Fast Strategy: Workshops that lead to action
Fast Strategy is a series of CEO workshops that generate immediate traction in three key areas: growing business value, developing leadership styles and optimising whole-of-firm management. Developed to minimize excessive over-think, their prime objective is to clarify issues quickly and prompt a fast management response that is aligned with strategic goals.
Each module can stand alone, either as a keynote address or a three-hour seminar. All three are backed by a range of freely available interactive downloads, audio lessons, videos and apps. Throughout, the emphasis is on generating simple actions that can be put into practice immediately.
FS1: Growing Business Value
Four yardsticks assess the value of any business activity. First are financials: cash flow, debt, margins, balance sheet. Second is sustainability. No one is going to pay up for a business that cannot be sustained. Third is market power. Value is leveraged by having competitive edge. Lastly, there’s the cyclical outlook. Are you, your product, your firm or your industry flavour of the month or not.
This workshop approaches value from the point of view of a buyer. Participants use an audit tool to rate themselves and their business. In examining results, the focus is on identifying tactics to counter poor performance in specific areas of value creation. Potential initiatives are narrowed down to those which can be easily executed and have the greatest impact. The takeaways are simple strategies to grow value.
FS2: Leadership 101
Designed to give a practical answer to the question “Do I have what it takes?” this module is not a session on leadership philosophy. It is an action-oriented workshop that distils key elements of highly effective management. To lead a small project or a large corporation you must: clearly understand priorities; build a quality network of trusted associates; be very clear about what you are good at and what you are not; put yourself second and your team first; and, finally, focus on actions that use those strengths to advance your people, your firm and yourself.
Using simple exercises, the session identifies strengths and capabilities in each area. Participants are shown how to identify real priorities. They develop a keen sense of their own strengths and how to apply them to team management. Drawing on real life examples from business, sport and family, the outcome is a clear roadmap to effective leadership.
FS3: Holistic Management
Six groups of stakeholders have an interest in the success of any enterprise: shareholders, managers, employees, suppliers, customers and the community. If properly aligned, they form an eco-system that is mutually reinforcing. Like spokes in a wheel, they need to be in balance. If one is weak, the wheel will wobble. You will have to pedal harder and you won’t go as fast.
Drawing on developments in environmental science and using a mix of matrix analysis and practical examples, this workshop cuts through management fads and jargon to quickly identify strategies to optimise the eco-system of any business.