The team needs alignment
Priorities compete, assumptions differ, or important issues remain unresolved.
Annual Planning Facilitator · California
Annual planning that turns direction into execution.
Collective Genius helps CEOs and leadership teams make the important decisions, align around priorities, establish clear ownership, and leave with an executable one-year plan.
Los Angeles • Southern California • Northern California
Trusted when
execution matters
execution matters
Slingshot Aerospace
Flowspace
Upfront Ventures
Credit Key
Space Foundation
The planning-to-execution gap
Your annual plan should not disappear into a deck.
Annual planning often creates a burst of alignment that fades once everyone returns to daily work. Priorities compete. Ownership blurs. Meetings become reactive. The plan becomes something the leadership team remembers rather than something the organization uses.
A Collective Genius annual planning session connects the decisions made in the room to the operating rhythm required to execute them throughout the year.
- Move difficult issues and competing assumptions into the conversation.
- Make the decisions the organization needs—not merely the easiest decisions.
- Translate direction into priorities, measures, ownership, and action.
- Create a cadence for reviewing progress, learning, and adapting.
The goal is not simply to have a great annual planning session. The goal is to help the organization execute better because of it.
When an outside facilitator helps
The year raises the stakes
Growth, funding, a leadership transition, or a changing market requires new choices.
The CEO needs to participate
The CEO can contribute fully instead of simultaneously leading and facilitating the room.
Execution needs a reset
Plans are slipping, accountability is inconsistent, or organizational momentum has slowed.
The Collective Genius approach
Focused preparation. Productive decisions. Clear action.
Every engagement is designed around what your leadership team needs to accomplish—not a generic agenda or a one-size-fits-all workshop.
Prepare the right conversation
Work with the CEO and key leaders to clarify the stakes, gather inputs, identify decisions, and design the session.
Review and learn
Examine results, changes, risks, lessons, and what the organization needs to carry forward—or leave behind.
Align and decide
Work through direction, choices, priorities, assumptions, tradeoffs, dependencies, and ownership together.
Build the execution plan
Document the one-year plan, outcomes, measures, owners, near-term priorities, and operating cadence.
What your team builds
A plan designed to be used.
The precise outputs depend on your organization, but a successful engagement creates a visible bridge from long-term direction to day-to-day execution.
Shared directionStrategic context, choices, and a clear view of the year ahead.
One-year prioritiesA focused set of organizational outcomes that matter most.
Measures of successClear indicators that show progress, results, and emerging risk.
OwnershipNamed owners, commitments, responsibilities, and expectations.
DependenciesCross-functional needs, constraints, and coordination points.
Near-term focusFirst-quarter objectives and actions that initiate the plan.
Operating cadenceWeekly, monthly, and quarterly rhythms that sustain execution.
Adaptation pointsStructured opportunities to learn, adjust, and realign.
Annual planning across California
Local facilitation. Organization-wide impact.
Collective Genius facilitates annual planning sessions, executive offsites, and leadership retreats for organizations throughout Los Angeles, Southern California, and Northern California. Sessions can take place at your office, an offsite venue, or in a hybrid format.
Primary market
Los Angeles Annual Planning Sessions
For CEOs, founders, executive teams, boards, and investors navigating growth, complexity, funding, leadership change, or a critical execution year. Collective Genius is based in Greater Los Angeles and works closely with growth and mission-critical organizations across the region.
- Los Angeles
- West Los Angeles
- Santa Monica
- El Segundo
- Pasadena
- South Bay
- Greater LA
Southern California
Planning Sessions Across SoCal
Facilitation for leadership teams gathering throughout Southern California—from local executive sessions to multi-day destination offsites.
- Orange County
- Irvine
- Ventura County
- Westlake Village
- Santa Barbara
- San Diego
Northern California
Bay Area & Northern California
Annual planning and leadership-team facilitation for companies, investment firms, and mission-driven organizations throughout Northern California.
- San Francisco
- Silicon Valley
- San Jose
- Oakland
- Sacramento
- Napa
What leaders experience
Stronger alignment. Better debate. Clearer execution.
“
Peak OS has been transformational for our company—strengthening alignment, focus, and accountability.
MS
Mel StricklanCEO · Slingshot Aerospace
“
Crucial infrastructure for aligning and executing on our core objectives.
AH
Anne HallockChief of Staff · Flowspace
“
Effective at aligning our partnership around goals and facilitating the debate about internal priorities.
NK
Nick KimPrincipal · Upfront Ventures
Head Peak OS Coach
Jeff James Martin
Founder of Peak OS™ · CEO of Collective Genius
Your annual planning facilitator
Two decades helping leadership teams execute better.
Jeff James Martin works with CEOs, founders, executives, boards, and investors to create clarity, strengthen alignment, establish ownership, and build the organizational rhythm required for execution.
As the founder of Collective Genius, creator of Peak OS, and author of Peak Teams, Jeff brings both a structured planning process and practical experience guiding leadership teams through growth, complexity, and consequential decisions.
Frequently asked questions
Planning the right annual session.
What does an annual planning facilitator do?
An annual planning facilitator helps the leadership team prepare for the session, surface the right issues, work through strategic choices, define priorities, clarify ownership, and translate decisions into an executable plan. The facilitator also allows the CEO and every executive to participate fully instead of trying to lead the discussion and contribute at the same time.
What should our leadership team leave with?
The team should leave with shared direction, a focused set of annual priorities, clear measures, named owners, visible dependencies, near-term objectives, and an operating cadence for reviewing progress and adapting throughout the year.
How is annual planning different from a leadership retreat?
A leadership retreat may focus on relationships, team development, strategy, or a combination of outcomes. Annual planning has a more specific purpose: turning direction and learning into priorities, commitments, measures, and an execution plan for the year ahead. Collective Genius can combine both when the leadership team needs alignment and planning.
Do you facilitate annual planning sessions in Los Angeles?
Yes. Collective Genius is based in Greater Los Angeles and facilitates annual planning sessions, executive offsites, and leadership retreats throughout Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County, Santa Barbara, and the broader Southern California region.
Do you work with leadership teams in Northern California?
Yes. Collective Genius facilitates sessions throughout California, including San Francisco, Silicon Valley, the East Bay, Sacramento, Napa, and other Northern California locations. Travel, format, preparation, and session scope are determined around the needs of the team.
Can you facilitate at our office or an offsite venue?
Yes. Sessions may be held at your office, a dedicated meeting venue, or an offsite retreat location. Collective Genius can also support hybrid or virtual participation when part of the leadership team cannot attend in person.
How long is an annual planning engagement?
The engagement is shaped around what the leadership team needs to accomplish. It includes preparation before the session and may involve a focused one-day meeting, a multi-day annual planning session, or a broader engagement that continues into quarterly facilitation and execution coaching.
Does the work end after the planning session?
It can, but it does not have to. A focused annual planning session can stand alone. Teams may also continue with quarterly facilitation, leadership-team coaching, Peak OS implementation, or Peak OS Software to keep priorities, measures, meetings, decisions, and accountability connected throughout the year.
Start with a focused conversation
Make this the year your plan becomes how the organization operates.
Tell us what your leadership team needs to accomplish, where you are meeting, and what would make the session consequential. We will help determine the right approach.
Los Angeles · Southern California · Northern California · Available nationwide
