The difference between successful organizations and the rest is their ability to build strategic leadership capacity from within. In today’s world, one of the main objectives of the leader is to balance the dynamic day-to-day issues with tomorrow’s opportunities. Developing the capability of the organization, to navigate through the unmeasured and uncertain variables, is critical to the success of any organization, be it public or private. In an increasingly complicated world, leaders are often called upon to create an environment where strategic thinking is a priority. However, not many teams are able to think strategically and produce the types of demanding results that are called for when they are challenged. Can you and your team pass the test? Successful leaders realize that you have to build a strategic culture throughout your organization; one that welcomes change while fostering insight and innovation to ensure that today’s changes are right for tomorrow’s challenges. Every senior manager needs to be able to lead his or her organization in times of continual change and uncertainty. This program provides a unique developmental opportunity for those who want to improve their strategic leadership abilities in order to address the real issues that they face. In addition, you will gain practical strategic leadership insights and you will be provided with hands-on experience that you can use immediately to affect change within your organization. Learn to develop a better understanding about your leadership style and learn to explore the organizational learning processes that are inherent in strategy development and implementation. Through the hands-on case studies, you will experience the challenges of strategic leadership that demands the balance of complex, long-term and visionary aspects of leadership while managing day-to-day organizational issues. Can you really afford not to attend?

Why Attend?

Ever wonder why organizations fail to meet their objectives given all of their intellectual and resource capacities? Why is it that we engage people in strategic planning when they can not think strategically?! And we ask them to lead even though they might not have any leadership abilities. Why do we keep setting up our leaders to fail? Can these things be learned or must we always find new leaders?

The difference between successful organizations and the rest is their ability to build strategic leadership capacity from within. In today's world, one of the main objectives of the leader is to balance the dynamic day-to-day issues with tomorrow's opportunities. Developing the capability of the organization to navigate through the unmeasured and uncertain variables is critical to the success of any organization, be it public or private. Successful organizations invest in their leadership. Can you really afford not to attend?

Program Content

Leadership & Strategic Thinking

• Learning the 10 components of strategic thinking
• Defining corporate obstacles to strategic thinking
• What are the mega, macro and micro strategic priorities
• Using a process of ‘environmental scanning’ to gain competitive knowledge
• Creating the new paradigm
• Ensuring organizational sustainability through succession planning
• Utilizing questions to transform possibility into action

Strategic Thinking: The Road Map to Success

• Including strategic thinking as a Pillar of Leadership
• Learning about the new Strategic Thinking Methodology
• Understanding the value of strategic communications
• Enhancing your strategic decision making skills
• Building a matrix of variables
• Understanding how mental models shape thinking
• Using divergent and convergent thinking
• Overcoming critical thinking barriers

Systems Thinking

• Understanding the impact of a single decision
• Considering the organization as part of a system
• Accepting the fluidity of outcomes
• Understanding the ripple effect
• Using systems thinking as a risk management strategy

Leadership & Organizational Culture

• What is organizational culture
• Understanding how organizational culture develops
• Learning the strategies that leaders use to change culture
• How leaders unknowingly contribute to a negative environment
• Understanding how poor change initiatives can lead to ‘never adopters’
• Why reinforcement is critical for sustained change
• Building a culture of accountability
• Employing change management models that work
• Spotting strategic trends in a fluid environment

Creating Strategy & Positioning Your Organization

• Relying on customer feedback to help position your organization
• Building relationships and networks with key stakeholders in your community and abroad
• Learning when to attack, consolidate or defend your position
• Deciphering events, and trends that have a real impact
• Defining the internal and external forces
• Environmental scanning – how effective is it and when should you use it
• Developing your organizational vision

Creating Organizational Readiness

• Identifying tactical versus technical strategies
• Fostering employee engagement as a strategic advantage
• Sharpening your competitive edge
• Developing your internal coherence
• Understanding the commitment to change
• Assessing your organizational capacity
• Identifying your internal opportunities

Developing Strategic Teams

• Raising strategic awareness in your management team
• Utilizing strategic team problem-solving processes
• Identifying strategic thinkers within your team
• Why ‘adopters’ can be successful strategic thinkers
• Understanding the change process
• Building consensus and commitment
• Developing team strategic capacity

Assessing& Developing Organizational Strategic Capacity

• Increasing your organization’s tolerance to uncertainty
• Raising strategic awareness in your management team
• Building cognitive strength in times of ambiguity
• Developing mental rehearsals
• Identifying critical components of team selection
• Finding cognitive strengths in opposing views
• Fostering team synergy and strategic thought

Ensuring Strategic Alignment

• Developing alignment with strategic partners
• Dealing with parallel partner concerns
• Finding unusual planning features
• Strategic alignment and organizational capacity
• Identifying mutual threats
• Developing alignment with your supplier and service providers
• Understanding saturation points and their impact
• Managing alignment expectations and communication

Constructing Multiple Futures

• Creating multiple futures and multiple paths
• Conceptualizing ‘what if’ scenarios
• Positioning your organization in changing times
• Anticipating future demographics
• Utilizing customer alliances
• Holding multiple futures simultaneously
• Developing coherent stories of the future
• Creating a value-proposition for your organization

Predicting & Recognizing Turning Points

• Writing coherent stories
• Understanding predetermined elements
• Recognizing the power of patterns of perception
• Understanding the fluid environment
• Moving at the speed of opportunity
• Utilizing turning points to foster organizational urgency
• Creating organizational turning points as a risk management strategy
• Creating a value-proposition for your organization
• Identifying current trends and weak signals

Coping with Contingencies

• Increasing the tolerance for uncertainty
• Developing strategic robustness
• Flirting with disaster during times of success
• Enhancing intellectual capacity and strategic dimensions
• Accepting that the reality is that things will go wrong
• Succeeding in a fluid environment
• Seizing victory from defeat

Creating & Implementing a Strategic Planning Process

• Knowing who to involve and why
• Asking the fundamental questions
• Harnessing strategic thought to create a dynamic plan
• Using strategic planning frameworks
• Ensuring tactical and operational alignment
• Developing your ‘storyboard’
• Building the strategic path
• Identifying the 5 steps to an effective strategic plan
• Team discipline: committing to the strategic direction

Assessing the Strategy

• Understanding the need for assessable strategies
• Creating critical metrics and milestones
• Validating realities
• Using systems thinking measures
• Developing contingencies to adapt to change

Process Validation

• Ensuring that the critical steps are adhered to
• Achieving the milestones
• Ensuring internal consistency
• Ensuring the feasibility of outcomes
• Creating a ‘picture’ of progress through ‘balanced scorecard’

Travel and Accommodations

For travel information, please contact:

• Flight Centre: Ms. Niki Keeling
  E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  Tel: 604-717-1026
  Toll Free: 1-877-717-1026

Several accommodation options include:

• Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort & Spa
  Website: www.waikiki.hyatt.com
  Tel: 808-923-1234
  Rates starting at $219 USD + tax per night
• Aqua Waikiki Wave
  Website: www.aquaresorts.com
  Tel: 808-922-1262
  Rates starting at $172 USD + tax per night
• Ohana Waikiki East
  Website: www.ohanahotels.com
  Tel: 808-922-5353
  Rates starting at $109 USD + tax per night

**Please contact the hotel for current accommodation information