Leading and Managing through Strategic Planning and Innovation

Courses Syllabus

Introduction

In this comprehensive two week programme, both strategic leaders and first line professionals will participate in how to develop, implement and structure the changes necessary to make a new strategy, vision or mission work effectively in today’s dynamic climate. Week one focuses on the development of the core strategies and plan to make the organization reach its vision or targets, while week two drills deeper into the organization to develop techniques that get the workforce “on-board” with the changes and have them participate in working out the problems and implementing the new strategies. It is strongly suggested that strategic leaders attend both weeks.

Effective strategic leadership is central to the future success of any organisation. This starts with defining a clear strategic vision – setting out the leadership team’s strategic intent for the organisation and its various businesses. This then needs to be translated into an agenda for action – not merely a ‘strategic plan’ but a set of guidelines or a road map clearly setting out where the business needs to go and empowering managers at all levels to make the multitude of decisions that they need to make in the clear understanding of where the business is heading.

Objectives

• Develop the three key strategic agendas for leaders – Intellectual, Managerial and Behavioural.
• Identify the most effective balance of Operational Excellence and Breakthrough Strategic Performance.
• Identify critical strategic issues and opportunities.
• Practice and encourage your people to think differently and workout new initiatives and innovate.
• Change your environment to support your new strategic initiatives.

Contents

Day One

Understanding the Strategic Environment

• Understanding the strategic leadership competencies – intellect, management and behaviors
• Recognizing and interpreting forces in the strategic environment
• Understanding strategic inflection points and strategic scenarios
• Formulating strategic vision and expressing strategic intent
• Analyzing and prioritizing strategic issues

Day Two

Understanding Strategic Models and Paradigms

• The strategic journey – common models and frameworks for strategic thinking
• Developing a strategic roadmap
• Recognizing and developing the characteristics of strategic agility
• Understanding and leveraging strategic competences and skills
• Defining the outcomes

Day Three

Effective Strategic Implementation

• Strategic implementation tools and frameworks
• Structures and systems for strategic agility and performance
• Identifying strategic horizons and using the 7S framework
• Analyzing the key elements for implementation
• Measurement, analysis and knowledge management

Day Four

Strategic Leadership

• Preparing for the future
• Effective styles and practices for strategic leadership
• Recognizing, analyzing and developing the strategic leadership styles used by you and others
• Developing inspiration and motivation
• Communicating the roadmap and gathering support

Day Five

Driving Strategic Performance & Success

• Transforming the organization to enable strategic success
• Monitoring and adjustment
• Balancing the focus on performance and strategy
• Spreading leadership capabilities throughout the organization
• Maximizing organizational learning and knowledge transfer to embed strategic success

Module 2: Smart Leadership

Encouraging a Creative Climate at Work

• Innovative leadership for excellent performance
• The Critical mass for change and innovation
• Innovation VS Constant Improvement
• How a Leader Creates a Climate of Innovation
• Case Study on Most Innovative Companies
• Innovation and current business breakthroughs

Gaining the Participation of the Workforce

• The G.E. “Workout” Strategy
• Developing Creative Solutions for Strategies
• Gaining the “Buy-In” from the workforce
• Overcoming Paradigms
• Dealing with Organizational “Drift”
• Case Study on Gaining Empowerment

Leading on the creative edge

• Developing Creative Potential in People and Teams
• Understanding Creative People
• Convergent & Divergent Thinking Skills
• Motivating Creative Individuals at work
• Incubating ideas
• Interacting creatively
• Converting expenses to assets using creativity

Creating a Motivating Climate for Higher Productivity

• The Ten Key Elements to Setting up new Missions
• Setting Goals and Targets Creatively
• Creating a “Sense of Significance”
• Rewarding Performance
• The Four Step “Pygmalion” theory
• Generational Motivators

Driving Strategic Change

• Managing the Change Process
• Kotter’s Change Management Techniques
• Communicating with a Sense of Urgency
• The Downside of Change
• Creating a climate of Constant Change
• Successful techniques for Changing People