At the end of this course the participants will be able to:

• Understand how strategic thinking has developed and evolved over the past fifty years
• Comment effectively on strategy and its implementation within your own organization
• Differentiate strategy from tactics
• Link strategic decisions to Return on Capital (ROCE) through Value Creation and Market Focus
• Learn the key models and vocabulary to “talk strategy” effectively with others
• Link daily actions and team performance to headline strategy
• Recognize some of the key factors that lead to changes in strategy
• Create your own personal strategy for success

Strategy Concepts

• Recognize how strategic thinking has developed and how it influences strategies within your organization
• Understand the importance of vision and values to communicating strategy in organizations
• Identify the key strategies for every organization
• Distinguish between the process of creating strategy and the content of strategy

The Evolution of Strategic Planning and Strategic Thinking

• Follow the progression of strategic thinking in business, anticipate where strategy may next develop
• Identify the different conceptual frameworks from which strategic thinking has developed and identify which are active in your organization
• Recognize the commonalities that exist in different approaches to developing and implementing a strategy
• Articulate the conceptual framework of strategy that your organization uses today

A Process for Creating and Updating Strategy

• Recognize different approaches to creating and updating strategy within an organization
• Identify the applicability of a particular approach with the characteristics of a firm and of the environment the firm faces
• Match different processes to specific issues or situations that could develop in your firm
• Strategy in the organization

Strategies for Growth, Profitability and Value Creation

• Articulate the link between growth and profitability in public and private sector organizations
• Understand the key factors that make the difference between strategic success and failure
• Relate Action Plans to strategic initiatives and individual performance
• Create conditions that foster achievement of strategic initiatives within the firm when strategy changes
• Recognize and communicate to others the drivers for strategic change within your organization
• Use insights from past experiences with business and personal change to support the process of strategic change in your company

Engaging Your Organization in Strategic Thinking

• Ask strategic questions that relate your work to the organization’s direction and strategic initiatives
• Formulate strategic hypotheses that suggest directions for the firm to consider
• Explore the strategic conversations you want to have when you return to your workplace

Professionals, Managers, Specialist Managers, Operational Managers, Team Leaders, Supervisors, Lead Auditors, Auditors, and Engineers involved with the planning process who seek to enhance their planning skills, any professional who is required to make strategic decisions, and anyone who wishes to learn the principles of strategic thinking and how to apply them in their own job and their own career.