HORIZONS: Strategy for the Future
HORIZONS
Strategy for the Future
Navigate Adventure Together
Savvy leaders make the most of their strategic planning time with an external facilitator. With carefully structured activities, we bring out the best thinking for the challenges ahead.
Our approach:
Team Lead Strategy Approach by Zoë Routh
How I work with leadership teams on developing strategy
Depending on where you are up to in strategic planning we may do one or all of the following:
Step 1. Tune Your Strategic Compass
This is the big WHY of the team or organisation.
We clarify purpose, vision, and long-term impact of the business.
This includes identifying key RESULTS and MEASURES (KPIs) for the strategy.
Step 2. Assess Your Strategic Map
Before we generate a plan, we do a deep analysis of the team and organisation’s context, including conducting an environmental scan, a systems map, and any problem analysis.
Next we use creative thinking and design thinking skills to generate ideas.
Then we narrow our focus and choose the best approach given our context and challenges.
Step 3. Determine Your Route Plan
Here we get down to detail. We bring together the results we intend to produce, the measures we have developed to track progress, and the ideas to accelerate those results.
We assign priorities, resources, and milestones.
We develop reporting tools to track progress.
The rest is over to the team to implement the work and savour the outcomes!
The whole process can be completed in a two-day offsite, or in a series of shorter workshops over a series of weeks or months.
My philosophy and practice when it comes to developing strategy
Start with the end in mind. We need to have a clear and compelling picture of the future to guide our decisions.
Know our context. Having worked with many futurists, I am obsessed with understanding the trends and systems in which we operate. This makes for smarter and more effective plans and actions.
Experiment. Gone are the days of the set-and-forget five year plan. Change and volatility are the new default. As teams, we need to keep experimenting with our approach and be prepared to adjust as we go.
Let’s assess the state of your current strategy, and what you’d like to shape for the future.
What leaders say about the program
Iliada Bolton
Director of Business and Governance at Bega Valley Shire
“I would recommend Zoë for all Local Government Senior Staff. The practical tools and workshops to develop measurable strategy, define and improve culture or get insights from futurist thinking, to name just a few, gives me the professional edge that sees progress across multiple levels in which I play.”
Graeme Kruger
Executive Director at Rice Growers' Association Australia
“The RGA Executive Director and Chair also worked directly with Zoë to clarify strategic direction and improve communication strategies. We are delighted with Zoë’s down to earth, friendly approach that delivers real results and we intend to hire her again as a trainer and facilitator.”
Sheryle Moon
Chair at Music
for Canberra
“After a change of Board Chair at Music For Canberra, we needed a new strategy. Zoë worked with the Board and Executive to craft new priorities which she then assisted to role out and gather feedback from all staff. She has an engaging and open style that built strong ownership of the plan and delivered the outcome we were after.”
Anthony McMahon
CEO, Bega Valley
Shire Council
“We asked Zoë Routh to facilitate several culture and strategy sessions with both the Council, Mayor and Senior Executive as well as with the senior leadership team. We found her personable and engaging as a facilitator, and more importantly, the workshops led to real positive change for the teams. We will definitely work with Zoë again and recommend her as a leadership facilitator.”
Adam Moore
CEO, PBS Property Group
“I have worked with Zoë for over six years now. She has been a valued and trusted resource both for my own development as well as for that of my executive and emerging leaders. I recommend her highly as a leadership trainer, facilitator, and mentor and will continue to use her services into the future.”
Susan Davidson
CEO, Australian Diabetes
Educators' Association
“Zoë’s facilitation of our strategy session enabled us to develop a clearer and more concise strategy for the coming years.”
Rob Evans
CEO at AllBids
“Zoë always provides challenging and intellectually rigorous content. It is so valuable talking issues through with other leaders and sharing our leadership experiences.”