Expert Insights on Strategic Planning & Execution

IN THIS COURSE

• 1.  Strategic Planning: Respond Intelligently to Happy Accidents
  4m 1s
  We’re told it’s better to be proactive than reactive; but the world is not predictable. FREE ACCESS
• 2.  Sense Making In Strategic Planning
  1m 49s
  To make sense in a strategic plan: 1) get outside points of view; 2) allow space for the conversations to take place; 3) state your beliefs in the plan and the strategy based on those beliefs; then ask; 4) Do we still believe that? What happens if we’re wrong? FREE ACCESS
• 3.  Three Approaches to Strategy Development
  2m 31s
  You can do what your competitors understand; or do what they do; but to establish a competitive advantage do what your competitors don’t understand and can’t do. FREE ACCESS
• 4.  Executing Strategy
  1m 47s
  1) Leaders can set strategy but the followers are the real players. 2) Most work occurs across silos; not via the organization chart. 3) Use visual media to follow up; not reports and speeches. 4) Emphasize goal setting and alignment over performance appraisals. FREE ACCESS
• 5.  From Tactics to Strategy
  3m 10s
  First; make sure you have great reporting. You need a dashboard and exceptions. Others need to look at everything; you don’t. Then worry less about efficiency and more about effectiveness — less about what and more about why. Force-rank your priorities. FREE ACCESS
• 6.  Prioritize and Collaborate to Execute Strategy
  2m 5s
  The advice sounds obvious; but is typically ignored. If you start something new; stop something else. Keep initiatives to the top two or three. If we don’t collaborate when we reach the C Suite it’s because we view it as a competition; I won; you lost. FREE ACCESS
• 7.  Execute Or Be Executed
  2m 28s
  The best strategy is nothing without the ability to execute. Grattan Kirk explains what it takes to deliver on strategy from the top down. FREE ACCESS
• 8.  The Greatest Enemy of Execution
  1m 51s
  The greatest single enemy of execution is complexity. FREE ACCESS
• 9.  Gaps in Execution
  2m 22s
  Gaps occur between plans; actions; and outcomes. FREE ACCESS
• 10.  Closing Gaps to Execution
  3m 37s
  First; decide what you really want; not just a wish list. Second; tell people what to achieve and why; with what resources; but not how. Then ask them explain it back; in twice the time you explained it. Third; give them space and support to adapt to the unexpected. FREE ACCESS
• 11.  Why Organizations Fail to Execute on Their Strategy
  2m 57s
  We think about goals and people with different parts of the brain. Thinking about one shuts off access to the other. Thus; leaders tend to focus on goals and ignore the implications of those goals for the people who are asked to achieve them. FREE ACCESS
• 12.  Plan in 3D
  3m 16s
  The perfect plan is impossible. That's why you should be planning in 3D. FREE ACCESS
• 13.  The Four As of Achieve
  3m 41s
  Actually achieving a plan as outlined can be a challenge, but by practicing the "four As of achieve," your team can reach its destination on time. FREE ACCESS
• 14.  Strategy Is a Verb
  2m 19s
  Aristotle's ancient virtues can be used as a modern strategic guide to business. FREE ACCESS
• 15.  Three Strategies for a Better P&L
  2m 34s
  Managing your P&L is much easier if you think of it as one giant checkbook. FREE ACCESS
• 16.  How to Succeed with Strategy
  2m 13s
  Many organizations fail to execute on strategy because of flawed implementation. Here are four tips for succeeding with strategy. FREE ACCESS
• 17.  Conclusions on Double Digit Growth
  2m 42s
  Michael Treacy summarizes what he has learned from his research and experience about growth. FREE ACCESS
• 18.  Evidence-Based Management: The Keys to Great Decision Making
  4m 52s
  What gets companies in trouble is what they think they know that isn't true. FREE ACCESS
• 19.  Strategic Thinking in Tactical Times
  3m 46s
  Joe DiVanna had a diverse group of 30 people write a 45;000-word book on strategy in 24 hours. FREE ACCESS
• 20.  The Three Elements of a Great Execution
  1m 46s
  A manager can be a brilliant strategist but not get things done; the world pays for results; not brilliant thinking. FREE ACCESS
• 21.  Blue Ocean Strategy: Learn from your Non Customers
  2m 26s
  Current customers only want more for less. Ask non customers instead. FREE ACCESS
• 22.  Strategic Planning and Alignment
  3m 7s
  The business plan and strategic plan should be the same. FREE ACCESS
• 23.  The Power of Clear Direction
  3m 5s
  When asked to choose between growing revenue and renewing the technology base if push came to shove; a CEO told the entire company; “When in doubt; technology comes first.” The example demonstrates the power of clear direction. FREE ACCESS
• 24.  Put Your Focus on the Top Line
  1m 58s
  The most important advice he ever received was to focus on the top line. FREE ACCESS
• 25.  The Importance of a Global Perspective
  3m 22s
  Performance improved when white workers in a Texas plant created their own goals and performance measures. However; there were misunderstandings when workers with different ethnic backgrounds in another plant tried to do the same. Communication is key. FREE ACCESS
• 26.  The Golden Circle: The Three Essential Elements of Organizational Success
  5m 29s
  Three concentric circles are WHAT we do; HOW we do it; and WHY; with WHY in the center; and HOW on the outside. FREE ACCESS
• 27.  How to Succeed As a Global Company
  2m 39s
  The key is a network of country managers; selected by the CEO; who act as a team. Managers manage their country and build value across countries and to the center. The center builds value to the countries. Incentives encourage two-way communication. FREE ACCESS
• 28.  Procter & Gamble: A Major Transformation
  4m
  Procter & Gamble simplified an inefficient matrix organization to one that placed equal emphasis on maximizing profits; increasing sales; and reducing costs. The new organization succeeded because it encouraged people in different areas to work with each other. FREE ACCESS
• 29.  Before Expanding to a Foreign Country
  1m 48s
  When expanding into a foreign country decisions include whether to 1) send your own people or teach your values to people already there; 2) standardize or modify your products; and 3) standardize or modify your performance appraisal system. FREE ACCESS
• 30.  The Knowing-Doing Gap
  3m 55s
  Leaders should both know and do. FREE ACCESS
• 31.  Wildcards
  2m 33s
  Ideas are rarely implemented according to plan. Use wildcards to help your team adjust to unexpected changes. Give them ten minutes to plan something; but pull a wildcard after seven: no money; no time; a market shift; etc. New constraints encourage innovation. FREE ACCESS
• 32.  After You Complete an Orthodoxy Exercise
  2m 36s
  After you question some basic beliefs; you can focus on questions you should ask. Change your perception to be more creative. Use analogy brainstorming; how would Google attack this problem? How would constraints change your attack? Test as quickly as possible. FREE ACCESS
• 33.  How CEOs Lead Their Companies in India
  3m 24s
  Major companies in India such as Tata invest heavily in their people. They also invest heavily in their communities and their country; by building roads; hospitals; and schools. Michael Useem thinks U.S. companies should do the same. FREE ACCESS
• 34.  Jumping Uncertainty Gaps
  3m 32s
  The success or failure of jumping uncertainty gaps depends on how far you jump. Max McKeown shares examples from the Lego Group as a lesson in risk-taking. FREE ACCESS
• 35.  Think Before You Plan
  3m 24s
  Planning by itself is not strategy; leaders need to spend time thinking to build a successful scheme. FREE ACCESS
• 36.  Becoming More Strategic
  3m 8s
  To become a better strategist, start asking why things are the way they are. FREE ACCESS
• 37.  How to Influence Strategy
  2m 42s
  The energy, attitude, and language leaders bring to the table influences strategy, from the idea phase all the way through execution. Make sure you’re pulling people instead of pushing them away. FREE ACCESS
• 38.  Defining Progress
  2m 43s
  A vision without action is a dream. Doing is action; action is progress. Make sure your innovation projects don’t succumb to dream status. FREE ACCESS
• 39.  Innovation Agenda
  3m 9s
  Creating an innovation agenda is just the tool you need to quickly clarify the often complex decision of where to start and how to get started on a project. FREE ACCESS
• 40.  Focus on Progress
  2m 50s
  Innovation leaders who emphasize progress earn credibility for themselves and gain resources for their projects. FREE ACCESS
• 41.  Visual Management: A Physical Approach to Knowledge Work
  3m 45s
  It is easier to design physical work than it is to design knowledge work. However, the principles of visual management can help you take a physical work approach to knowledge work. Find out how. FREE ACCESS
• 42.  The Agile Approach to Managing Your Projects
  3m 18s
  Taking an agile approach to project management means you remain flexible. Agile is a philosophy that means you reject rigid targets and planning, you constantly adapt to consumer demand, and you embrace innovation and change throughout your organization. FREE ACCESS
• 43.  The Most Commonly Encountered Growth Challenges
  3m 20s
  It is imperative that fast-growth organizations pay close attention to the most commonly encountered growth challenges. Of all the challenges that can obstruct businesses with high-growth aspirations, there are four distinct challenges that account for around two-thirds of those experienced by leaders of these high-growth companies. The challenges are revenue growing faster than talent, the unscalable founder, weakening of the customer voice, and loss of accountability. FREE ACCESS
• 44.  An Engaged and Energetic Front Line
  4m 5s
  Most strategies break down is at the front line of the business, but the opposite can also happen: front-line employees who take responsibility as if they were owners. Research shows, however, that employees with a strong emotional connection are four to five times more likely to offer innovative ideas and to spend their own extra time with customers. FREE ACCESS
• 45.  The Value and Art of Simplifying
  4m 44s
  While complexity is ironically a product of growth and success, it is also the biggest silent killer of subsequent profitable growth. Using repeatable models at the center of strategy and learning will help you control complexity and win more repeatedly. FREE ACCESS