Strategic Thinking & Business Planning

INTRODUCTION

This seminar gives you a robust practical framework to formulate, develop, and implement plans for achieving strategic goals and realising your vision. It shows you how to break out of responding to day-to-day problems so you can build a team or organization that is more proactive and resilient to change.

The comprehensive, step-by-step method shows you how to develop the right strategy then translate it into a business plan that provides the foundation for achieving strategic alignment of operational plans and individual objectives.

This seminar highlights:

• The difference between good and bad strategies
• Improving the performance of an existing company/division/department when faced with major change in business conditions
• Balancing financial and non-financial objectives and goals
• Growing an existing company/division/department
• Aligning all activity to focus on the strategic goals and not be distracted by less important issues.

OBJECTIVES

THE CENTRAL OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROGRAMME ARE AS FOLLOWS:

• Learn how to develop a plan to achieve the goals you want for you and your organization (company/division/business unit/team)
• Develop strategic thinking in your organization
• Develop a strategic plan for your organization and for yourself
• Identify the principles and mechanisms that drive successful implementation
• Develop measurable action plans that result in success.
• Identify, measure, and track critical success factors

TRAINING METHODOLOGY

This highly interactive training programme encourages delegate participation through a combination of short lectures, large and small group discussion, practical exercises, case studies, and breakout sessions to practice new skills. The comprehensive programme manual has been designed to be practical, and easy to use. Delegates will gain the skills and motivation they need to design, develop and implement powerfully simple strategies.

ORGANISATIONAL IMPACT

Enhanced strategic thinking and business planning enables an organization to increase stakeholder satisfaction through:

• A greater strategic perspective at all levels of the organization
• Development of the next generation of strategic leaders
• Development of specialist managers who are able and empowered to think strategically.
• Better appreciation by functional specialists/managers of the challenges faced by top management in taking a company forward in changing conditions.
• Better internal communication at a strategic level within the company/division/business unit/team.
• Creating tomorrow’s business out of today’s

PERSONAL IMPACT

Delegates will develop their ability to use strategic thinking to become more proactive and build business plans that implement these strategic initiatives through:

• Greater confidence in understanding the potential strategic impact of current managerial roles
• A better appreciation of the systemic nature of major business decisions
• Understanding how to change from reacting to problems to making things happen the way you want for you and your organization
• Knowing how to simplify—manage 3-5 critical things instead of managing 30-50 un-prioritised tasks
• Developing and implementing long, medium, and short-term plans

Agenda

Day1 - Strategic Thinking and Making Things Happen

• The essence of strategy – core concept and definition of terms
• The difference between good strategy and bad strategy
• How we think strategically – Analytical and Creative thinking
• Leadership and management, comparing the strategic and operational levels
• Strategic and operational goals – the significance and difference
• Two key roles: Chief Executive Officer; Chief Operating Officer

Day2 - Strategic Planning – The Power of Business Analysis

• Understanding the concepts of “corporate strategy”, “business strategy” and the “business model”
• Vision, Values, Mission and Goals – case examples and guidelines
• Practical group exercise on Vision and Mission Statements
• Understanding the impact of Globalisation
• Cost-based strategies versus differentiation-based strategies
• Competitive strategy and ‘blue sky’ alternatives

Day3 - Strategy Development, Choice and Operationalisation

• Levels of strategy: Corporate, Business and functional
• Using the Strategic Management System
• Analysing your business environment
• How to evaluate your organization’s competencies and capabilities
• Resource-based approaches to strategy
• Strategic choice – how to make strategy selection decisions

Day4 - Embedding Strategy in the organisation

• How to manage strategic risk
• Uncertainty and scenario planning
• The relevance and contribution of strategy maps and balanced scorecards
• Alignment of operations with strategy
• Key Results Indicators and strategic performance measurement
• Integrating strategic and operational management processes

Day5 - Bringing It All Together

• Managing implementation – effective execution of strategy
• Stakeholders and communications
• Building a strategy/business planning team
• The future of strategic management
• Overview of the whole programme
• Action planning and next steps