Brainstorming. . . er, I mean "strategic planning"

Two phrases:

Brainstorming

Strategic Planning

 Now most of us probably have our own definitions of what these two phrases mean, and even in leterature, the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably.  There's references out there that speak of the ineffectiveness of brainstorming, while still others think it's an effective tool.  Then there are meetings that are labeled "strategic planning" which when done effectively can certainly provide a valuable document to start from, but in some cases when perhaps it's not as well organized and focused you can't help but ask, is a strategic planning session really all that different from a brainstorming session?
     Regardless we had a (insert chosen term here) session today at work.  Now before I go any further I must tell you that I'm totally a big picture kind of person.  I like to have a vision of the overall goals and work my way down to specific activities/objectives etc. to reach those goals.  I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of how to balance the creative and sometimes outrageous with the need for logical structure and mechanisms to attain certain objectives.  My brain has always functioned better when it knows "the whole story".  I normally seem to be able to make sense of things and use my fair share of ingenuity and innovation to accomplish a task once I have a snapshot of the big picture.  I don't need to be micromanaged, I generally don't like being told what to do especially if I can't know the why, and thrive on being able to come to my own conclusions about what can/should/will be done.  All things considered, I love brainstorming/strategic planning it gives me a chance to work through my necessary process of capturing the big picture while tapping into my creative side.
    That being said, I'm not sold on the idea that everyone needs to be involved in a large group process.  There were 20 of us involved today, split into 4 groups, but I still have my doubts as to whether or not it was an effective use of our time.  Could the same thing have been accomplished if we'd each been asked to give individual input in a different format, probably.  Did we really make a lot of headway on getting a useable plan on paper, debatable.  Was it a good team building activity, maybe. (cause while I've heard that brainstorming is not necessarily effective to generate the best quantity or quality of ideas, it has been shown to promote unity and buy in from individual members.  Was that what our director was focusing on?  I'm sure not completely.
     But in any case, regardless of the level of effectiveness or resulting attitudes, it was an interesting way to see the variations in everyone's skills and communication abilities, so it was a good people watching event at least that taught me a little more about certain coworkers.  So the end result??  I had fun with it.