---------
Our training clients include:
Delving More Deeply
Into Your Audience's
Strategic Position
by
Gary Gagliardi
It takes
time to provide an in-depth analysis of an organization's strategic position.
It takes even more time to explain Sun Tzu's key steps for advancing a strategic
position over time.
The fun of these longer sessions is that they provide more time for getting the audience involved. These training sessions run from 2 to 3 hours and they usually have two or more breaks. They are designed for medium-sized (50-100 people) to large (100 plus) audiences.
In these sessions, I want to give the audience an overview of how to use the tools of strategic analysis, not only to understand their current strategic position but to analyze how that position changes over time. I then teach them the four steps that Sun Tzu teaches for advancing a position. I show them how they can use this Progress Cycle to continually improve the key elements of their position.
I usually make these presentations to an organization's employees, often their sales and marketing people, or to an association's members.
This analysis training has two goals:
-
The first goal is to excite the audience members about how easy it is to use better strategy in their day-to-day decision-making.
-
The second goal is to teach the audience members how to leverage the existing elements of their position to improve their position.
The slide shows
I use in these training sessions get more deeply into illustrating strategic concepts
and their interrelationships. I use bullet points addressing the group's
specific strategic situation.
During these sessions I want my audience to participate. I poll them as a group and then ask specific questions of individuals to highlight the challenges of making good strategic decisions.
Before preparing a strategic analysis session, I have to discuss the audience's strategic challenges with a number of people involved in the event. Usually I talk with the event organizer and to several typical attendees. In preparation, I ask a series of questions regarding:
-
The company's or association's core philosophy
-
The changing conditions in the business environment
-
The nature of the marketplace
-
The decisions that attendees must make
-
The different methods used by attendees to do their jobs
In the end, an extended session should:
-
Excite the audience members about thinking more strategically
-
Teach them how to use the five key factors to continually analyze their changing position
-
Train them to use the four steps of the Progress Cycle to improve their strategic position more consistently
-
Instill in all attendees the desire to improve their understanding of strategy and the quality of their strategic decisions
My strategic analysis sessions cost $7,000. The event planner is expected to cover the cost of lodging and food for the travel day before, the day of, and the travel day after the session. For overseas presentations, those arranging the presentation must pay for business-class travel for two and for food and lodging during the presentations and for the days immediately before and after.