Advanced Strategic Management

Today’s successful senior manager is expected to create, manage and implement strategy effectively and efficiently to achieve an organisation’s vision. Our ILM-accredited Advanced Strategic Management training course utilises the know-how of Board Level, Departmental and Senior Managers to build on their experience and develop their talents and skills to achieve this objective. The detailed two week schedule includes strategic planning and its tools, implementing a strategy, budgeting and costing, developing effective systems and processes, managing people, managing change and managing risk. The wide-range of teaching styles of this dynamic, interactive training, uses up-to-date approaches, methods and techniques. This ensures the delegates learn in a way which is adapted to individual learning styles and requirements. Delegates work on and develop their personal learning outcomes throughout the training and understand how to apply practical lessons they have learned, as soon as they return to their organisations.

• Chief Executive Officers
• Directors
• Company Secretaries
• Presidential advisors
• Ministerial advisers
• Board Advisers
• Chief Financial Officers
• Board Members
• Heads of Department
• Directors of Human Resources
• Directors of Business Development
• Strategic Advisors
• Senior Managers
• Project Directors

• To create strategies which will enable an organisation to achieve its vision, goals and objectives
• To develop supporting systems and structures to underpin and ensure the success of all strategies
• To have relevant measures of progress to enable action to be taken to overcome any challenges to the implementation of the strategies
• To know how to generate commitment from all stakeholders to increase strength of support for the successful implementation of the strategic plan
• To identify and use the key approaches and methods of communication to ensure transparency and openness
• To appreciate how important leadership is in the management and implementation of strategies and incorporate this knowledge in future strategic planning
• To anticipate and evaluate likely and unlikely risks and incorporate this analysis into strategic management, while enabling a quick and flexible response to internal and external changes
• To identify those factors which contribute to the failure of the majority of all strategies and prevent or overcome those
• To revise, refresh and develop those key strategic management skills which enable strategic plans to be implemented effectively

Formulating Strategy to Achieve Vision

1. Agree vision, mission, culture and values of organisation
2. Analyse where organisation is now
3. Decide where the organisation wants to be, and by when
4. Selecting best strategic options to get there
5. Structures, Processes and Procedures

Budget creation, monitoring and control

1. Costing techniques and margin management
2. Resource allocation and balancing priorities
3. Creating systems to monitor effectiveness of implementation
4. Measurement and Reporting

Setting long-term goals and manageable short-term targets

1. Building contingencies into the strategy
2. Measuring at clearly-defined milestones
3. Reporting and incorporating feed-back
4. Stakeholder Identification

Identify who affects or is affected by proposed strategy (stakeholders)

1. Encourage stakeholder ownership through involvement in strategy creation
2. Clarify benefits and implications for each group of stakeholders
3. Turn resistance into support

Systematic Strategic Communication

1. Two-way communication for stakeholders to inform and be informed
2. Clear, concise and relevant messages from the best messenger
3. Identify and use a variety of methods and channels
4. Gain commitment through frequency of communication

Leadership and Strategic Decision-Making

1. mportance of leadership in implementing successful strategies
2. High-profile leadership which inspires and motivates
3. Decisive, speedy and consistent decision-making
4. Persistent follow-through on all decisions to produce results Risk and Crisis Management
5. Identify all risks, evaluate potential impact and mitigate accordingly
6. Incorporate strategic flexibility to respond to internal and external changes and pressures
7. Prevent issues becoming risks then turning into crises
8. Create, practise and be prepared to implement crisis plans

Prevent Failure of Strategies

1. Recruit and retain people with appropriate skills, experience and track record
2. Clarify and communicate roles and responsibilities
3. Encourage creative problem-solving and constructive conflict resolution
4. Promote unity within teams and harmony between teams

Skills for Success

1. Communication, including: presentations, meetings, oral, listening, body language and written
2. Delegation to increase productivity
3. Negotiation and influencing skills for a win-win for all
4. Time management for minimum effort to produce maximum results