Workshop Skills for Strategic Impact

Holding workshops, whatever the strategic reason, are critical to business success—and they’re also one of the most difficult things to get right.  This guide will become your one-stop-shop for designing and executing a successful strategy session. 

A strategy is a plan of action that helps you to achieve your longer term goals. It looks at where you want to be and how you’ll get there.

A strategy workshop is a dedicated forum which allows you to focus solely on strategy. You can use strategy workshops to define a new strategy, to review the path you’re currently on, to brainstorm ideas for how you’ll reach your goals, and to establish benchmarks for how you’ll measure progress and define success.

The exact purpose of a strategy workshop depends on what you want to accomplish. A strategy workshop with board members and CEOs to define the overall business strategy will have different goals than, say, a strategy workshop held by the marketing department.

Whatever the goal, a strategy workshop is a collaborative session where stakeholders get together to contribute to the strategic direction of the company in some way.

Who you invite to your strategy workshop will depend on your desired outcomes. If you’re running a workshop for the overall business strategy, you’ll want to invite Committee representatives as well as department heads. You’ll also want to involve project managers who are responsible for overseeing strategic initiatives. And, if your workshop involves reviewing and discussing data, invite those who have collected the data and can discuss it fluently.

However, strategy-focused workshops aren’t always about the very top-level business strategy. They can also be held at a department or team level to relate what different teams are doing to the overarching company goals. In that case, you won’t invite the CEO or every department head. You’ll keep it focused on those involved at the team level.

Ultimately, you want to invite all relevant representatives who are involved in overseeing and/or executing strategic initiatives. As you write your attendee list (and your agenda), remember that the meeting should focus solely on strategy and optimising the team’s efforts to work towards the overall vision. It’s not the time to discuss day-to-day tasks or operational issues.

Think about the goal of your strategy workshop, and ask yourself who can contribute to those strategic discussions. That’s your guest list!

When holding a strategy workshop, the goal is to combine strategic thinking with execution planning. What is it you want to achieve, and what actions will get you there?

You’re not necessarily looking to come up with specific day-to-day tasks, but rather, an overarching plan of action that outlines how you’ll use your available resources to move in the right direction.

For example, if you’re holding a strategy workshop with the robotics team, you’ll want to set a vision for your robotics activities that aligns with the company’s overall strategy. This might involve defining quarterly goals for the team and identifying success metrics, or brainstorming new content or campaign ideas.

Plan your workshop with a clearly defined goal in mind, as well as the tangible outcomes you want to achieve. From there, turn your outcomes (i.e. strategic initiatives and ideas) into action items with a clearly designated person of responsibility for each, as well as a proposed timeline.

Here’s what you want to come away with:

1-Action items that turn strategic initiatives and ideas into implementable tasks, as well as a designated person of responsibility for each.

2-A proposed timeline with milestones for when these actions will be carried out

3-Clearly defined success metrics. How will you determine if your initiatives are successful/effective/on track?

Here are some key steps To Plan & Run a Successful Strategy Meeting:

1. Define a clear goal for your strategy workshop

Every successful workshop begins with a clearly defined goal. Before you can plan any further, it’s essential to establish the following:

-Why are you holding this strategy session?

-What do you want to achieve?

-What outcome(s) do you want to leave with?

-Who is this session for?

For example, your goal for the session could be to develop a marketing strategy for the upcoming launch of a new product. You might break that broader goal down into specific outcomes, such as marketing initiatives and how you’ll implement them, what metrics you’ll track in order to measure success, and a roadmap with milestones and timelines.

The end goal will shape your entire workshop agenda, and it ensures that participants know exactly what they’re working towards.

2. Write your agenda

A well-designed agenda is key to keeping your strategy workshop focused and on track to achieve your desired outcomes.

A good agenda

-Clearly defined objectives for the workshop

-Precise time-boxing for each exercise/activity (with buffer time built in)

-Icebreaker activities and energizers to keep the group motivated

-Breaks!

-A dedicated slot at the end to summarise meeting outcomes and outline clear action points and next steps.

3. Prepare the necessary data and materials

Based on the goals of your strategy session, you’ll need to have any supporting data and materials at the ready.

If you’re coming up with new ideas, you might want to share some examples of what competitors have done—or showcase the content initiatives that have been most successful so far.

This step also includes your general workshop setup. Consider the exercises and activities you’re going to run and the materials they require—be it a virtual whiteboard, Post-it notes, pens, or any other kind of props you might need.

Run through your agenda and note down everything you could possibly need for each segment of your strategy workshop, then tick it off as you prepare it. Organisation is key!

4. Invite key stakeholders and set expectations 

You’ve got a clearly defined goal for your strategy workshop, a solid agenda, and you’re in the process of gathering all the tools and materials you’ll need to get it off the ground.

The next step is to invite your participants and set expectations. Make sure your invitees know exactly what the session is for and why you’re running it. The more clarity they have on the goals and purpose of the meeting, the more motivated they’ll be to attend and contribute.

Share an outline of the agenda, let them know how much time the session will take, and encourage them to come with their strategic hats on. 

If you can get buy-in from the outset you’ll be in for a productive and enjoyable strategy workshop. 

5. Outline clear takeaways and action points

The last thing you want is to forget all about the outcomes of the workshop and return to business as usual afterwards. This step cannot be overstated. The purpose of a strategy workshop is to ensure that day-to-day tasks are contributing to the overall vision.

End the session with a clear summary of the outcomes and key takeaways, as well as action points for how your strategic initiatives will be implemented. What are the next steps? Who is responsible for carrying them out? Can your participants expect some kind of follow up from the workshop?

Make sure everybody leaves with a clear idea of what you’ve all achieved in the session, as well as what will happen next. In fact, that’s the golden rule that applies to any workshop!

There are several exercises you can run during a strategy workshop which can and will be summarised in subsequent blogs.

The type of exercises you include in your agenda depends on the specific goals of your strategy workshop.

This Blog post will give you some examples of exercises for your workshop. https://www.theleadcoach.biz/post/workshop-exercises

Below is an example of a business strategy:

Example - Uber

Uber’s business strategy consists of four foundations:

1-Providing a wide range of services to cater to the needs of different users. When you use the Uber app, you now have the choice of Uber X, Uber XL, Uber Pool, and more, depending on what you need.

2-Ultimate convenience for the user. In a few clicks, you’ve got a ride. And, once you’ve reached your destination, you don’t waste any time paying the fare—it’s all done ultra-conveniently through the app.

3- Innovating in order to cut costs. Uber leverages technology in order to provide the aforementioned user convenience while keeping costs down.

4- Achieving growth through acquisition. Uber has achieved high growth rates by acquiring adjacent businesses, such as artificial intelligence company Mighty AI which they acquired in 2014, grocery delivery app Cornershop which they acquired in 2015, and geospatial software platform deCarta, also acquired in 2015.

You can see the vision Uber has set in terms of where they want to be in the market, as well as the actions they have taken to get there. That’s their strategy.

Every business needs a strategy—and, by extension, every business needs effective strategy workshops.

That just about concludes this strategy workshop guide. The Lead Coach offers facilitation so simply get in touch. For more workshop tips and tricks, keep reading our blogs.

Happy strategising!