Half-day 1: general framework of strategic thinking
What is strategy, overview, insight and outlook, the VUCA world, the Cynefin model, quality of perception, the ladder of inference and recognising thinking errors.
This page was translated from Dutch with AI.
Strategic thinking
Your world changes fast and a strategy that makes sense on paper does not hold up in practice. In this in-company training you learn to develop strategies that respond to changing circumstances and that everyone understands and supports. The training consists of 8 half-days, making 4 full days together, and is for 6 to 12 participants, in Dutch or English.
Do you recognise this?
You lead a strategy session with your team. The flipcharts are full, everyone nods, and three weeks later something completely different happens in daily practice. An urgent problem pushes the plan aside again.
You notice that you react more than you steer. That feels like standing still, while you actually want to look ahead and give your people a direction.
When you are working on strategy:
- you keep putting out fires instead of looking ahead;
- goals get sidetracked along the way or cause side effects;
- a group falls into groupthink and other thinking errors;
- you cannot translate a strategy to a tactical and operational level.
A good strategy anticipates changing circumstances and includes multiple scenarios. You develop them together with others and test them for feasibility and resilience.
Why does strategy remain stuck on paper?
A strategy rarely emerges in a quiet moment. It clashes with a changing world, with daily fires and with shared thinking errors that nobody notices. Without a shared picture, everyone pulls in a different direction.
This way you keep reacting to what presents itself. That costs direction and energy, for you and for your team, and goals get sidetracked along the way. It also gives a heavy feeling: you work hard, but it does not contribute to the bigger picture.
It does not have to stay this way. Strategic thinking is a skill you can learn.
How do you develop a strategy that everyone supports?
A strategy that holds up is a strategy that emerges together, with attention to the system in which you work. Then you see patterns, predict side effects and speak a language that everyone understands.
Our coaches know the frustration of a good plan that does not land. We work with the Strategic Dialogue, based on neurocognitive sciences, systems sciences and strategy development.
In four days you practise analysing, scenario thinking and facilitating conversations, and then you work on a strategy for your own case.
What you can do after the training
After the training you can:
- acknowledge the challenges of a VUCA world;
- recognise typical pitfalls, such as putting out fires, sliding goals and side effects;
- recognise and intercept common thinking errors;
- use systems thinking as a strategic tool;
- develop strategic scenarios;
- facilitate the strategic dialogue;
- translate a strategy to tactical and operational levels;
- use storytelling as a strategic tool.
This is how we approach it
We develop a strategy via the Strategic Dialogue. This exercise is based on insights from neurocognitive sciences, systems sciences and strategy development. The programme consists of 8 half-days.
Half-day 2: analytical thinking
Strategic drivers, SWOT analysis with confrontation matrix and strategic choices, Root Cause Analysis and Ishikawa, systems thinking versus reductive thinking and a systemic view via the iceberg model.
Half-day 3: Causal Loop Diagram
Causality, relationships, feedback loops and delays. You work with techniques and tools for CLD mapping, limits and levers and balancing and reinforcing loops.
Half-days 4 and 5: systemic archetypes
You recognise, intercept and prevent limiting patterns and look at the mindset behind them. Part 1: Limits to growth, Shifting the burden, Eroding goals and Escalation. Part 2: Success to the successful, Tragedy of the commons, Fixes that fail, Growth and underinvestment and The law of requisite variety.
Half-day 6: strategic dialogue
Your role as a facilitator, conversational space, dealing with resistance, gaming and storytelling.
Half-day 7: strategy development
Creating levers, collaborating strategically, tactically and operationally, simulations and scenario planning, with applications.
Half-day 8: case studies
You play out strategic cases: a merger or acquisition, a change, a disruption and the launch of a product or service. Afterwards you receive feedback on the cases.
Aftercare and Leerruimte
Subsequently you develop a strategy for your own case. You report back on this online to the other participants and your coach.
Every training is extended in the THOC Leerruimte. Your material remains available and you get an AI Coach who knows the lesson.
We work in an experience-oriented way: you immediately get to work with the material in exercises that resemble real situations.
Who gives this training
Our coaches can give this training. Tell us which strategic question occupies you, and we will tailor the cases to it.
Frequently asked questions
- 8 half-days, making 4 full days together. Afterwards you develop a strategy for your own case and report back on this online to the other participants and your coach.
Practical
- Formula: In-company training
- Languages: English, Dutch
- Half-days: 8
- Participants: 6 to 12