The Strategy is not simple. To manage it, we need a simplifying model. What to include in such a model of our Strategy, and what to exclude from it? This LIVE, online course provides a practice-based answer to these questions.
Mihai Ionescu has worked for the past 15 years to connect the dots of Strategy's relevant concepts, theories, and best practices, putting together an integrative management blueprint that makes sense to real people in real organizations. Now, it's sharing time: The Explaining Strategy course!
This is not a motivational lecture. It is a course that provides a solid, practice-based, instrumental blueprint for managing the Strategy.
Strategy is inherently integrative. That is why this course provides a framework and toolset for managing the full Strategy cycle, from formulation to execution, and back, enabled by experimentation.
A course delivered LIVE, online, with two types of sessions: Course Sessions and Practice Sessions. 25% of the time in the former and 50% in the latter is reserved for Questions & Answers. Fully interactive.
One Courses session + one Practice session per week. Four weeks, with a Kick-off session before and a Wrap-up after. Three time-zone based cohorts, with the sessions scheduled at comfortable times for all participants.
The toolkits available in StrategyGlue or in the workspace enable our hands-on practice. Each of them allows the teams to decide on models' components. A team practice rehearsal for the real-life Strategy implementation.
A course tailored to anyone's pocket, wherever they live in the free world. The enrollment fee is calculated based on your country's GDP per capita, using World Bank's data and the Purchasing Power Parity index.
The Explaining Strategy course provides the participants with an online certification exam that validates their acquired knowledge and the understanding of the fundamental concepts of Strategy Management.
The previous course edition have provided very valuable calibration data, but also a good feedback from many of the 80+ professionals from five continents and 27 countries who have enrolled in the course.
"The Strategy program has been very rigorous with deep insight into the practice of Strategy.
Applying all the knowledge to a case study helped clarify this."
Khalid Noor, Consultant, Chief Finance Officer (Pakistan)
"The course was indeed exceptional and helped us, the trainees, to significantly
improve our Strategy knowledge and to get a very useful toolkit."
Dan Stamate, Freelance Business Consultant and Trainer (Romania)
"A special thanks for customizing for us and the patience for deep explaining!
In my opinion the most sophisticated concept I have seen. A lot of work has been done!"
Marc Woerner, Business Development and Key Account Manager (Germany)
"The Strategy Clockwork is a great process for a well-thought-out and in-depth strategy management process."
Andrew Constable, Principal Managing Partner (United Kingdom)
"Thanks for sharing with us your experience and knowledge. Excellent job!"
Paolo Matteini, Executive General Manager (Italy)
"Thanks a lot for your productive insights on strategy cycle. Great experience indeed. Your expertise makes this course very helpful. "
Sheraz Anwar, Group Strategic Excellence Manager (Saudi Arabia)
The course is based on a unique, integrative framework that links the main Strategy Formulation and Strategy Execution processes, enabled by Strategy Experimentation. A framework covering the full Strategy cycle. During this course we explore this cycle in detail and experiment as a team with its inter-linked concepts, theories, methodology stages, and toolsets.
In the Course Session we discuss the Strategy Experimentation stages (Product Experimentation, Choices Experimentation), and the first two Strategy Formulation stages: Trends & Signals Spyglass (Strategic Analysis and Scenario Planning), and the Choices Compass (selection of the Strategic Choices mix). The session also introduces the Penta Model, which is the reference cognitive model for Strategic Choices employed within the Choices Compass.
In the Practice Session, we decide within each cohort team on the Strategy model's components, by using the Design & Skunk Works Toolkits, the Zones-to-Win Toolkit, the Strategic Horizon Toolkit, the Scenario Planning Toolkit, and the Choices Selection & Mapping Toolkit.
In the Course Session we clarify the methodology for identifying the Activities & Capabilities required to support the Strategic Choices, and for determining the Strategic Gaps (Positioning & Coherence). We analyze the causality dependencies in closing the gaps and break them down on execution cycles. Finally, we validate the Feasibility of executing our Strategy and the viability of the resulting Business Model.
In the Practice Session, we decide within each cohort team on the Strategy model's components, by using the Choices to Activities Toolkit, the Activities to Capabilities Toolkit, the Strategic Gaps Toolkit, the Gaps Closing Planning Toolkit, and the Feasibility & Viability Validation toolkit.
In the Course Session we discuss the Strategic Planning methodology, developed from the Kaplan-Norton BSC framework, the Organizational Alignment and the Operational Integration processes. We also explore the Strategy Dialogue (open strategy) best practices and the Strategy Communication process.
In the Practice Session, we decide within each cohort team on the components of the Strategic Plan model for the Case Study, by using several toolkits available in the StrategyGlue platform, including the Strategic Gaps-to-Objectives Toolkit, the Strategy Map, Initiatives, and Scorecards Toolkits, the Organizational Alignment and Operational Integration Toolkits, and the Strategy Communication Toolkit.
In the Course Session we clarify the methodology for Strategic Initiative's Realization and the Progress Review best practices, resulting in Corrective Actions. We also clarify the role of the Hypotheses Register in adapting the Strategy model and the Strategic Plan model, exploring the Early Warning System and the Strategy Adaptation process.
In the Practice Session, we practice within each cohort team on the Strategic Plan execution's monitoring for the Case Study (simulation), employing several toolkits available in the StrategyGlue platform, including the Progress Review and Strategy Model Review Toolkits, the Early Warning System and the Invalid Hypotheses Root Cause Toolkit.
The course is Practice-Focused. There are four Practice Sessions that translate the Course Sessions content into step-by-step team decisions about Strategy's and Strategic Plan's components. The matrices included in the StrategyGlue practice software or in the equivalent workspace documents enable the course participants to make the necessary decisions for building these models, using a real, anonymized Case Study.
The course sessions are scheduled for three cohort teams, on the same days. Tuesdays for the Course Sessions and Thursdays for the Practice Sessions. For the latter, we use the purposely-designed StrategyGlue web application (based on the Strategy Clockwork framework), for building the cohort Case Study models.
Since the cohorts are time-zone-based, the two-hour sessions start at comfortable times for all participants. One cohort for Asia-Pacific (APAC), one for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and one for North America and Latin America (AMERICAS).
Between the sessions, the teams have chat channels available on the Disco learning platform that we use for this course, and on course Slack channels. Each cohort team also has available during the course a 24/7 vide-conferencing room on the Whereby video-conferencing platform.
This fee is applicable for individual enrollments. Starting from this course edition, we employ a consistent Fair Pricing Policy that is applicable for each country, based on GDP per capita (World Bank) and Purchasing Power Parity. Select your country to get the specific enrollment fee. The course is not available in certain restricted countries (Russia, Belarus, Iran, N.Korea, etc.).
Reference enrollment fee: 1,350 USD.
Your Fair Price enrollment fee: ... USD
Note: For interactivity reasons, the number of seats in each cohort is limited.
EARLY-BIRD & GROUPS
This fee is applicable for the enrollment before October 12, 2024 or of a group of 3 or more. The Early Bird and Groups discounts are not cumulative.
Your Early Bird enrollment fee: ... USD.
Your Group enrollment fee: ... USD per person.
Enroll in your region's cohort below (APAC, EMEA, or AMERICAS). You can also enroll in other cohorts, as long as there are still seats available there. Check first the sessions times, in the Schedule section above, to see if they suit your daily agenda.
Click your region's globe image below, then go through these steps:
1. Click the Register Now button
2. Acknowledge the terms & conditions (Disco.co)
3. Enter your name and e-mail address
4. Click the Start Application button
5. Answer the localization question (your country’s name)
6. Enter the discount code applicable (see Enrollment Fee) and the card details for pre-authorization.
The card will be charged only upon enrollment approval (usually, within the same day).
Click the globe image above to go to the registration and enrollment page for the Cohort A: Asia-Pacific.
Click the globe image above to go to the registration and enrollment page for the Cohort B: Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
Click the globe image above to go to the registration and enrollment page for the Cohort C: North America and Latin America.