Strategy Maps and Execution Training Course

Participants can frame the strategic context, planning horizon and decision boundaries for a strategy map.

• Planning horizons matched to market cycles, funding periods and investment lead times
• PESTLE analysis identifies external forces affecting strategic assumptions and choices
• Porter's Five Forces tests industry economics, competitive pressure and profit pools
• Define decision rights, geographic scope, customer segments and organisational boundaries
• Material assumptions documented with evidence sources, confidence levels and review dates
• Scenario narratives test strategy resilience under alternative external conditions

Participants can identify priority stakeholders and define value propositions that guide strategic objectives.

• Stakeholder mapping distinguishes customers, regulators, funders, partners and communities
• Voice-of-customer evidence identifies priority needs, pain points and service expectations
• Segment customers by needs, value, risk, behaviour and service requirements
• Value proposition choices: product leadership, customer intimacy and operational excellence
• Public-value propositions connect policy outcomes, service quality and public trust
• Translate stakeholder needs into observable outcomes and strategic objective candidates

Participants can assess organisational capabilities and select the strategic choices requiring execution focus.

• Resource-based analysis identifies distinctive assets, capabilities and capability gaps
• SWOT findings converted into strategic implications rather than unprioritised lists
• Core process assessment locates bottlenecks, failure demand and cost drivers
• Capability maturity scales assess process, technology, talent and governance readiness
• Choose strategic themes that concentrate leadership attention and investment
• Document trade-offs between growth, service, resilience, cost and risk

Participants can formulate strategic themes and concise objective statements for a chosen strategy.

• Strategic themes group related objectives around a critical value-creation agenda
• Objective statements use action, outcome, beneficiary and strategic intent
• Differentiate strategic objectives from projects, departmental tasks and performance indicators
• Write outcome-focused objectives without embedding measures or predetermined solutions
• Test objectives against strategic choices, stakeholder needs and resource constraints
• Prioritise objectives using impact, urgency, dependency and implementation feasibility

Participants can create a four-perspective architecture suited to their organisation's strategy and mandate.

• Four-perspective sequence links capability, processes, stakeholders and financial outcomes
• Adapt perspective labels for public agencies, NGOs and regulated enterprises
• Place strategic themes across perspectives without duplicating operational work
• Limit map content to the objectives required for strategic focus
• Use map layout, wording and hierarchy to support executive communication
• Draft a first strategy-map structure for a live organisational priority

Participants can build and test causal links between strategic objectives using explicit strategic hypotheses.

• Cause-and-effect chains specify how capabilities produce stakeholder and financial results
• Arrow tests distinguish plausible influence from assumed correlation or coincidence
• Strategic hypotheses state conditions, mechanisms, expected effects and timeframes
• Leading indicators provide early evidence that strategic mechanisms are working
• Lagging indicators confirm realised outcomes after customer, financial or mission effects
• Identify missing links, circular logic and unsupported assumptions within draft maps

Participants can define financial or stewardship objectives appropriate to their operating model.

• Financial objectives address growth, margin, productivity, capital efficiency and cash
• Public and NGO stewardship objectives address funding, value, compliance and sustainability
• Driver trees connect revenue, cost, volume, price and productivity assumptions
• Economic value added distinguishes value creation from accounting profit growth
• Budget assumptions tested against strategic priorities, capacity and investment timing
• Select financial outcomes that reflect the organisation's strategic position

Participants can define stakeholder objectives that express intended value and relationship outcomes.

• Customer objectives address acquisition, retention, trust, share and lifetime value
• Citizen objectives connect access, equity, experience, confidence and policy outcomes
• Partner objectives define collaboration quality, shared outcomes and reciprocal commitments
• Journey mapping identifies moments that shape stakeholder experience and loyalty
• Service-level objectives distinguish speed, reliability, accessibility and resolution quality
• Convert value propositions into measurable stakeholder outcome statements

Participants can identify the internal processes that must improve to deliver strategic value propositions.

• Value-chain analysis distinguishes innovation, operations, service and relationship processes
• SIPOC diagrams define suppliers, inputs, processes, outputs and customers
• Process objectives target cycle time, quality, control, cost and capacity
• Lean waste categories reveal non-value-adding work and avoidable delays
• Risk and control objectives protect service continuity, compliance and reputation
• Link process improvements directly to stakeholder and financial objectives

Participants can specify the people, information, culture and governance capabilities required for execution.

• Capability objectives address skills, leadership, data, technology and organisational culture
• Workforce planning links critical roles, capacity requirements and capability development
• Data governance defines ownership, quality standards, access and stewardship responsibilities
• Digital capability objectives distinguish automation, insight, integration and user adoption
• Culture objectives specify behaviours required for strategic choices and execution discipline
• Connect enabling capabilities to the process improvements they make possible

Participants can design a balanced set of measurable indicators for strategic objectives.

• Measure dictionaries define purpose, formula, unit, frequency, owner and source
• SMART criteria test whether indicators are specific, measurable and decision-relevant
• Leading and lagging measures paired for each critical strategic objective
• Operational definitions prevent inconsistent counting, interpretation and performance reporting
• Disaggregate measures by segment, location, channel, demographic or business unit
• Data-quality checks address completeness, timeliness, accuracy and auditability

Participants can set performance targets and thresholds that support credible management action.

• Baseline analysis establishes current performance, variation, trends and seasonality
• Benchmarking compares performance against peers, standards, historical results and aspirations
• Target trajectories reflect improvement rates, investment timing and operational constraints
• RAG thresholds define normal variation, early warning and escalation conditions
• Stretch targets distinguish strategic ambition from unsupported numerical aspiration
• Document target assumptions, owners, review dates and approval authorities

Participants can convert strategic gaps into a prioritised portfolio of initiatives and business cases.

• Initiatives close performance gaps that routine operations cannot resolve
• Benefits maps connect initiative outputs, capability changes and strategic outcomes
• Prioritisation matrices compare strategic contribution, cost, risk, urgency and dependency
• Business cases define scope, benefits, milestones, resources and accountable sponsors
• Portfolio roadmaps sequence initiatives around dependencies, capacity and funding constraints
• Stop, defer or redesign initiatives with weak strategic contribution

Participants can align resources, budgets and operating plans with strategy-map priorities.

• Strategy-based budgeting allocates resources against objectives, initiatives and expected outcomes
• Capacity analysis tests staffing, funding, technology and leadership attention constraints
• Zero-based review challenges inherited spending against current strategic priorities
• Investment appraisal compares costs, benefits, risks, timing and strategic fit
• Operating plans translate strategic initiatives into quarterly deliverables and milestones
• Reconcile budget cycles with longer-term strategic outcomes and capital commitments

Participants can cascade enterprise strategy into aligned business-unit, function and team commitments.

• Cascade rules distinguish enterprise objectives from local contribution objectives
• Business-unit maps show differentiated choices while preserving enterprise strategic logic
• Functional scorecards identify contributions from finance, technology, HR and operations
• Team objectives connect role-level commitments to measurable strategic outcomes
• Alignment matrices expose duplicate work, conflicting measures and ownership gaps
• Personal objectives link individual accountabilities to team and functional scorecards

Participants can design review routines that turn performance evidence into timely strategic decisions.

• Strategy reviews separate strategic learning from routine operational performance meetings
• Meeting charters define purpose, participants, evidence, decisions and escalation routes
• Exception reporting focuses discussion on material variance, causes and corrective action
• Root-cause analysis uses five whys, fishbone diagrams and process evidence
• Decision logs record commitments, owners, deadlines, assumptions and follow-up evidence
• Quarterly strategy reviews reassess hypotheses, targets, initiatives and resource allocation

Participants can integrate strategic risk, assurance evidence and adaptation triggers into execution management.

• Risk registers connect strategic objectives with threats, controls and accountable owners
• Risk appetite statements define acceptable exposure, limits and escalation thresholds
• Key risk indicators provide early warnings of strategic delivery threats
• Assurance mapping identifies first-line, second-line and independent assurance coverage
• Trigger points specify when leaders revisit assumptions, targets or initiative portfolios
• Lessons learned convert execution evidence into revised strategic hypotheses

Participants can communicate a strategy map clearly to leaders, managers and delivery teams.

• Strategy narratives explain choices, objectives, causal links and expected stakeholder value
• Executive briefings focus on strategic choices, evidence gaps and required decisions
• Audience analysis adapts messages for boards, managers, teams and external partners
• Visual management uses scorecards, dashboards and milestone views without data overload
• Change-impact assessments identify affected roles, behaviours, processes and systems
• Communication plans sequence messages, channels, feedback loops and sponsor actions

Participants can build, review and present a complete strategy map, scorecard and execution plan for a defined strategic priority.

• Consolidate strategic context, stakeholder needs, choices and material planning assumptions
• Complete four-perspective map with objectives, themes and tested causal relationships
• Finalise scorecard measures, baselines, targets, thresholds and accountable owners
• Prioritise initiatives, dependencies, milestones, benefits and required resource commitments
• Design review governance, risk triggers, escalation routes and adaptation routines
• Present execution plan to a simulated executive review panel