Education and Training :: Planning Workshops

Strategic Planning

Creating Your Competitive Advantage
Note: This workshop is available in two approaches:

NCSA facilitators work directly with senior leadership to guide your organization, step-by-step, through the strategic planning process. This is typically completed in a multi-meeting process.
NCSA instructs attendees on the end-to-end strategic planning process in a workshop setting. Once back on the job, attendees may contact NCSA for assistance in implementing the strategic planning process.

At the heart of your business and its ongoing competitive advantage is its willingness to actively participate in and implement a strategic plan that will link line-of-sight for every employee to the mission and vision of the organization. Successful organizations became that way because they planned it. If a lack of planning in your organization finds your employees blindly wandering through their days, you, as the organization's leadership, must commit to getting all employees on the path to achieving the mission, vision and goals of your organization. This workshop will guide you through all elements of the complete strategic planning process. In NCSA's strategic planning approach, participants will:

Define the TOTAL end-to-end planning process—part of a plan is not enough.
Understand why there is no shallow end in the "planning pool."
Clarify and reconcile strategic planning terminology—gain consensus.
Engage in "component-specific" exercises designed to isolate and identify potential organizational opportunities at the various steps of the planning process.
Create or update and document the organization's mission statement—"Who we are," "What we do."
Create or update and document the organization's vision statement—identifying and clarifying "Where we are going"—leveraging your competitive advantage.
Develop strategic goals that support accomplishment of the organization's mission and vision.
Clarify how operational objectives/strategies will be developed (with ownership) for each strategic goal.
Discuss in detail the development of individual employee objectives with "line-of-sight" to the organization's mission, vision and values (optional).
Discuss methods for monitoring and ensuring individual goal achievement.
Share a simple and effective "strategic plan template" that makes your plan your servant and not your master.
Clarify strategies to ensure your plan remains "evergreen"—that you retain your competitive advantage.

Measuring Results

Enhancing Organizational Outcomes
Effective organizations are those that plan to be successful. Critical to this success is an effective approach to planning combined with a process for measuring performance results. This workshop facilitates linking the end-to-end planning process with emphasis on performance outcomes versus standard transactional analysis.

Program Agenda:

Define the strategic, end-to-end planning process and related terminology.
Review and develop organizational mission and vision statements.
Review and develop strategic goals as appropriate.
Review and develop operational strategies and objectives as appropriate to ensure coverage and alignment to mission, vision and strategic goals.
Discuss application of "performance outcomes management" and "performance outcomes measurement."
Clarify the purpose of performance outcomes measurement.
Expose misconceptions of performance outcomes measures—myth versus fact.
Understand why outcomes measurement is important—"the value proposition."
Recognize process is not a one-size-fits-all proposition—must be customized to the organization.
Understand characteristics of performance information—how it is used by the recipient.
Clarify information must be credible, reliable, valid, relevant and understandable.
Develop performance outcomes measurements for desired results.
Create actionable next steps with "ownership" as required.

Personal Planning

Where Are You Going—Creating Purpose in Your Life
If you have ever caught yourself wondering just where in the world you are going with your life, this workshop is for you. Often we let the external forces of life direct our wants, needs and behaviors. This workshop will provide you the opportunity and means by which to identify life goals and how to achieve them. Participants will:

Understand the evasiveness of planning and goal setting.
Discuss the importance of planning and goal setting.
Discuss types of plans.
Identify the sources of goals.
Discover how our wants and needs, personality and personal assessment create opportunities for goal setting.
Develop goals for personal and professional development.