Actionable Organization Strategy Course

Course Overview

 

 


Part 1: Core Purpose & Values

Overview

 

 

Welcome! This course’s first section will help define your core purpose and values. We’ll cover:

Mission: Creating a mission that succinctly explains your core purpose.

Core Values: Outlining the behaviors and values you expect from your team and organization.

Recommended Approach: Suitable for leaders working with a team, but also applicable for individual efforts. We encourage involving a bigger group if you want diverse perspectives!

Three Ways to Use This Section:

  1. You’ve already completed your mission and values and want to evaluate the quality of your work.
  2. Learn how to run a workshop to develop mission and values.
  3. Run the workshop in real-time with your team!

In any case, we’re glad to have you with us!

Purpose & Values Workshops (2 Parts)

Time Allocation: ~180 mins. Can be done in a single day.

Approach: Two parts – mission first, then values second

Attendees: Leadership and direct reports

Pre-Work: Survey, either with just the workshop participants OR full staff

Output: Mission and values statements

 


 

Developing Your Mission

 

 

What is Our Core Purpose?

Definition The mission statement describes an organization’s purpose or reason for existing.

Outcome A short, concise, concrete statement that clearly defines the scope of the organization.

Good Looks Like:

  • Original
  • Foundational
  • Fits on a T-shirt
  • Memorable

Example Mission Statements

International Red Cross: To provide relief to victims of disaster and help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.

Starbucks: To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.

Nike: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. -*If you have a body, you are an athlete.

Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

Mission Workshop

Time Allocation: ~90 mins. Can be done in a single day.

Attendees: Leadership and direct reports.

Pre-Work: Decide if creating a new statement or using a current statement. Gather input in advance (survey or whiteboard).

Output: Phrases to use in a mission statement.

Mission Workshop Flow

[Step One] Brainstorm:Ask participants to review how the survey responses were organized in themes — add more ideas if needed. (OR brainstorm on the board).

[Step Two] Organize & Select Core Ideas: Agree as a group on which ideas need to be included in the mission statement.

[Step Four] Revise: Delegate one person or split into groups and revise/draft the mission statement.

[Step Four] Decide: As a team, decide on a final version of the mission statement.

[Step Five] Evaluate: Does your mission statement meet the quality checklist?

Additional Resources

 


 

Identifying Core Values

 

 

How Will We Behave?

Definition: Your values statement clarifies what your organization stands for, believes in, and the behaviors you expect to see.

Outcome: Short list of 5-7 core values and description of what they mean.

Good Looks Like:

  • Inspiring
  • Consistent success formula
  • Non-negotiables
  • Stand by no matter what

Examples of Core Values

From Zappos

Embrace and Drive Change: Part of being in a growing company is that change is constant.

Be Humble: While we have grown quickly in the past, we recognize that there are always challenges ahead to tackle.

Pursue Growth and Learning: We think it’s important for employees to grow both personally and professionally.

Be Passionate and Determined: Passion is the fuel that drives us and our company forward.

Core Values Workshop

Time Allocation: ~90 mins. Can be done in a single day.

Attendees: Leadership and direct reports.

Pre-Work: Decide if creating a new statement or using a current statement. Gather input in advance (survey or whiteboard). Just the leadership team, or also all staff?

Output: Completed 5-7 values with behaviors.

Core Values Workshop Flow

[Step One] Brainstorm: Brainstorm ideas based on the prompting question provided.

[Step Two] Vote: Ask each person to pick their top three based on those most representing your core DNA.

[Step Three] Build Out Further: In small groups of 2-3, assign one or two values to each group. Ask that group to develop behaviors you expect to see when the value is in practice and alive.

[Step Four] Summarize: Write the catchy phrase and the value statement for each value in small groups.

[Step Five] Present & Evaluate: Do your values meet the quality checklist?

Additional Resources

 


 

Part 2: Current State

Overview

 

 

In this section of the actionable organization strategy course, we’ll cover the importance of assessing your current state, including:

Identifying Mega Trends: Recognizing significant trends influencing the organization.

Identifying Strategic Issues: Identifying critical challenges and opportunities.

Building a SWOT by Theme: Conducting a comprehensive SWOT analysis.

Summarizing the Current State: Creating a concise summary.

Data to Gather:

  • Financials
  • Customer surveys
  • Competitor data
  • Employee surveys
  • Market trends
  • The strategy of record [current SWOT!]

Three Ways to Use This Section

  1. You already have your Current State and SWOT and want to evaluate the quality of your work.
  2. Learn how to run a workshop to analyze your current state and create a SWOT by theme.
  3. Run the workshop in real-time with your team!

Current State (4 Parts)

Time Allocation: ~2-3 hours. Can be done in a single day.

Approach: Four parts – megatrends, strategic issues, SWOT, and current state summary.

Attendees: Leadership and direct reports.

Pre-Work: Data gathering.

Output: SWOT by theme, 5-7 strategic issues, and summary of your current state .

 


 

Mega Trends

 

 

What Are the Trends Likely to Impact Your Organization or Industry/Environment?

Definition: The big shifts/changes/trends are external to the organization and most often things that can be influenced, but not completely controlled.

Outcome: Identify the key trends likely to impact your organization in the near to mid-term future.

Good Looks Like: Identification of trends that will impact ANY organization in your industry.

Examples

  • Shifting labor environment impacting staff retention
  • Cost of higher education
  • Population growth (2% from 2020)
  • Inflation driving up price pressure and margin impact
  • Wage pressure
  • Pandemic catch up
  • Lack of affordable housing
  • Availability of qualified staffing

Mega Trends Workshop

Time Allocation: ~30 mins.

Attendees: Leadership and direct reports.

Pre-Work: Research “megatrends” in your industry. Pull industry association reports about the future, if available. Assign as homework to come prepared with key insights.

Output: Opportunities and threats

Mega Trends Workshop Flow

[Step One] Share: Report-out on key insights from market research.

[Step Two] Identify: Build a list of key trends – social, economic, technological, and political.

[Step Three] Sort: For each trend, identify if it is working for you or against your organization. Color code. If both, add another sticky note.

[Step Four] Re-organize: Pull the ”working for us” items as opportunities into your SWOT. Pull those “working against us” as threats into your SWOT.

[Step Five] Present & Evaluate: Do your values meet the quality checklist?

 


 

Strategic Issues

 

 

What Is the Single Most Important Issue We Should Address That Will Have the Biggest Impact on our Future?

Definition: Strategic issues are critical unknowns that are driving you to embark on a strategic planning process now. These issues can be problems, opportunities, market shifts or anything else begging for a solution or decision.

Outcome: Identify the key trends likely to impact your organization in the near- to mid-term future.

Good Looks Like: Critical to your success. You’ll have answers based on going through this process.

Examples

  • What are the market growth opportunities to diversify our revenue?
  • Are we going to sell to the mid-market? If so, what is the go-to-market approach?
  • How might we collaborate/partner with customers to provide better outcomes?
  • How might we innovate or change our teaching model to serve more youth?
  • How will we preserve our org values and unique culture as we scale the org at such a rapid pace?
  • How might we onboard new employees and customer in a more holistic and efficient way?

Strategic Issues Workshop

Time Allocation: ~30 mins.

Attendees: Leadership and direct reports.

Pre-Work: None.

Output: Output.

Strategic Issues Workshop Flow

[Step One] Ideation: Popcorn ideas.

[Step Two] Align: Agree on the five most important questions to address as part of this process. (Vote if necessary.)

[Step Three] Draft Questions: Re-write each idea into a formal, answerable question.

[Step Four] Tag: One-by-one, tag what the question is most related to – Customers, Employees, Operational Excellence, or Financial/Profitability.

Additional Resources

 


 

SWOT Analysis

 

 

Where Are We Today?

Definition: A SWOT : analysis is a quick way of examining your organization by looking at the internal strengths and weaknesses in relation to the external opportunities and threats.

Outcome: A clear understanding of the current state and synthesized list of SWOT attributes to focus on or address.

Good Looks Like: The item (strength, weakness, opportunity & threat) being stated along with a “so what.”

SWOT Workshop

Time Allocation: ~90 mins.

Attendees: Leadership and direct reports.

Pre-Work: Gather planning team’s perspective via survey or whiteboard. EXTRA: Gather staff input.

Output: Fully built-out SWOT with at least 5-7 items in each quadrant + 4 “Theme SWOTs.”

SWOT Workshop Flow

Complete the following for each SWOT by General Theme:

[Step One] Brainstorm: Based on the pre-work, brainstorm the ideas in each of the three input areas. (repeat for each theme.)

[Step Two ] Select – Core Ideas: Select the main ideas and turn the sticky note green (make sure to include “so what”). (Repeat for each theme.)

[Step Three] Final SWOT: Pull all areas together in a final SWOT.

Additional Resources

 


 

Current State Summary

 

 

Definition: The current state summary captures the SWOT Assessment and current state of the company in a nutshell statement.

Outcome: The current state of your company summarized in 3-4 sentences.

Good Looks Like: An objective summary of your organization, to include both external and internal views.

Current State Summary Example

“The Airport Authority has maintained a solid financial position based on airport-derived revenues throughout volatile market cycles. Regional leaders and the community-at-large broadly support the organization and are actively engaged in helping shape its future. As of the beginning of 2019, the International Airport experienced consistent year-over-year increases in passenger and cargo volumes due to a growing and diversifying regional economy.

As a service organization, the Airport Authority’s success relies on its positive internal culture and highly engaged workforce. Maintaining that over the next several years will be a significant challenge given the competitive labor market and employee retirements.”

Current State Summary Workshop

Time Allocation: ~15 mins.

Attendees: Leadership and direct reports.

Pre-Work: SWOT.

Output: en summary of the current state.

Current State Workshop Flow

[Step One] Individual Thinking: Ask each person to write down how they would answer the prompt (on previous slide).

[Step Two] Share Out: Ask for a volunteer to share out.

[Step Three] Align: Ask for others to add to the first share out.

[Step Four] Summarize: Read out the combined current state summary.

 


 

Part 3: Big, Bold Vision + Strategic Framework

Overview

 

 

In this section of the actionable organization strategy course, we’ll cover how to define your bold vision of the future and create the framework of your plan.

We’ll create two core planning elements, including:

Bold Vision: Your audacious destination 3-5 years in the future.

Strategic Framework: How you’ll organize your plan to reach that bold destination.

Three Ways to Use This Section

  1. You’ve already created a vision and strategic framework and want to evaluate the quality of your work.
  2. Learn how to run a workshop to create an awesome vision and framework.
  3. Run the workshop in real-time with your team!

Vision & Strategic Framework (2 Parts)

Time Allocation: ~120 mins. Can be done in a single day. ext

Approach: Two parts – vision and strategic frameworks.

Attendees: Leadership and direct reports.

Pre-Work: Survey, either with just the workshop participants OR full staff.

Output: Draft vision statement, vision description, and plan framework.

 


 

Vision Statement

 

 

What Does Success Look Like?

Definition: A vision statement defines your desired future state and provides direction for where we are going as an organization.

Outcome: An aspirational picture of the future.

Good Looks Like

  • Inspiring
  • Describes the “dent” you want to make in the world
  • Eventually achievable
  • Stated in future tense

Vision Examples

  • Susan G. Komen for the Cure: A world without breast cancer.
  • Amazon: Our vision is to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online.
  • Apple: To make the best products on earth and to leave the world better than we found it.
  • Tesla: To create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles.
  • DuPont: To be the world’s most dynamic science company, creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, and healthier life for people everywhere.

Vision Workshop

Time Allocation: ~90 mins.

Attendees: Leadership and direct reports.

Pre-Work: Responses to questions in a survey OR directly in the whiteboard.

Output: Draft vision statement + further described in a vision description.

Vision Workshop Flow

[Step One] Brainstorm: List your favorite organizations and companies. What do you love about their vision/direction?

[Step Two] Answer: For your organization, answer “What does success look like in 5 years?” and “How is that different than today?” in each core area of your business.

[Step Three] Generate Possible Visions: Use Crazy Eights to brainstorm your vision statement.

[Step Four] Draft Vision Statement: Ask a volunteer to draft 2-3 statements, offline.

Additional Resources

 


 

Strategic Goal Themes

 

 

What Are the Key Areas of Focus to Achieve Our Vision?

Definition: The strategic framework is your “planning map” and step one to ensuring your plan is built in a holistic and comprehensive manner. The themes or “big rocks” defined as your framework ultimately become your strategic goals.

Outcome: 3-5 named areas of focus to frame the plan.

Good Looks Like:

  • Balanced
  • Holistic
  • Covers all aspects or perspectives of the organization

Strategic Goal Theme Workshop

Time Allocation: ~20 mins.

Attendees: Leadership and direct report.

Pre-Work: Extract themes from the Big Bold Vision exercise as a starting point. Draft 1 or 2 frameworks.

Output: Named focus areas (plan framework)

Strategic Goal Theme Workshop Flow

[Step One] Identify Themes: Springboard off the Big Bold Vision exercise to identify themes/critical areas of focus to achieve the vision.

[Step Two] Create the Frame: Group and arrange ideas into thematic areas to create “planning buckets” or categories you will plan within (3-5). Consider potential objectives that might live in each area to help the team visualize how the plan will fit together.

[Step Three] Define the Labels: Name the focus areas or “big rocks” that will frame the plan. These labels provide the structure for building out the plan and evolve into strategic goals.

[Step Four] Evaluate: Do your strategic goal themes (framework) meet the quality checklist?

 


 

Part 4: Winning Strategy

Overview

 

 

Welcome to the winning strategy section! We refer to it as a winning strategy because it aims to bring success to various stakeholders, including customers, communities, teams, regions, and the world.

While strategy often relates to competitiveness, it can also be about delivering the highest value and impact to those you serve.

Keep in mind that this video contains substantial content. If it feels overwhelming, consider focusing on the key points now and revisiting it for a deeper dive in future planning efforts.

In this section, we’ll cover:

Competitive Advantages – How to Win: Building a winning strategy involves three key elements: “How to Win,” which focuses on your competitive advantages.

Customer/Market Growth – Where to Play: “Where to Play” comprises two components: identifying your target customers and determining where you will grow and make an impact.

Guiding Principles: The final part is the identification of guiding principles, which will shape and guide your strategic decisions.

Three Ways to Use This Section

  1. You’ve already created a winning strategy and want to evaluate the quality of your work.
  2. Learn how to run a workshop to build a growth strategy.
  3. Run the workshop in real-time with your team!

Winning Strategy (4 Parts)

Time Allocation: ~3-4 hours. Consider spreading the 4 parts across several sessions.

Approach: Four parts – competitive advantages, customers, growth strategy, and guiding principles.

Attendees: Leadership and direct reports.

Pre-Work: Competitive research, market research, SWOT, customer survey data, and customer segments or avatars.

Output: Complete growth strategy, differentiation strategy, competitive advantages, and guiding principles.

 


 

Competitive Advantages – How to Win?

 

 

What Are We Best At? How Will We Succeed?

Definition: Characteristics of an organization that allow it to meet its customer’s needs better than its competition can.

Outcome: List at least 3 advantages that differentiate and set an organization apart.

Good Looks Like:

  • Distinctly unique
  • Valued by clients/stakeholders
  • Hard for competitors to replicate

Competitive Advantages Examples

Honda: Honda is best at developing precision engines and power trains because its products are the leaders in reliability and technological advancement.

Bikram Yoga: Bikram Yoga is best at productizing the yoga experience and practice because it’s packaged for franchising.

Google: Google is best at optimizing searches for any type of information because it continues to innovate and push technology past what was thought possible.

Starbucks: To build the brand one cup at a time, based on three key ingredients: the quality of the coffee, our retail stores, and selective brand extensions.

Competitive Advantages Workshop

Time Allocation: ~90 mins.

Attendees: Leadership and direct reports.

Pre-Work: Identify your top 3 or 4 competitors (or competitor groups). Research each one to determine strengths and weaknesses. Include strengths from your SWOT.

Output: List of competitive advantages (have now) (need to develop).

Competitive Advantages Workshop Flow

[Step One] Competitive Analysis: Consider your market’s top 3-5 competitors. Ask prompting questions to do a comparative analysis. Identify and capture why they win, why they lose, and what their big bold vision is.

[Step Two] Why Do We Win? Based on the SWOT & competitive analysis, identify unique strengths that set your organization apart (define CA’s you have).

[Step Three] Why Do We Lose? Consider CA’s your organization should have to compete (define CA’s to develop).

[Step Four] Strategic Moves: Based on your CA’s and the competitive analysis, brainstorm competitive moves to win/have more impact in your market.

[Step Five] Evaluate: Do your CA’s meet the quality checklist?

 


 

Customers – Where to Play?

 

 

Who Do We Serve and Provide Value To?

Definition: Customer segmentation defines the different groups of people an organization aims to reach or serve by leveraging competitive advantages.

Outcome: Clear definition of target customer/s.

Good Looks Like:

  • Narrowed focus
  • Clarity around who we serve and how we provide value

Target Customers Examples

Large Auto Body Shops: Large auto body shops seeking rapid insurance reimbursement in Oregon.

Local/State Government Community Programs: An agency focusing on public relations for local and state government community programs.

Field Salespeople: Field salespeople earning between $50K and $100K who are image-conscious first movers looking to purchase a sports car in the next year.

Members: Current and active club members.

Prospects: Waitlisted and other prospective club members.

Target Customers Workshop

Time Allocation: ~60 mins.

Attendees: Leadership and direct reports.

Pre-Work: Identify 3-4 key customer segments or avatars. Pull customer survey data (if you have it).

Output: Identified customer segments & differentiation strategy.

Target Customers Workshop Flow

[Step One] Who Do We Serve? Identify customer segments you are targeting and capture on a poster or Miro (ideal customer).

[Step Two] What Do They Value? Brainstorm what each customer values from you, what they are trying to fix/accomplish/avoid, and why they would choose you over competitors.

[Step Three] Competitive Moves: Based on customer analysis, brainstorm competitive moves you might make to create more value for your customers.

[Step Four] Differentiation Strategy: Use insights from above, coupled with insights from the competitive analysis and your CA’s to craft a differentiation strategy.

[Step Five] Evaluate: Do your customer segments meet the quality checklist?

Additional Resources

 


 

Markets & Growth Strategy

 

 

Where Do You Play? How Do You Win?

Definition: A growth strategy is based on one of three primary approaches to growth. It’s further filtered and defined by your customer segments and competitive advantages, helping you identify whom you serve, how you best serve them, and how you’ll grow.

Outcome:

  • Who you best serve
  • Why you win against competitors
  • How you’ll grow within a given customer segment

Growth Strategy Example

Our strategic approach is (moves we will make):

Strategy #1: Extend and defend our core segments.

Strategy #2: Strengthen and deepen regional operations, be regionally relevant and market connected. Incorporate processes to touch base with industry partners (suppliers, subs, owners, etc.) monthly in pursuit of new work opportunities.

Strategy #3: Selectively expand new offerings to our core that increase our competitive position.

Growth Strategy Workshop

Time Allocation: ~60-120 mins.

Attendees: Leadership and direct reports.

Pre-Work: Opportunities from your SWOT.

Output: Top 2-4 markets and the associated strategy for growth & impact.

Growth Strategy Workshop Flow

[Step One A] Plot your Opportunities: Determine your dimensions on a 2×2 (fit/attractiveness) grid. Plot each opportunity.

[Step One B] Group Opportunities: Draw a circle around opportunities that are in a similar area. Name the growth dimension.

[Step Two] Develop the Growth Strategy: For each opportunity in the growth dimension, build out the growth strategy.

[Step Three] Key Drivers: Identify 1 or 2 key drivers for growth. Use these to build goals & initiatives.

[Step Four] Evaluate: Do your growth strategies meet the quality checklist?

Additional Resources

 


 

Guiding Principles

 

 

What Principles Will We Use to Guide Our Decision-making?

Definition: A set of guiding principles that inform an organization’s decision-making and approach to growth and impact.

Outcome: Identification of 5-7 guiding principles.

Good Looks Like:

  • Clear guardrails
  • Guide decision-making
  • Clarify focus

Examples of Guiding Principles

  1. Available Reserves: Growth will be funded w/ Line of Credit/Cash – Profit from the previous year.
  2. Cash Position: Our cash position needs to be at least $4M to invest in new.
  3. Core Business First: If we are faced with a choice between our core business and emerging opportunities, we will always choose core first.
  4. Off-Seasonality & Recurring Focus: We need to focus on off-seasonal opportunities to increase profitability and prioritize projects with recurring revenue potential.
  5. Margin Impact: Minimum net profit margin required is 5%.

 


 

Part 5: Strategic Goals

Overview

 

 

In this section of the actionable organization strategy course, you’ll develop the top-level strategic goals of your plan and build a 3-year planning roadmap. You’ll create:

Strategic Goals: Build the goals that are the gap between your vision and the actionable steps needed to achieve them.

Roadmap: How you’ll organize your plan to reach that bold destination.

Three Ways to Use This Section

  1. You’ve already created your strategic goals and want to evaluate the quality of your work.
  2. Learn how to run a workshop to create strategic goals.
  3. Run the workshop in real-time with your team!

 


 

Strategic Goal Detail & Roadmap

 

 

What Are the Key Areas of Focus to Achieve Our Vision?

Definition: ong-term, broad, continuous statements that holistically address all areas of your organization. Strategic goals, or SG’s, are the “big rocks” of the framework defined, and they serve as the bridge between your vision and annual plan.

Outcome: 3-5 statements of impact that frame the plan and provide direction for each area of focus.

Good Looks Like:

  • Broad aim
  • Visionary
  • Compelling story about where you’re going and why

Strategic Goal Examples

  1. Relationship & Experience: Become the most socially responsible & impactful gaming trust in the country.
  2. Growth & Reach: Grow to one of the top 5 trusts in Australia.
  3. Future Proofed: Leverage our deep market knowledge to diversify our offerings as we prepare for the future.
  4. Systems & Capacity: Build our systems and capacity to scale and cultivate a healthy culture reflective of our values.

Strategic Goals & Details Workshop

Time Allocation: ~45 mins. PER GOAL THEME.

Attendees: Leadership and direct reports.

Pre-Work: Strategic framework areas (“big rocks”) defined. Vision board complete.

Output: Defined goal statements + detail.

Strategic Goals & Details Workshop Flow

[Step One] Current State (From): For each SG area, summarize where we are today and capture in the “From” field of the workspace.

[Step Two] Future State (To): Define the ideal future state and impact (what we are moving towards). Capture what success looks like in the “To” field of the workspace.

[Step Three] Rationale (Because): Consider the rationale behind this effort (why) and summarize in the “Because” field of workspace.

[Step Four] Define Goal: From Step Two (Future State), refine/articulate the strategic goal statement. Start with a verb, then describe this area’s broad aim/vision.

[Step Five] Shifts: Identify the shifts we need to make to reach the goal and how we will measure success.

[Step Six] Milestones: Fill in the roadmap with major milestones.

Additional Resources

 


 

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