Moving From an Operational Manager to a Strategic Leader

Senior leaders often say they have plenty of operational managers but too few strategic leaders. This 60-minute strategic leadership training shows managers how to think and act in terms of their organization's long-term success and competitive advantage.

You'll build a strategic frame of reference for your team: draft a mission that names your primary customer and the value you deliver, run a SWOT analysis, and use an importance/performance matrix to see where customers want change. From that feedback you'll set a realistic vision, define the critical success factors that matter most, and involve team members so they commit to the plan instead of resisting it.

• Explain what it means for a leader to act strategically
• Draft a team mission statement and complete a SWOT analysis
• Gather customer perceptions and prioritize with an importance/performance matrix
• Write a vision that supports the corporate vision and inspires your team
• Define your function's critical success factors
• Execute your strategy with team involvement and progress metrics

1. Identify the current state of your function

• Drafting a mission statement covering the products, services and value you provide internal customers
• Completing a SWOT analysis: strengths to leverage, weaknesses to shore up, opportunities to harness and threats to neutralize

2. Learn how customers see your performance

• Electronic surveys, face-to-face interviews and focus groups
• A customer advisory board, complaints and other sources
• Using an importance/performance matrix to decide where to excel, improve, deprioritize or redirect resources

3. Envision a preferred future

• A vision that is feasible, brief and easy to remember
• A compelling aspiration your team can relate to and be inspired by
• Alignment with your corporate vision

4. Set critical success factors

• The few proficiencies your function most needs to excel at
• The initiatives that contribute most to long-term success

5. Execute the strategy collaboratively

• Building a shared understanding of the vision and critical success factors
• Using metrics to create alignment and give feedback on progress
• Involving team members to build commitment and overcome resistance to change

Research and senior leaders agree that leaders who think and act strategically are seen as the most effective. Yet complex, fast-changing issues, demands for instant results and short-term rewards keep many leaders stuck in reactive firefighting, which hurts both the organization and their careers.

This webinar offers practical, proven methods to build strategic thinking. It suits any leader, manager or supervisor who wants to achieve better business results.

• Any Leader
• Manager or Supervisor who wants to improve their ability to strategically achieve enhanced business results

Pete Tosh is the Founder of The Focus Group, a management consulting and training firm that assists organizations in sustaining profitable growth through four core disciplines:

• Implementing Strategic HR Initiatives
• Maximizing Leadership Effectiveness
• Strategic Planning
• Enhancing Customer Loyalty

The Focus Group has provided these consulting and training services to manufacturing and service organizations across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and the Middle East. Pete has worked closely with the leadership teams of organizations such as Exxon, Brinks, EMC, State Farm, Marriott, N.C.I. YKK and Freddie Mac

Pete holds a B.A. degree in Psychology from Emory and Henry University and Masters degrees in both Business Administration and Industrial Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University. Pete also co-authors Leading Your Organization to the Next Level: the Core Disciplines of Sustained Profitable Growth.