How to facilitate a strategy workshop
How to Facilitate a Business Strategy Workshop
Timecodes:
hello how are you doing i hope you're
doing well
today is all about how to facilitate
business strategy
workshops so i'm going to pack this
full of all sorts of tips insights
practical things that you can do to plan
and deliver a really awesome business
strategy
workshop and it's really important to
get everybody engaged thinking
differently so i'll share some
ideas about how you can do that along
the way because i have literally
facilitated
thousands of people in business strategy
workshops
right across the world in all sorts of
sectors in organizations
large and small and i'm really looking
forward to hearing your comments your
questions
and everything else is going to be a
really good show
so let me know do drop your comments
into um
in and i'll answer them as we go through
i'll answer as many as i possibly can
if you're watching on replay as well
then i'm looking forward to
going back in and i'll answer everything
that
that you ask and respond to all the
comments that you make
so let's get started i'll be back just
after this
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dr joe north
how to facilitate a business strategy
workshop i think probably business
strategy sessions
are one of the most frequent important
necessary things that we do and
it's important because the world around
us is always changing and therefore
businesses
need to stay agile and really make sure
that they're
you know ahead of the curve and in line
with where the market's going
and making sure that really their
strategies stay relevant
so i've run business strategy workshops
all over the world for businesses of all
sizes
so i work internationally i do them
remotely online as well as in person and
also
hybrid sessions as well and hybrid means
obviously where you've got people in the
room
physically present and you've also got
people who are
virtual as well so and a mix of
delegates
as i say a wide variety of sectors
commercial
not-for-profit public sector
organizations as well so when i'm
talking about business
then i mean that in the broadest context
as well
and you know despite the differences of
all those different sectors
and sizes and you know reasons for for
being and
trading or being in existence there are
lots of similarities
between the processes that these
organizations need to go through
so i'm going to share that with you and
you can adapt this
and hopefully use it in your own
sessions maybe you've also got your own
practice or business as well and you
might want to use some of these
techniques to help you with your own
business strategy so lots to get through
it's a
it's a good one uh today we're going to
be covering
what is business strategy and who is it
for
and i'm going to start off with that
actually because business strategy is
really just an overarching
plan and it's for anyone who has an
organization
whether it's just them on their own or
whether it's a huge
multinational organization we all need a
strategy
and the world is changing all the time
as i said earlier
so because the world is changing all the
time it's really important that we
revisit
strategy frequently to make sure it's on
course
and adjust where necessary because a lot
of the plans
you know the detail plans won't play out
over time
but the direction hopefully will and
it's it's
necessary for us to look around and see
where we need to be
and make those changes accordingly so we
all need a business strategy
and it's for everyone and the objectives
of a business strategy session
are really for for the organization for
the team
to think about what's going on in the
world outside
and in relation to the organization
vision mission and values where does
that organization want to be
in relation to the world around it how
does it want to compete or how does it
want to deliver value how does it want
to
achieve its purpose and then
from that really realign with the
customer
element of things so who are they
serving you know who's the organization
serving
and how have those customers needs
changed
how have any competitors activities
changed over time as well so
it's really about setting that long-term
view
or longer-term view and how long it
really depends on the industry that
you're in
so nuclear sector utilities
really long-range planning if you've got
a small business
it might be much shorter in terms of
your planning cycle
maybe a year or two ahead maximum it
really
it really depends possibly five so so
the objectives are really to outline
what that long range plan
looks like given the latest piece of
pieces of information
and insight and thinking from the team
within the business
and how to we're going to cover how to
just design a
business strategy process and i'm going
to give you some
ideas for activities that you can do
with delegates because it's really
important that people step back
from the day to day and think
differently
you know and think strategically so
they're really raising
the level of thinking you know having
more more of that helicopter
airplane view rather than being in the
business so what we want them to do
is just lift their eyes up and look
around a little bit more
than they might do on the day-to-day and
i'll i'll share with you
how all of this fits together so it's
really packed
there's loads of value here and i'm
going to share all the experiences
that i've got in this as much as i can
in the time that we've got together and
i'm super happy
i'd be delighted to answer your
questions and comments as we go
and i've had some in advance of the show
as well so i'm going to pick up some of
those
on the way through because here is a big
opportunity because
the world has never been in the place
it's in today and that's always the case
because things are always changing
and i think we're seeing so much change
at the moment
and unprecedented change really we have
the whole um obviously post covid
recovery and
we're trying to sort of work out our way
through that as organizations
and think through what next what does
the future hold and how we need to
change what we do
in the light of that there's also how
we're realigning for climate change so
we have
existing organizations thinking about
how they can do things
cleaner better net zero decarbonisation
and we have smaller organizations
who are probably starting up with a
completely fresh approach
to to climate change to the circular
economy and all of those things too
so that's a really dynamic environment
as well
and then we've got technology on top of
all of that and the rate of
pace of technological change and also
the availability
of technology means that the things are
changing there too so you've got all of
these factors
plus the social change that we get with
that all of these things bring as well
in and that means how people
what the choices that people make how
they behave
what they choose to purchase and how
they align what they do with their own
values
that's moving um as well so we're seeing
so much change around us this is a big
opportunity
i actually think we're in quite a
momentous time in
history that when we look back it will
be well remember that
and it's just such an interesting
phase so this is a big opportunity and
we can really help organizations
steer their way through that by helping
them think through
their business strategy and how they're
going to be moving forward
and businesses do need a strategy and
this is the problem is that sometimes
organizations think well do we really
need a strategy because
what's going to happen in the future you
know we can predict something
and it probably won't happen something
different will happen we've seen so much
change
but the thing is it's about the the
planning process the strategic process
that is really really useful
and it's about having a direction it's
about knowing
where the organization wants to be so
that it can build appropriate plans that
it can then
flex and change and be agile with on its
journey
there and the problem is is that so many
teams in organizations so many
leadership teams
are in the day-to-day they're the fire
fighting they're delivering the day job
and it's really important that we as
facilitators help them to step back
and take a fresh look and also think
more creatively
and get out of the usual mindset so the
problem is is how to do that
usually we have a limited amount of time
and but it's a great problem to have
because out at the end become
comes clarity that can be shared with
the rest of the organization
plans can be put in place and the
organization can build its resilience
and its success
around the plans that are created
so all of this starts before the
actual strategy session before the
business workshop
so of course the the objectives thinking
about where the organization is
at in its development in its growth in
its life cycle
in its seasons all of those things so
you'll need to
really take the individual circumstances
of every organization
into account when you are planning
and delivering your business strategy
workshop
and one of the things i quite like to do
is having established the objectives
with the client with the colleagues who
are having the
who have asked for their business
strategy workshop
is to get ready and think about what you
know what do people need to know
what pre-work is needed what information
and inputs are needed into the strategy
session and why are all those
imports needed who can deliver them who
can
provide them when do we need to get them
and where from
and and think about any data or info
that needs to be shared
and hopefully that delegates can process
in advance of the strategy workshop
itself so they can come having done some
ground work
that's really useful so prepare do the
groundwork
because it's better to do that than to
be in the session
and be missing a key piece of
information that could have been
provided earlier on if if somebody had
thought about it
so make sure you do that piece of work
and then we're into the solution of
actually delivering
and designing the workshop itself
and i have a workshop journey that
really works for any sort of workshop
whether it's a business strategy
workshop
or some other kind of workshop which is
a welcome and a warm-up
um thinking about where the team wants
to be and why and getting them to think
about that thinking about where they are
now
and why they are where they are now then
on to ideation
so what ideas do they have to get from
where they are now to where they want to
be
selecting the ideas focusing down
developing them creating an action plan
and then getting ready to move forward
and it's
it's the same structure for a business
strategy workshop
the only thing i would do is do some
very specific pieces because
in terms of the where do we want to be
and why elements of the workshop journey
it's important to take the external
environment and what's going on
outside the organization into account
and it's really important that they
don't just look
super introspectively at what they're
doing and where they want to be
but they look bigger wider further
and out to the world outside the trends
and also customers and competitors as
well
so the same same journey applies i would
just
make it super specific and i'll show you
how how i do that
so there are lots of different
icebreakers and energizers and things
that you can do
to warm people up i've got some great
blogs about that on the big bang
partnership
dot co dot uk website lots of resources
and i've got other videos
um here um as well so check those out
and the starting place is once the
welcome and warm-up is done
is i ask people to do some horizon
scanning and what horizon scanning
means is it's about looking forward it's
projecting forward it's
reading the signals of today's trends
and seeing how they might evolve
going forward and we're thinking about
things that are significant
and thinking quite broadly here when i'm
working online
i ask delegates to do a virtual
whiteboard
in a tool such as myro myro is my
favorite
virtual whiteboard tool and just create
an
image of all and with sticky notes for
the things they think are going on
in the future that will affect the
organization's strategy if i'm doing
things in person
i actually like to bring the latest
newspapers
or maybe ask my delegates to get
newspapers in advance
and find things that they think you know
look through those newspapers or
industry publications and journals
and find things that they think are
going to be relevant to the
to the company's strategy from outside
and bring those along
and i'll ask them to do an activity in
small groups in breakout groups
which is to look at the opportunities
and challenges for the business
between now and whatever point in time
is appropriate for that organization so
let's say between
now and the end of 2021 and 2022 and
2025 but that
depends on who who's there and
really create a picture of this get some
notes ready and ready to feedback the
headlines
so in in this activity they're really
focusing on
the outside world yeah nothing to do
with their business
only the thinking about the potential
impact on the business
but really researching looking outwards
and looking beyond the organization
itself
and then it's really a check-in with the
vision mission and values
so given the vision mission and values
that the organization has once we've
done the horizon scanning piece
i'll ask them to say how that relates to
where they are right now
in terms of where do they see their
place in the world amongst all of those
things that are going on
in the world outside where do they see
that you know their purpose
their fit um their that their place
really
at their contribution if an organization
doesn't have a vision mission and values
there is a blog there that i've created
for you
which is uh you can see the link on the
screen
if you're listening it's big bang
partnership dot co dot uk
facilitation ideas for mission vision
values
and it really is packed full of a full
agenda
of how to run a workshop that will
deliver that for you
so having established what's going on in
the outside world and how that might
impact
the organization the next stage of the
business strategy workshop
is to say okay given our vision vision
mission and values
where do we want to be and how does that
relate to us
let me have your questions and comments
as we go through
i'd love to hear from you and let me
know where you're watching have you used
any of these
tools and techniques in your business
workshop strategy workshop sessions
i'd love to hear from you okay so the
next
activity is to get them to
think about where they'd like to be as
an organization
so asking delegates to consider what
might a great future
be like in you know within the context
of their vision mission values and
what's going on in the world
and a really simple but super effective
exercise is to ask them to do
the wi-fi activity i call it the wi-fi
and it's because it stands for wouldn't
it be
fantastic if and i know i've sort of
shortened it and cheated a bit there but
wouldn't it be fantastic if
and simply ask delegates to complete
that phrase as many times as they can
for things that they could make happen
so not you know wouldn't it be fantastic
if
trump was re-elected or would it be
fantastic if trump wasn't re-elected
depending on your point of view and but
things that they can actually
bring about you know it might take some
hard work but they could
potentially bring them about themselves
and get as many of those wouldn't it be
fantastic if items out
as possible and then i asked them to go
and select the top ones so we're really
starting to envision
um where this strategy could be where
the organization wants to go
i use wouldn't it be fantastic if
because it's all about possibility it's
about imagination
it gives people the freedom
and the permission to think differently
and to stretch themselves and to dream a
little bit as well
so really really effective technique and
i do recommend
that you use it so so far then
we've got looking at the world outside
what are those trends that are going to
likely to impact on the organization how
does that relate to the organisation's
vision mission and values and the
purpose
and and starting to explore the
relationship between the two
and then starting to get more specific
on the strategic
um element with wouldn't it be fantastic
if
and delegates share they wouldn't it be
fantastic ifs
and together we get some some core ones
that everybody
signs up to
we then on to exploring we're still on
the outside world here and
the organization's relationship with the
outside world
we're now thinking about customers and
uh in in relation to what we've just
done before
how our customer you know how a
customer's needs changing because we're
all
we're all here to serve a customer or
customer somewhere
and i'm defining customers in the
loosest possible sense we do something
for somebody else that somebody else is
our customer
and their wants and needs are changing
all the time so making sure that we're
still
really specific about who the
organization's customers are
that the segmentation is in place and
inviting some of those targeted
customers to come in perhaps and give
some lightning talks
about how how their needs have changed
about what they're looking for going
forward about how well
or not the organization is serving them
and i will actually
work with the organization to invite a
selected number of customers in to give
different perspectives
and do something i call a lightning talk
and a lightning talk
is very um it's designed to really
light things up it's fast it's punchy
it's um but it's packed with value
and it's there to get all the ideas
sparked and get the the delegates really
thinking
and out of their perspective of leaders
running the business
and into the customers minds and into
the customer's shoes a little bit
so i'll often bring in customers at this
stage
invite them in they'll share their
thoughts and experiences
and that will give the the delegates the
leadership teams
some really good insights to work with
if if this is a really small business
and maybe you want to do this for your
business and you're thinking oh how
might i do that but it's only me i'm a
solopreneur
and what you can do is you can just
contact some customers and have some
phone conversations with them
and get some input from them and feed
that into your own strategy process
too we'll also look at
the products or services that the
organization's providing
and i'll ask them to plot out where they
are in their life
cycle are they in a growth phase are
there some things that are declining
and this is really important because
uh it's about thinking through what's
working what's growing
what to get behind and actually what
needs another
growth curve starting or what actually
is better to turn off or let go
in order for resources and to be
directed somewhere else
but actually one of the other reasons
why we're doing this at this point
in the business strategy workshop agenda
is to to really think about well this
tells us something about customers
behavior
it tells us something about what
customers want what they're enjoying
what they're benefiting from
and also what isn't so popular and why
and we can either do this using a
product life cycle
or maybe the boston consulting group
matrix
which you may have heard of and come
across before these are two
very classic models the product life
cycle and the boston consulting group
matrix
and and with the boston consulting group
matrix we're looking at
what uh products or services you know
are really just
not going anywhere probably costing more
money than they're worth
to keep offering and their their
clusters dogs
the products which aren't growing a lot
but are bringing in
really nice steady profitable income
they're the cash cows and we want to
keep those going
and and make sure that we're making the
most of those and maybe
starting a new growth curve for some of
those too
a question mark is where we're doing
something and we don't know if it's
going to fail
or if it's going to succeed so we either
need to decide to get behind it
leave it a bit longer or maybe um you
know put it to one side and focus on
something else instead
and the stars are those fast-growing
products and or services
they might not be selling a huge amount
of volume yet but
they're really they're showing some
really fantastic promise
so mapping that sort of thing out as
well helps
the the leadership team to identify
where the priorities might be as well as
really understanding where consumers are
going where or business to business
customers are going
with their choices
and then on to competition some
sometimes i'll do
competition first and then i'll look at
customers
but most often i look at customers with
the leadership team
before i move on to looking at
competition
because i think you know the strategy
needs to be
very very very customer focused because
if customers don't get value from it if
customers don't understand it if it's
not relevant to customers
then the strategy just isn't going to
succeed so that's a really important
reason for doing that first and then
moving on to look at the competition in
relation to
um what customers needs are and how
customers needs have changed
and i look at competition with delegates
from the perspective of really
understanding how well
competitors are serving customers
and how well um competitors are showing
that they might be serving
uh customers going forward so it's
really from that learning perspective
and you i ask them to plot out how well
competitors are performing versus
themselves give it a score
using a visual template such as this i
like to provide lots of
different canvases and so on okay
so we've done the world outside
and vision mission and values the
organization's place
in that and then setting some
strategic vision around wouldn't it be
fantastic if
then moving on to have a really good
look at customers with lightning talks
making sure the segmentation's on point
understanding how customers needs have
changed and also how well
competitors are serving those needs and
then we bring it in
we start to converge so we've been quite
divergent and now we're
we're being quite convergent and
at this point i'd ask i'll ask delegates
to do a saw analysis that's
soar and that stands for strengths
opportunities
aspirations and results and if you've
listened to
previous shows and you've read the blog
that i've done
on unappreciative inquiry for
facilitators
do have a look at that because saw
analysis is from the school of
appreciative inquiry
which means that our attention goes
where we focus most our efforts go where
we focus most
and if we focus on strengths and doing
the right things that work
then that can really help us so i'll ask
them to think about the leadership team
to think about where are the strengths
what are the organization's greatest
assets these could be things like
people money the brand ways of working
products services
network supply chain and many many more
things
i ask them to think about and write down
what are the key
opportunities and opportunities are
coming from the outside world
from the earlier horizon scanning
activity but also
anything that is a weakness internally
can be converted into a strength
internally as a so that could be an
opportunity for growth
they'll map out and consolidate their
aspirations from the wouldn't it be
fantastic if activity
and identify the measurable results that
they want their strategy to achieve
so this is bringing everything together
pulling down drawing down
from the resources from all the
activities that the leadership team has
done so far
and pulling them into one place to
create this consolidated saw
analysis and all of this you can do
you know in person on flip charts and
you can do it virtually on a shared
whiteboard as well so it works
online and it works in person too
and then it's about really thinking well
okay so this is where we want to be
this is where we are and this is what
we've got to work with from the saw
how we're going to do that and how we're
going to create that competitive
differentiation there are so many
different tools that i'll use for this
one really good go-to tool out of all of
that
out of all of those rather is the four
actions framework
from the blue ocean strategy
suite of tools have a look at
blueoceanstrategy.com
and there's also a great book called
blue ocean strategy
so so check those out if you've not seen
those before
but this bit is really about asking
the the team to think about what could
they eliminate
from their business from their products
and services
that all their competition are offering
but
the customer doesn't value and what
could they reduce
so eliminate means removed completely of
course reduced means
still do but do less of it and
that's important from a cost-saving
point of view from
a customer proposition perspective so
you know we take away things that can
cost time and money and inconvenience
either for the business or the customer
or both yeah but the idea is is that you
do it without impacting
negatively what the customer experiences
what can you raise
so what can you do better than your
competition
and what could you create what can you
offer as well that would be of value to
your customer
that the competition aren't
offering right now so eliminate raise
reduce
create and those prompts they sound very
simple questions
and again these super simple questions
are really fantastic at prompting
great strategic thinking so
some conversation around then how to get
that competitive differentiation
that's really going to set the strategy
apart
and set the proposition apart from all
the rest to help
the organization be successful
we get lots of ideas from that which we
prioritize
lots of ways of prioritizing uh looking
at the impact versus the effort
is a really quick way of prioritizing uh
there are some more complex ways as well
again check out the blog because i've
got articles on how to do
all of these things individually and go
into depth
on those and then what's left is to
create
an action plan we know how to do an
action plan um
what's the action who's going to do it
and when does it need to be done by
with a really clear roadmap because i
want everybody to
leave that business strategy workshop
being super clear in terms of where
the organization's heading and why what
that means for customers
where the competitive differentiation is
going to come from
and what the organization needs to put
in place and start doing
in order to make that happen with a
clear segue
into actually getting there
hope you enjoyed that and thank you to
all those who
who asked different things i've tried to
cover all the different areas that you
asked me about and include all the
activities that you did so thank you
very much for doing that
and as always there's loads of free
resources
on the big bang website so big bang
partnership dot co dot uk
resources go over there and fill your
boots there's lots of things that will
help you
and check out the blog as well because
the blog is really
rich in all sorts of resources that i
create because i want to help you and
you're an amazing
you do an amazing job and i love this
community of facilitators
and how we all support each other so
that's it
from me thank you very much and i'll see
you next time
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Related queries:
how to conduct a strategy workshop
how to facilitate a strategy session
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how to conduct a business strategy session
what is a strategy workshop
how to run a strategy workshop
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