Smith Elliott Kearns & Company, LLC is a broad base accounting firm with five offices in Pennsylvania and Maryland. For the past 10 years, they have had a Business Learning Institute thought leader lead their annual partners’ retreat. They have found that bringing an outsider in to lead keeps their company moving forward each year.

Every year, a major “item” or issue facing the firm is addressed. In the past, those issues have included succession and the organization of levels of partners. Over two days, Tom Hood–BLI’s Strategic Planning lead facilitator–leads two 5-hour sessions that encourage the partners to address the issues at hand in a variety of ways, and to then share their action plans for bringing the ideas generated during the session into being. The synergy fostered by the sessions propels serious and productive group discussion and problem solving, which leads to measurable success for the firm. “BLI’s Strategic Planning service has brought so many wonderful ideas and programs to our firm over the years. It’s not a static process, which is why we have found such value repeating the process. As times are changing more and more rapidly, the Strategic Planning process helps us discover the tools, methodology, and enthusiasm to not only keep up but to succeed.” Kimberly J. Wines, SPHR, AAAPM, Firm Administrator