A strategy workshop is a great way to gather insights and opinions from 3rd party players like customers, analysts, thought leaders and consultants. This information is often critical to the success of a marketing program.

The first step in running a strategy workshop is creating an agenda. This is a critical preparation step that will give the session structure, pace and purpose. Read on EmPartners for more details.

During the strategy workshop, you’ll be working with key members of your team, senior leadership, and external experts to discover new opportunities, improve your competitive edge, and decide on strategic priorities. This type of strategic planning session requires a lot of preparation to ensure that everyone’s input is utilised effectively and the right insights are gained.

Preparation starts with creating a clear understanding of what the session is about, and who should be involved. This helps to set the tone for the meeting and makes it more likely that stakeholders will attend and contribute actively. The next step is to compile a list of all industry reports, data, and trends that are relevant to the strategy you’re trying to create. This provides context and allows participants to ask insightful questions that can lead to more effective strategic discussions.

Finally, a review of your organization’s core statements – eg Purpose, Vision, and Mission should be done to ensure that the direction chosen is aligned with the overall ethos of the company. Lastly, it’s worth staying updated with all relevant news and events that could impact your business or the wider industry. This will enrich the strategic discussions with valuable context that can help to shape the outcomes of the strategy workshop.

In addition to this, it’s important that all stakeholders are informed and kept in the loop throughout the process to make sure they feel included and have a sense of ownership over the decision-making process. This is especially important for investors and funding sources who will want to be aware of the strategic decisions that you’re making with their investment funds.

Getting the preparation right will help to transform your strategy workshop into an actionable strategic plan that you can implement and measure. By ensuring that the right people are invited, preparing relevant materials, encouraging open communication, and using expert facilitation, you will be well on your way to successfully executing a strategy workshop that delivers real-world business success. To learn more about how strategy workshops can benefit your organization, contact us today.

Collaboration

Developing a strategic plan is an intense process that requires collaboration. Strategy workshops are a great way to bring together stakeholders from across the organization and help them work together to brainstorm, make decisions, and prioritize actions that will ultimately result in business growth.

A key to running an effective strategy workshop is ensuring that all attendees understand the objectives and goals of the session in advance. Without a clear understanding, the session is likely to derail and the outcome will be ineffective. It is also important to ensure that attendees have access to the information and tools needed to participate. This includes pre-session briefings, strategy frameworks, and any other data that will be discussed during the workshop.

Once the objectives have been established, a detailed agenda should be written to allocate time for each topic or activity. The agenda should include a mix of structured discussions, creative brainstorming sessions, and practical planning activities. It should also allow for discovery of ideas/insights (divergence) and decision-making or prioritization (convergence) for each theme that will be explored. Lastly, it is important to have an experienced facilitator who can guide discussion and encourage participants to actively participate and contribute.

The final outcome of the strategy workshop should be a set of action points that will allow for the implementation of the agreed-upon strategies. This may include setting timelines, assigning roles and responsibilities, and identifying resources. It is important to communicate these action points clearly to all attendees and ensure that there is an adequate follow-up plan in place.

A strategy workshop can have significant benefits for an individual or organisation. It can refocus energies on achieving business growth and create a sense of urgency around the tasks at hand. It can also refocus the mind of all involved on strategic thinking, helping them to see the big picture and take practical steps towards success.

Access to the Right Information

Ideally, strategy workshops will bring together people from all parts of your business. It can be a great opportunity for staff to step away from their day-to-day tasks and focus on what strategic moves the company should be making. It can also be a time for honest reflection on the things that are going well and what needs to improve.

However, a strategy workshop will only be effective if the right information is available to participants. This means that reports, data, and reading materials should be prepared and distributed well ahead of the session. In addition, the participants should be provided with a clear agenda and an overview of how the workshop will be run. This will ensure that the meeting is focused and efficient and that the key points and takeaways are recorded.

A great way to make sure that the key points and takeaways are clear and actionable is by using a strategic planning template. This will provide you with a structured framework for developing a 3-year plan to achieve your strategic goals.

The final thing that is crucial to the success of a strategy workshop is to follow-up on the results and outcomes of the meeting. This will help to ensure that the ideas and plans formulated at the workshop are translated into real-world business successes.

This will require the support of all senior management and a commitment to ensuring that future strategy workshops are held at regular intervals, not just when the company is in trouble. It will also involve a re-telling of the company’s story and heritage so that everybody truly understands the value of the continued success of the company.

A seasoned workshop facilitator can be an invaluable resource for developing and conducting a successful strategy workshop. An outside facilitator is able to maintain a neutral position during brainstorming sessions and can ask the difficult questions that participants might be reluctant to put on the table. In addition, they can also keep the meeting running efficiently by keeping participants on task and recording the minutes of the session.

Facilitation

Choosing the right facilitator to run your workshop is essential. The best facilitators know how to ask the right questions at the right time, encourage participation, and guide participants towards the expected outcomes of the session. They also have the skills to keep the meeting on track and prevent participants from straying off topic. They can also make sure that all the necessary information is gathered to help craft an effective strategy for your business.

To be an effective facilitator, it is important to have the support of key stakeholders and other team members. The strategic workshop needs to be a forum where everyone can contribute ideas, build on those of others, and create a common vision. It is also crucial to make the strategy workshop a safe space to discuss challenging issues and identify solutions. The workshop should be held in a location that is free of distractions, such as an off-site facility. This will allow attendees to fully focus and think strategically without being interrupted by everyday work tasks.

Attendees should be carefully chosen based on the desired outcome of the strategy workshop. It is important to include key stakeholders, such as department heads or C-level representatives, to ensure that the results of the workshop are actioned beyond the session itself. It is also a good idea to include project managers who oversee specific aspects of the strategy. This will ensure that any new initiatives are aligned with day-to-day operations and that the strategic objectives are effectively executed.

The final step in a successful strategy workshop is to end with clear, concrete plans for the next steps to take in order to achieve your desired outcomes. It is a good idea to set specific, measurable goals and identify the metrics that will be used to track progress. This will give your employees a sense of ownership and will help to motivate them.

To assist you with your strategy development process, Intrafocus offers a three-session strategic workshop using the Balanced Scorecard methodology. This structured and facilitated process examines the core principles of finance, customers, internal processes and organisational capability. It consists of a series of interactive workshops that are designed to generate a comprehensive strategy map in the form of an Excel document.