is a topic. "Decide whether we raise list price in the first quarter, and by how much" is a decision. Each decision on the list has to be a must, with the where and the why attached, or it comes off the list. Once the list exists I talk with every seat in the room one on one, confidentially, for 45 to 60 minutes each, and the agenda comes out of what I hear, not out of a template.

In the room, two rules hold. Decision rights get named before the decision gets made: who decides, who gets a say, who has to live with it. Most alignment problems are unsettled decision rights wearing a disguise. And every decision is captured in the decision log as it happens: what was decided, what was deliberately deferred and until when, what was escalated, who owns it, and the first action with a date. Before the room empties I read the log back against the decision list. If they do not match, we are not done.

After, the decision log goes to every attendee within two business days, and the 30-day follow-through checks each owner and date against the operating rhythm the decisions plug into. The measure of an offsite is not the two days. It is the ninety after.

What the room leaves with:

• the decision list: the three to five decisions the team had to make, agreed in writing before the agenda existed
• the decision log: what was decided, what was deferred and until when, what was escalated, who owns each, and the first action with a date, to each attendee within two business days
• when a question is too big to close in two days, two or three clearly defined alternatives, an owner for each, and the next step dated
• thirty days of follow-through, each owner and date checked against the operating rhythm

Further reading: Frisch and Chandler, "Off-Sites That Work" (HBR, 2006), and Rogers and Blenko, "Who Has the D?" (HBR, 2006).

A Decision Contract is a one-page list of the three to five decisions the leadership team must make before the room empties, agreed in writing by the CEO and the facilitator before the agenda exists. Each line names the decision, who owns it today, what it costs to leave it open another quarter, and what "decided" will look like when the room reads it back. Here is the template I use. Fill it in before you book a room, with me or with anyone.

Topics are not decisions. "Discuss pricing" is a topic. "Decide whether we raise list price in the first quarter, and by how much" is a decision. Each line has to be a must, with the where and the why attached, or it comes off the list.

The operator’s side, and the human one.

I bring both sides of the room: the operator’s side, as a public-company CEO and senior executive, and operator in venture-backed startups, a unicorn, PE-backed companies and turnarounds; and the human side, trained, with a BS in Psychology, Summa Cum Laude, a CMHC master’s underway, ICF and CEC certifications, and co-author of Business Breakthrough 3.0, an Amazon bestseller. Where useful, sessions are assessment-informed: personality, EQ, and 360 feedback instruments chosen for the team.

That matters because the hardest part of any offsite is not the strategy. It is getting ten smart people to say what they actually think while the boss is in the room. That is a psychology problem, and it responds to structure. The standing version of this work, leader by leader, is my executive coaching.

Ken led our $160M+ cloud, engineering, and DevOps modernization across a $3B+ portfolio. He brought clarity, velocity, and accountability to every initiative.

As COO, Ken led with clarity and focus, revamping our GTM motion, cutting burn significantly, and driving cross-functional alignment across Product, Sales, and Operations.

He brought a rare mix of focused execution, operational rigor, and infectious positivity. He drove alignment and morale even as we reduced burn by 50%. His leadership during our acquisition was steady, thoughtful, and deeply collaborative.

Based in Alpharetta, Georgia. In-person executive offsites across Alpharetta and the Atlanta metro; on-site by engagement anywhere in the country. I work remotely with leaders everywhere. (629) 304-8755 · ken@kengavranovic.com

Is there a Decision Contract template I can use?

Yes. The one-page Decision Contract template, the executive offsite planning template I use, is on this page and as a PDF: the three to five decisions the offsite exists to make, who owns each today, what it costs to leave it open another quarter, and what "decided" will look like when the room reads it back. Fill it in before you book a room, with me or with anyone, and bring it to the discovery call.

What does a strategy facilitator do?

Designs and runs the session so the leadership team does its best thinking: the right questions in the right order, a structure that surfaces disagreement early, and a room where the true thing can be said. The facilitator owns the process so the team can own the decisions. I add one more thing: operator judgment about whether the plan the room is converging on can actually work.

How do I choose an offsite facilitator?

Ask for three things. First, can they actually run a room. Trained, practiced, with the craft to make it safe to say the true thing. My rooms have ranged from Gartner and AWS re:Invent keynotes to customer events around the globe, to presenting to tough boards as the leader in the chair, to sitting on boards judging the plan. Twenty-five years of rooms, from both sides of the table. Second, have they lived your situation: the PE pressure, the funding milestone, the IPO year. I have sat in those seats, not next to them. Third, do they have the training to work the human side: a BS in Psychology, a master's in CMHC underway, and sessions that are assessment-informed when useful. The goal is not a good two days. It is a team that executes better and holds together after. If you are the chief of staff or the executive assistant building the shortlist, ask every candidate the same four questions. What is your method, and can you describe it in one paragraph? Have you held a seat like the ones in our room? Will you interview every attendee before the agenda is set? What do we receive after the room, and for how long? Then give the finalists the same real situation and compare the agendas they propose. Hire the one whose agenda starts with decisions rather than topics. The long version, with the method, is in How to Run an Executive Offsite That Actually Produces Decisions.

How long is an offsite, and what does it cost?

Most offsites run one to two days, working sessions half a day to two days. Around the room itself there is preparation the week before and a 30-day follow-through after, and those are where much of the value lives. Fees depend on scope, and we agree them on the discovery call once we both know what the room needs. Five things set the number: days in the room, seats in the room (each one is an interview), whether an assessment pass is useful, whether the follow-through is thirty days or the full quarter, and travel. One fee for the engagement, not a day rate. For what the market charges: a two-day executive session with an experienced independent facilitator typically lands between $5,000 and $25,000 (the published survey figures, 2026), and what moves a facilitator’s fee is in the cost guide.

Facilitator or consultant: which do I need?

A consultant brings you an answer. A facilitator builds the answer with your team, so the team owns it. If your leadership team already has the knowledge but not the alignment, you want facilitation. I can flex between the two in the room, always labelled: process first, operator opinion when you ask for it. When it is a consultant you actually need, that work lives here.

Facilitator or team coach: which does your team need?

If your team knows what to do and cannot get it decided, you want a facilitator: a structured room, disagreement surfaced early, decisions that leave with owners and dates. If the same problem comes back every quarter, the pattern lives in how your team works, and that is standing work: leadership team coaching, which I do separately. One honest conversation usually tells you which it is, and I will tell you plainly, including when it is not me.

How do you prepare?

One-on-one conversations with every seat in the room, so I walk in knowing where the real disagreements live. Where useful, a short assessment pass on personality, EQ and team dynamics. And a written outcome we agree in advance: what must be decided before the room empties. That written outcome is the Decision Contract, explained here.

Do you travel, and where are you based?

Based in Alpharetta, Georgia. I run sessions on-site anywhere in the country, and remotely when that fits the work. Atlanta metro in person is easy. Do the room in person; the pre-interviews and the thirty-day follow-through run on video wherever you are.

What happens after the session?

A 30-day follow-through. Decisions leave the room with owners and dates, and we check that the operating rhythm actually holds once the quarter starts pushing back. An offsite that only produces a good memory was a vacation.

Who should be in the room?

The CEO and the direct reports who own the decisions on the list. Add a board member or an advisor for a specific block if one decision needs them. Do not add people because leaving them out would feel awkward. Every extra seat makes the true thing harder to say.

Can the CEO facilitate their own offsite?

Rarely well. The CEO is a party to every decision on the list and the person the room is most careful around. Whoever runs the process cannot also be in the argument, and the argument is the point.

Offsite, retreat, workshop, or alignment session: what is the difference?

The method is the same; the emphasis moves. An executive offsite is the one- or two-day room where a leadership team resets its plan. A leadership retreat or executive retreat puts the team itself on the agenda: trust, candour, how it handles disagreement, with the business decisions along for the ride. A leadership workshop is a half day to a day on one problem that will not die in email. A leadership alignment workshop is for a team that thinks it is aligned and needs to find out whether that is true. All four start with the decisions written down, because a retreat that builds trust and decides nothing does not hold either.

How far ahead should we book?

Three to six weeks ahead for a virtual session, six to eight for a one- or two-day room in person. The time goes on the work before the work: the Decision Contract agreed in writing before the agenda exists, a confidential one-on-one with each person who will be in the room, and an agenda built out of what I hear. That pre-work needs the weeks in front of the room, and the booking comes before it, because senior calendars are the slow part. A half-day working session can sometimes run on shorter notice.

What if there is real conflict on the leadership team?

Then there is something real to decide, and I want to know it before the room is booked. The one-on-ones tell me where the disagreement lives and who is careful around whom; where useful, a short assessment pass on how the team handles conflict comes first. Working agreements go up front and disagreement is surfaced early, while the room is fresh. If the conflict is bigger than a working session can carry, I will say so plainly: that is standing work, not an offsite.

We have done offsites before and they faded. Why would this one hold?

The two days are not the point; the ninety after are. The room does not get an agenda until the CEO and I have agreed in writing the three to five decisions it exists to make. Each decision goes into the decision log with an owner and a date, the log is read back against the contract before the room empties, and thirty days of follow-through check each owner and date against the operating rhythm the decisions plug into. The pattern behind a faded offsite is a list of topics and no owner on the Monday after; an offsite that only produced a good memory was a vacation.

Is what the team says in the room confidential?

The one-on-one conversations before the room are confidential: I talk with each seat for 45 to 60 minutes, and the agenda comes out of what I hear, not out of a template. What reaches the room is the pattern: the disagreements the interviews surfaced go on the wall unattributed. In the room, working agreements are set up front so the true thing can be said, and what leaves the room is the decision log: what was decided, deferred or escalated, who owns it, and the first action with a date.

Tell me about the room.

Forty-five minutes, no pressure, no pitch. Tell me what the session needs to produce, who will be in the room and when it has to happen, and I will tell you honestly whether I am the right person to run it. If I am, you leave the call with a first pass at the decision list, the seats to interview and the days the room needs; the scope and the fee follow in writing.

Or reach me directly:
(629) 304-8755
ken@kengavranovic.com
Prefer to write? Use the note: I reply with a scope and a number, or a straight no.