Applying Strategic Thinking to Operational Management

Introduction

• Strategy: everyone’s concern
• Identifying the strategic challenges facing operational managers
• What strategy means to operational managers

2. Defining Strategic Thinking

    a. The key aspects of strategic thinking

• Distinguishing between strategic thinking and strategic planning
• Identifying the impact of strategy on operational activity
• Aligning the organization’s vision with reality
• Creating sustainable competitive advantage

    b.  Creating value for stakeholders

• Recognizing the importance of stakeholders in the strategy process
• Satisfying the needs of the stakeholders

     c. Applying strategic-thinking tools

• Positioning yourself within the four cycles of operational effectiveness
• Decoding your environment with PESTLE
• Analyzing the organizational ecosystem with Porter’s Five Forces

3. Leveraging Operational Strengths

    a. Evaluating operational capabilities

• Differentiating between organizational and operational competencies
• Taking inventory of the key strengths within your operation
• Rating competencies against strategic goals

        b. Maximizing your unique operational strengths to deliver stakeholder value

• Optimizing internal processes
• Shaping opportunities by scanning the external environment

4. Executing Strategy at the Operational Level

    a. Getting real about the vision

• Qualifying the gaps between operational and organizational vision
• Establishing the foundation for realizing goals

    b. Bridging the strategic gap

• Questioning assumptions to uncover new solutions and drive new discoveries
• Managing operational strategic assets
• Rigorous planning through scenario assessment
• Quantifying the impact of proposed solutions

5. Creating an Innovative Culture

     a. Employing an innovation framework

• The importance of innovation in strategic thinking
• Promoting nonlinear thinking
• Generating solutions through value engineering
• Optimizing solutions by challenging the status quo

      b. Adapting your culture to satisfy strategic demands

• Meeting the five preconditions for an innovative culture
• Facilitating team innovation

      c. Innovating to create competitive success

• Qualifying innovation traits
• Benchmarking objectives against actual performance

      d. Quantifying the financial metrics

• Verifying decisions through financial analysis
• Incorporating a stakeholder perspective

6. Planning for Operational Change

     a. Weaving change into the fabric of the culture

• Being proactive in a reactive environment
• Implementing operational change through people, processes and culture
• Motivating the team to adopt the change

     b. Constructing a change process

• Configuring your resources to encompass change
• Measuring results through balanced scorecards
• Reviewing and communicating progress

7. Securing Stakeholder Commitment and Resources

     a. Communicating for buy-in

• Applying influencing techniques to overcome resistance
• Negotiating for resources using win-win approaches

     b, Maximizing your impact

• Presenting your intentions to key decision makers
• Earning support with entrepreneurial techniques
• Articulating an elevator pitch that secures commitment