Strategic Planning
Your team is working hard. They're just not working together.
StratOp™ is a structured facilitation process that turns competing priorities into a single, shared plan that is kept alive throughout the year.
6 phases
Quarterly
Annual
StratOp might be the right fit if…
Three situations I hear again and again. If one sounds like your team, open it up.
Most teams know the right direction.
Jay's role is to run the process: the diagnosis, the structure, the questions that don't get asked when the CEO is also the facilitator. Your team provides the content.
The process was developed by Tom Paterson over his decades of work with leadership teams. It starts with an honest perspective before touching the plan — because a strategy built on an incomplete picture of reality is just a more expensive way to drift. From there, it moves through mission, structure, and the actionable operating rhythms that determine whether a plan survives contact with the year.
StratOp isn't a one-day offsite. It's a multi-session engagement with quarterly accountability check-ins and an annual renewal session. The point isn't a better binder. The point is a team that knows what it's doing and why.
Multi-session engagement
Quarterly check-ins
Annual renewal
An honest perspective, before a plan.
Select a phase to see the question it answers and the work it does.
Perspective
"Do we actually agree on where we are right now?"
Before any strategy gets built, the team defines the current reality. This phase surfaces the assumptions everyone holds privately but rarely says out loud. It's the step most planning processes skip, which is why most plans don't survive the first quarter.
Core Plan
"Who are we, who do we serve, and what makes us genuinely different?"
Mission, vision, values, and competitive differentiation — not as abstract statements, but as working tools that actually shape decisions. This is the foundation everything else builds on. If it isn't clear here, it won't become clearer later.
Action
"What's the one most important thing right now, and who owns it?"
The core plan becomes a unified action plan. Priorities get forced-ranked. Ownership gets assigned. Silos get broken. This is where "we need to get aligned" becomes a concrete list of what each person is accountable for, and by when.
Structure
"Does the way we're organized actually support the plan we just built?"
Org structure, systems, and staffing get evaluated against the strategy — not against history or habit. If the structure doesn't support the plan, the plan will lose. This phase makes that visible before it becomes expensive.
Management
"Are we actually doing what we said we'd do?"
Quarterly review sessions with Jay. Progress gets assessed. Course corrections get made. The accountability rhythm is built into the engagement, not assumed to emerge on its own — which is how most strategic plans become the binder on the shelf.
Renewal
"What did we learn this year, and what does next year actually require?"
Annual reconvening to reset and refresh. The team brings real data from the year: what worked, what didn't, what changed in the market. The plan gets rebuilt from an updated perspective, not carried forward by inertia.
Phase 1 of 6 — click any step above to explore
A team that knows what it's doing and why.
A plan built from an honest perspective
Alignment the team actually owns
Forced-ranked priorities
Clear ownership and accountability
Quarterly accountability check-ins
An annual renewal session
A facilitator outside the hierarchy
Structure that actually fits the strategy
Built for leaders who've outgrown going it alone.
Mid-market leadership teams at companies between $5M and $100M in revenue.
Leaders who've tried planning before and watched the plan quietly disappear.
Companies where everyone is working hard but nobody's quite sure they're working on the same thing.
Owner-operators finally ready to build an organization that doesn't run through them alone.
Teams preparing for significant transitions: a scale-up, an ownership change, a new market.
Leaders who want a facilitator, not another consultant with a framework to sell
What Clients Say
My husband has been working with Jay for the past 6 months. The confidence and excitement I see in him has been transformational. Jay has a special gift to coach individuals both personally and professionally, balancing out their life goals!
I have worked with Jay for over seven years and leveraged his capabilities in three different ways within two different companies. My first experience was benefiting from his extensive sales and marketing expertise. Second as a coach both personally and then also with/for peers. Thirdly the StratOp process is hands down the best holistic strategic and tactical planning and execution tool I have ever experienced in my 33+ years of work across nine different employers including Herman Miller, Prince/JCI, Haworth, and John Deere just to name a few. Do yourself and your company a favor and at least just have a conversation with Jay – you will be blessed.
There are some things that words can not express, and my appreciation and admiration for what Jay does for people is one of those. He has been instrumental in repeatedly helping me see a path forward when I was unable to see it. He is that person of integrity that everyone wishes they had, someone who can breath honest, fresh and sometimes very needed feedback that helps you move forward. From working with fortune 500 companies down to single individuals or small teams, Jay has a way of helping people get to where they want to go and lay out a plan that everyone can get on board with. If you are considering bringing Jay into your conversation, team or strategic planning process, you simply won’t have any room for disappointment unless you fail to follow his advice. I can’t recommend Jay enough.
Jay brings a wealth of wisdom and leadership principles. As a CEO, Jay gave me a set of tools that I can use in multiple situations to help with decision making and leadership. Would definitely recommend!
Jay works with you to truly understand your business, your style of leadership, and your company culture to help maximize your potential.
Based upon my past experience, developing a business strategy is only the first step. Implementation is an ongoing journey. Jay continues to hold you accountable going forward. This is the area where we failed in the past. He is part of our management team!
Jay has been incredible in helping me to grow both in my business and personal life, he is a true blessing.
I have enjoyed working with Jay over the past couple years. With his experience and expertise, he has been able to help is in several areas of our business. We look forward to continuing to work with him in the years to come.
Jay is a true professional who was able to lead my executive team in the Strat Op process effectively and successfully. I highly recommend Jay for any business/organization that needs a “guide” to help them for a season or a specific need. Thanks Jay!
Jay has been instrumental in guiding our leadership team, and our business, through the process of identifying who we are organizationally and what it will take to achieve sustainable revenue growth moving forward. He built instant rapport with all of us right from the beginning and truly cares about the future success of our business. Jay delivers a wealth of knowledge, credibility and discipline to our business planning process. Please reach out directly to me if you would like to learn more about our very positive experience with Jay Hidalgo.
Most strategic plans fail in the space between the room and the real work.
StratOp is built to close that gap. If you're ready to find out whether it's the right fit, the conversation starts with a single call.