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SMART STATE™ - Since we are quickly coming up on Strategic Planning, Budgeting and Annual Retreat Season, I thought now would be a good time to share with you a strategic thinking and tactical execution framework my clients and I have been refining over the years that provides context, orientation and focus to each retreat.

The ultimate goal of a “Strategic Planning Retreat” is to go into the future as a team and then map a path back to the present. The finished products are SMART clear priorities and action items that are agreed and committed to that can be executed by your healthy team; I know, a mouth full.

During a retreat, we spend time imagining the future together, we spend time understanding how we are going to discover this future and we spend time talking about tactical execution so we can be sure we have enough fuel in the tank (Cash, Profit) to get us to this future.

Why this model is important. The fact is, everyone around the Sr. Leadership Team table is bringing a different perspective, a bias, I call these “Perspective Traps”, traps that leaders get snared in, a form of being myopic.

Let me explain: In the room we might have Visionaries, CEOs, Integrators, Presidents, Directors, COOs, CFOs, and Line Managers. Visionaries and CEOs are naturally drawn to the left of the model.  Integrators, Presidents, and Directors live mostly in the middle, and COOs, CFO’s and Line Managers are typically interested in the right hand side of the model.

How we use the model. This model helps us orient where we are in the discussion.  We point to the model and ask: “Hey guys, are we talking about an imagined future or are we in discovery and proof mode, or are we in drive for the cash mode?”  The team will throw out their perspective, we knock that around and then settle on where we are in the model, this helps teams focus. “Hey, did we just go back to the future? Did we finalize this tactical side?”

Nerd Talk: [Most people get it from the drawing, but, for the high Fact Finder.]

The SMART STATE™ framework is anchored in the Critical Success Factor method of strategic thinking on the left, OKRs snd Org Structure on the Right and Steven Covey’ Rocks and normal planning nomenclature in the center.

The Critical Success Factor method of strategic thinking comes out of Harvard and McKinsey from back in the late 60s, early 70s. [just search for the term.]

The CSF Method starts with a Vision Statement, a statement around an imagined future, once the Vision statement is clear we work to understand what are the critical things that must happen, that must be in place in order for our Vision to manifest, we call these Critical Success Factors and we capture them in Statements. Once our CSFs are determined, we break them down into measurable SMART Goals. To achieve the goals we form Strategies that are typically captured in a statement and then we list the Tactics, the actual things we will do to execute the Strategy.

The center of the model looks familiar to most. We break our Vision down into a 10 Year Big Hairy Audacious Goal and a 3 Year Picture. Our 1 year goals are the CSFs we need to have in place by the end of the year to move toward our BHAG and 3 Yr Picture.  We use 90 Day Rocks, these are priorities and mini plans that we accomplish using Strategies and Tactics to work our way through the 1 year CSF goals.

The center is where we do discovery and proof. Often the Rocks are phased and may include language that includes the words “Discover, Prove, Investigate…”

Once we figure “it” out, once we have discovered and proven the Strategies and Tactics, this Strategy moves to the right as Job/Seat Descriptions or Role/Position Purpose Statements. We execute the Strategies captured in the description and purpose statements by following our proven Core Processes, Procedures, Work Instructions etc that are the Tactics we use to execute the Job/Role Strategy.  We monitor the success of these strategies going up the the stack tying them to controllable Key Results (often captured in weekly Scorecards) these Key Results support the measurable Objectives and KPIs, and when this all lines up we enjoy Profit, Cash, EBITDA.

Hope this helps. Feel free to reach out with questions. 

Walt

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