The Lake Group
Neville Lake: Strategic Consultant & International Author
Most of the time we are not strategists. Most of the time we are trying to get through the week/month/quarter/next review point. So, we are good at viewing our organisations with a short term focus. We see problems more clearly than possibilities, we start to mix up low priority activities with those that are more important, we end up making decisions that are expedient today, at the cost of future benefits. It is only natural. In order to get the most out of a strategic process, we need to think like a strategist, and this chapter helps you to deliberately raise your gaze to take in the bigger picture.
This chapter covers:
This chapter shows you where to find the data you need, and provides you with templates so that you can present this information in way that makes it meaningful and easy to interpret. It is written assuming that you cannot give up your job and employ an army of researchers to help you, but rather use the kinds of data that are probably accessible right now or can be gathered reasonably easily.
The analyses covered are:
When you walk into a room that is untidy for the first time you really notice how much stuff is out of place. If you go into that room every day for a year you get so used to it, that it doesn’t really seem messy at all. The same happens inside your business. You get so used to how it functions, that it is extremely difficult to get a detached view of where the gaps really exist, and what is causing them. This chapter provides you with processes to follow and templates to use that lay bare your business in a way that enables you to connect it with your best possible future and push performance to a higher level.
The analyses described are:
This chapter describes the eight key decision making tools as they can be used in a strategic retreat. You learn what the tools do, how to use them with a group, and how to record the information so that it leads to insights. You also learn how to make weighty strategic decisions by using techniques that allow the right answers to ‘drop out of the bottom’ of a number of straightforward steps.
The CD-ROM in the back of the book is a 40 minute video of Neville using these techniques with a group. Reading the chapter and watching the video will put you in a position to run a successful event and make the right decisions.
The chapter - and CD-ROM - cover:
A well crafted mission, vision, and set of values should answer the questions “Why are we here?”, “Where are we going?” and “How do we go about doing our work?”. A comprehensive set of measures then confirms that those three questions have been properly answered.
This chapter provides practical definition and examples of three statements, and shows how each contributes to success. It also provides a framework for designing an integrated set of measures. Furthermore, this chapter provides a process for developing these statements with a group of managers, and developing/confirming a measurement framework in record time.
The chapter covers:
This chapter is about translating ideas into actions. The two areas covered in this chapter are ‘uniting themes’ and ‘the action workshop’. Unifying themes shows you how to convert a lot of complex decisions made by a few people into a message that can be understood by all. This chapter tells you how you can find these unifying themes and how to choose the right one.
The chapter covers four key generic strategies:
The action workshop takes place once the decisions are made and draws together all the information that has been discussed in the previous chapters.
The three areas covered in the workshop are:
This chapter consolidates a lot of the information discussed in the other chapters and has lots of practical examples to help you.
You want your strategic plan to be read and understood by everyone in the organisation. You can not bore everyone into being enthusiastic, and you should not share the amount and types of information with each audience. There is a way to get a message across and this chapter provides information and examples of the different documents you need to write for different audiences.
These audiences are:
This chapter shows you how to get your message across not only in writing but also talking it through, face to face. It gives detailed descriptions of presentations that use a mixture of facts, stories and humour to show how enthusiasm can be generated throughout your organisation.
This chapter describes in more detail the eight key ingredients that are needed to support change and deliver your strategic plan.
These are:
This chapter helps you to stay on track during the strategic planning process. It describes some of the tricks you can use and the traps that you can avoid.
These are:
The appendices summarise the key tools that have been described in the earlier chapters of the book and they have been presented as fifteen worksheets.
These are: