Course Description:

Strategic Planning is a proactive and productive, strategic planning method for organizations, departments, or teams. Learn an eight-step, strategic planning process and facilitate strategic planning by teams. IT is a logical, orderly, innovative, easy-to-learn-and-use approach to strategic planning. The process includes three phases: (1) The Strategic Plan; (2) The Tactical Plan and (3) The Operational Plan. Sequential steps guide the team through each phase.

Course Goal:

To enhance the participant’s Knowledge, Abilities and Skills necessary to apply innovative planning techniques that equip his organization to achieve its potential and develop the strategic thinking that creates new possibilities in order to position his organization for future success

Course Objectives:

By the end of the Course, participant will be able to:

1. Differentiate between strategic planning and long range planning
2. Differentiate between strategic thinking and strategic management
3. Define strategy and develop one
4. Apply the basic steps of strategic planning process
5. Understand the rule of innovation and creativity in the strategic planning process
6. Translate the vision and strategy into operational reality
7. Identify improvements that will impact corporate success.

Course Outline:

• Strategic planning – what is it?

• 1. Strategic planning versus long range planning
  2. Strategic thinking and strategic management
  3. What is a strategy and how do we develop one?
  4. How to develop strategies

• Strategic planning process basic steps

• 1. Step one – Getting started
  2. Step two – Articulating Mission, Vision, and Values
  3. Step three – Assessing the Situation
  4. Step four – Developing Strategies, Goals, and Objectives
  5. Step five – Completing the Written Plan
  6. Mission Statements
  7. The Vision Statement
  8. Key Definitions

• Situation assessment and the business process flow analysis

• 1. Gathering perceptions about the organization
  2. “We’ve Got to Stop Meeting like This”
  3. Gathering management and staff perceptions of the organization
  4. Gathering external customer perceptions
  5. Evaluation of products, services and process
  6. Cost / benefit analysis of process, products, or services
  7. Business process flow analysis BPFA – an introduction

• A look at teams, leaders, and communication

• 1. Team member guidelines and contributing roles
  2. Characteristics of effective and ineffective teams
  3. Communicating in a team
  4. Guidelines to questions which require:
  5. Constructive Communication
  6. Leadership: an Overview
  7. What is leadership?
  8. Styles of Leadership
  9. Four leadership styles
  10. Defining Behavior

• Key concepts and innovations

• 1. Innovation and creativity in the strategic planning process
  2. Remaining healthy and profitable
  3. Creativity and innovation
  4. Divergent and convergent thinking
  5. Plus-delta-plus process
  6. Pitfalls which hinder innovation

• Tools and methods for problem solving and creative thinking

• 1. Assigning an effective facilitator
  2. Adopting a parallel process
  3. Defining the right problem
  4. Pulling out ideas through brainstorming

• Tools and techniques to go beyond brainstorming

• 1. Exercise – The Nine Sticks
  2. Brainstorming a beneficial technique
  3. Four basic “triggers” to be used
  4. When to use which
  5. Issues of the working environments
  6. The nine dimensions of the working environment
  7. Building the creative culture

• Discover Your Strategic Styles