In a webinar hosted by accountingcpd.net author, Lincoln Miles, he revealed that only 10% of employees understand their organisation's strategy. This included not only understanding what the strategy was but also how their role in the company connects with the strategy.
It is important that everyone in an organisation knows what the strategy is and understands what they can do in their role to help towards the company objectives. In his webinar, Lincoln laid out a structure for building the perfect strategy workshop. These workshops promote a better understanding of the organisation's strategy and encourage employees to work towards strategic goals. Here are some of Lincoln's tips.
Who should attend?
Usually strategy workshops are attended by managers. However, if only 10% of employees are aware of the organisation's strategy then it's important that absolutely everyone is invited to attend these workshops. If you want everyone to be contributing towards the strategy then everyone needs to be involved.
Build strategic knowledge
It can be easy to forget that as accountants we already have a wealth of strategic knowledge and a good understanding of strategic theory. However, plenty of staff members won't have that. A part of this workshop should be building knowledge for those who don't have a strategic focus. Work on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, gap analysis and making strategic choices and decisions. Develop co-workers into strategic thinkers.
Make the strategy relevant
It's all well and good if your organisation's strategy is to raise market share by 7%. But to really implement this everyone needs to leave the workshop being able to answer the question, "How does my job relate to the strategy?" To be engaged with the strategy, employees need to know what they have to do Monday to Friday to make sure that market share for the company as a whole grows. Encourage staff to take high level strategy and translate it to their own role in the organisation.
Personal action plan
It's great when you're able to run an effective workshop that gets everyone involved. However, the key is to keep colleagues engaged once they’ve walked out of the workshop. A great way to do this is by getting employees to each create a personal action plan. This exercise will not only reinforce their understanding of the strategy but will also encourage them to think about what they can do on a daily basis to make sure they're actively contributing to the strategy. These action plans can be regularly checked to make sure that everyone in the organisation is staying on track.
There you have it. The four things you need to include in any strategy workshop.
If you're an ACCA member, you can get access to the full webinar for free here which has more information on managing people and driving performance.
Who should attend?
Usually strategy workshops are attended by managers. However, if only 10% of employees are aware of the organisation's strategy then it's important that absolutely everyone is invited to attend these workshops. If you want everyone to be contributing towards the strategy then everyone needs to be involved.
Build strategic knowledge
It can be easy to forget that as accountants we already have a wealth of strategic knowledge and a good understanding of strategic theory. However, plenty of staff members won't have that. A part of this workshop should be building knowledge for those who don't have a strategic focus. Work on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, gap analysis and making strategic choices and decisions. Develop co-workers into strategic thinkers.
Make the strategy relevant
It's all well and good if your organisation's strategy is to raise market share by 7%. But to really implement this everyone needs to leave the workshop being able to answer the question, "How does my job relate to the strategy?" To be engaged with the strategy, employees need to know what they have to do Monday to Friday to make sure that market share for the company as a whole grows. Encourage staff to take high level strategy and translate it to their own role in the organisation.
Personal action plan
It's great when you're able to run an effective workshop that gets everyone involved. However, the key is to keep colleagues engaged once they’ve walked out of the workshop. A great way to do this is by getting employees to each create a personal action plan. This exercise will not only reinforce their understanding of the strategy but will also encourage them to think about what they can do on a daily basis to make sure they're actively contributing to the strategy. These action plans can be regularly checked to make sure that everyone in the organisation is staying on track.
There you have it. The four things you need to include in any strategy workshop.
If you're an ACCA member, you can get access to the full webinar for free here which has more information on managing people and driving performance.
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