Advancing from an Operational Manager to a Strategic Leader

Learn to become an innovator, a persuasive player and a champion of strategic change. This seminar gives you the right practice to close the gap between where you are now and where you want to be. You'll conduct SWOT analysis, leverage key prospects for strategic opportunities and inspire risk taking and innovation.

Make your mark. This training course gives you the skills to add value to your organization and move your team forward decisively.

• Inspire and direct your team to greater readiness and competitiveness
• Use strategic thinking to add value to your organization by understanding the needs and expectations of your customers
• Anticipate and innovate strategies to link strategic vision to core capabilities
• Recognize opportunities to influence and create strategic alliances
• Use strategic thinking to identify key strengths and weaknesses in your work group
• Encourage and support risk taking and innovation at all levels
• Develop persuasive skills to sell your strategic ideas

Developing and Balancing Operational and Strategic Management Skills

• Establish a working definition of operational management
• Explore the key attributes of today’s strategic leaders

Creating a Strategic Frame of Reference

• Understand the key components of the strategic leadership model
• Develop a strategic leader’s approach for your own work environment

Understanding Your Current Operational Mission: Your Team, Your Customers and Your Competitors

• Strategic thinking: moving from a limited context to a broader view
• Understand how to apply a SWOT analysis to your team
• Create a mission statement defining the operational reality of your work group

Developing a Strategic Vision: Moving from What Is to What If

• How to identify priority issues to create your strategic advantage
• Encourage innovative solutions
• Prepare a draft of a vision statement

Making Your Vision a Reality: Influencing Key Stakeholders

• Develop their persuasive skills
• Explore a range of options for influencing others

Your Personal Plan: Developing and Selling Your Vision of the Future

• Communication strategies to sell your strategic plan
• Conduct key conversations to encourage innovation and risk taking

Learning Objectives

• Define Operational Management and Strategic Leadership
• Understand the Classic Strategic Model
• Develop a SWOT Analysis for Your Work Group
• Create a Target for Future Success
• Develop a Mission Statement for Your Work Group
• Establish Linkage Between the Mission and Vision
• Encourage Innovation in Your Team
• Create a Strategic Approach to Your Particular Work Situation

Developing and Balancing Your Operational and Strategic
Management Skills

• Define Operational Management
• Explore Attributes of Strategic Leaders
• Recognize the Need for Balance Between These Two Roles
• Reflect on Your Use of These Skills

Creating a Strategic Frame of Reference

• Understand the Strategic Frame of Reference
• Define Key Outputs at Each Level
• Develop a Strategic Leader’s Approach

Understanding Your Current Operational Mission: Your Team, Your Customers, and Your Competitors

• Clarify the Purpose of Your Work Group
• Draft a Mission Statement for Your Work Group
• Create a SWOT Analysis to More Fully Understand the Competitive Landscape

Developing a Strategic Vision: Moving from “What Is” to “What If”

• Assess Customers’ Needs, Wants, and Expectations
• Determine Approaches for Developing Customer Data
• Use an Importance/Performance Matrix to Set Priorities
• Understand the Power of Vision
• Create a Linkage Between the Organizational Vision and Mission

Making Your Vision a Reality: Influencing Key Stakeholders

• Develop Persuasive Skills to Sell Your Strategic Ideas
• Explore Ways to Influence Others
• Assess Your Ability to Encourage New Ways of Thinking
• Learn How to Conduct 5 Key Conversations to Encourage Innovation

Your Personal Plan: Developing and Selling Your Vision of the Future

• See the Merit of the Strategic Frame of Reference You Created for Your Department
• Share Your Vision and Mission Statements with Others as You Would to Senior Executives in Your Company
• Identify and Practice the Key Conversations You Intend to Have upon Your Return to Work
• Develop a Personal Action Plan for Going Forward

Download Extended Seminar Outline PDF