Strategic Thinking and Planning Workshop

An organization without a strategy is like a ship without a rudder. How can organizations continue to provide exceptional value to stakeholders and customers if they are not clear on where they are heading and how they will get there? The answer is they can't. This is where the role of strategy becomes essential. Strategy is about setting ambitious goals, understanding the surrounding current and future environment and providing a sense of direction for the organization.

In this course, McTimothy Associates learning academy will cover the 7 steps of the strategy management process, starting with the 'thinking' components of strategy, moving into the 'planning' components and ending with 'execution'. At the end of the course, participants will be able to implement or improve the strategic process at their organizations to reach their vision and achieve their mission.

Course Methodology

The course enables the participants to practice the development of each of the strategy management steps. They will act as organizational managers in developing each strategic component for an organization of their choosing. We will also discuss and reflect on recent case studies in strategy including Starbucks, IKEA, Cirque du Soleil and other Middle East based organizations. The most important strategy tools and frameworks will be discussed and put into practical use during the course.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Apply strategic thinking to analyze their current environment and determine their organizational ambition
• Employ the strategic management process to best achieve the desired ambition
• Assess and choose strategies that create a sustainable competitive advantage for the organization
• Determine strategic objectives, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and 'SMART' targets for the organization
• Convert strategic plans to operating plans through creating strategic initiatives and sequencing activities
• Participate in the performance management cycle to ensure proper execution of chosen strategies

Target Audience

All managers and senior professionals who are involved in influencing, formulating or supporting the long term planning and strategy of their department or organization, as well as those who are responsible for linking, measuring and improving the performance of the organization, including strategy or performance management professionals, balanced scorecard managers, business unit and department managers and business analysts.

Target Competencies

• Strategic thinking
• Strategic planning
• Operational planning
• Performance management
• Results orientation
• Data analysis
• Market analysis
• Critical thinking

Course Outline

Strategic Thinking And Planning

• The strategic management processes
• Strategic thinking versus strategic planning
• Benefiting from strategic management
• Evolution of strategic models
• Moving from strategy to organizational planning

Analysis of the Environment

• The 5 Cs of strategic analysis
• Porter's 5 forces
• Creating and capturing value
• Conducting a 'SWOT' analysis
• Plotting a 'SWOT' analysis
• Fundamentals of 'PEDESTL' framework

Vision, Mission Statements and Values

• Using vision and mission statements
• Definition of vision
• Definition of mission
• Formulating vision and mission statements
• Embracing organizational values
• Communicating the vision, mission and values

Assessing Strategic Choices

• The 3 primary goals of competitive strategy
• The strategy pyramids
• Porter's generic competitive strategies
• IKEA's cost leadership
• Innovating in the industry value chain
• Developing a competitive advantage
• Cirque du Soleil value curve

Strategic Objectives, Kpis and Targets

• Ensuring strategic alignment in the organization
• Developing effective strategic objectives
• Using the Balanced Scorecard (BSC)
• Creating Critical Success Factors (CSFs)
• Using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Characteristics of the right KPIs
• Developing different types of KPIs
• Setting 'SMART' targets

Developing Operating Plans

• Cascading from vision to action plans
• Criteria for effective action plans
• Developing strategic initiatives
• Operational KPIs and the triple constraints
• Developing departmental plans
• Managing the execution of strategy
• KPI dashboard reporting
• Barriers to strategy execution