Thinking

1
 Thinking Acting Strategically 
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Being Successful Today -

• With the dynamics of organizational and business
  life constantly changing are there key elements
  or attitudes that seem to be found in those
  businesses that continually tend towards
  success? 
• Whats their Strategy?
• Moving from Strategic Planning to
• Strategic Thinking

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Why the discussion today?

• Challenges of present strategic planning
  processes today
• Framed by an environment that continues to
  change, sometimes quite rapidly
• Does this lead us to focus on strategic thinking
  at all levels of organizational life?

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Strategy Formation
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Todays Workshop Two Steps

• 1. Discuss some elements of a successful strategy
  for being a great organization
• 2. Apply these, and some of your own elements, to
  create a strategy plan

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Ground Rules

• Share all relevant information
• Explain your reasoning and intent
• Test assumptions and inferences
• Use specific examples and agree on what important
  words mean
• Be open to different perspectives
• Combine advocacy with inquiry
• Focus on interests, not positions
• Discuss un-discussable issues
• Keep the discussion focused
• Represent only my opinion and or view

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Elements of successful strategy

• Right People
• Right people on the bus
• Leadership level 5 humility will
• Emotional Intelligence
• Right Mission and Culture - discipline
• Energizing mission and core ideology
• Disciple of people, thought, action - alignment
• Stockdale paradox brutal facts yes we can
• Triple convergence best at, strong passion,
  targeted use of resources
• perserve the core grow learning/experimentation

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Elements of successful strategy

• Right choices
• Flywheel build the momentum crest the hill
• Decision making processes ability to choose
  wisely
• Acting upon the choices
• Hedgehog concept staying focused on being the
  best
• Risk management
• Ability to implement move from theory to action
• Problem solving
• Right use of technology

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People and Leadership

• Level Five Leadership humility and will
• Right people on the bus
• Emotional Intelligence self awareness, self
  regulation, motivation, empathy, social skills
• Sustained professional development

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Culture of Discipline

• Disciplined People
• Disciplined Thought
• Disciplined Action
• Focused on greatness to last..core
• Stockdale principle brutal reality yes we can
• Building on strengths and opportunities
• Minimizing, reducing the weaknesses and threats
• Being realistic about expectation

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Making Right Choices and Acting about ..

• IMAPCT OF MISSION
• A Sound Stewardship/Mission Model
• Being clear about
• Who we are (your mission/vision)
• What we do (your program)
• How we do it (your structure/operations and
  funding)
• Environment Awareness
• Knowing
• Where we are in the environment (church and
  society)
• How we got there
• Where we want to go next

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Assessment Present realities in the
environment

• What is your company attempting to achieve?
  (Strengths/Opportunities)
• What is to be preserved already have and worth
  keeping? (Strengths and Opportunities) including
  product lines, services, approaches, diversity of
  product?
• What does your company or team want to avoid?
  (Weaknesses and Threats)
• What does team want to eliminate present
  threats and weaknesses? (Weaknesses and Threats)

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Customers, Clients, Stakeholders

• Verifying key stakeholders and audience
• Who are the key stakeholders?
• What are the needs of these stakeholders?
• What challenges do our key stakeholders present?
• What opportunities do our key stakeholders
  present?

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Comparative Advantage

• The ability to produce value - social and
  religious
• Using a unique asset (such as, a strength that no
  other similar organization in your field/area
  has) and/or
• By having outstanding execution (such as, being
  faster or less expensive, or having better
  service, than other, similar organizations in
  your field/area).

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CORE VALUES

• Core values are beliefs that sustain the work and
  mandate
• They are guides that focus our work- it is what
  we hold as critical to our sense of individual
  and corporate identity.
• Businesses should be intentional in identifying
  why something is a core value and how
  working/acting in such a way will be a
  comparative advantage to the work of the company.

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Competitive Advantage Core work-Best in
Business!

• Comparative advantage is the ability to produce
  value (have an impact, make a difference, fulfill
  mission)
• Using a unique asset (such as, a strength that no
  other similar organization in your area has)
  and/or
• By having outstanding execution (such as, being
  faster or less expensive, or having better
  service, than other, similar organizations in
  your area).
•  

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Types of comparative advantage Asset
advantages Execution advantages

•  
• Examples of Asset Advantages
• Better program design leading to better outcomes
• Unique attributes of programs/services such as
  linguistic/cultural capacity
• An accessible location or network of locations
• A robust, diversified funding base that provides
  flexibility and stability
• Great name and reputation among constituents
• Powerful partnerships

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Examples of Execution Advantages

• Lower costs to funders or customers
• Greater efficiency in delivering
  programs/services per dollar spent
• Faster delivery of programs/servicessuch as, no
  waiting for service
• Sound marketing and communications that raise
  visibility and awareness

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The Strategy Screen

• The Strategy Screen is about determining value
  based criteria to guide future strategic and
  operational decisions, creates awareness of what
  is important to the company and how well various
  options line up (aligned) with the values.
• It creates consistency and intentionality to
  make choices that are conscious.
• Screen must meet financial, quality, and customer
  criteria
• Place the organization as a leader!

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The Identity Statement

• Mission
• Desired Impact
• Who we serve
• Who we partner with
• Core values
• Competitive Advantage
• Strategy screen planning criteria

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Creating a company/office operational plan

•  What services and products
• What is to be preserved?
• What is our passionbest in the world?
• What is to be omitted?
• What threats or challenges in keeping/dropping
  present products/services
• Challenges of technology? Web 2.0 and the
  future

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Operational Plan

• For which groups/markets/etc
• What is to be preserved?
• What is to be omitted?
• What threats or challenges in keeping/dropping
  present products/services
• Challenges of technology? Web 2.0 and the
  future

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The Logic Model

• What are our assumptions?
• What are our activities
• What are our resources
• What are our outputs
• What is the desired short term results
• What is the impact we desire?

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In conclustion

• Insights you gained?
• Challenges?
• Opportunties?
• What are the key elements of your organizational
  strategy?