ABSTRACT
We hope that the instructions and guidance given in this chapter will give you a good starting point for undertaking a strategy workshop with your colleagues or team. The addition of the classical models to Ackermann and Eden’s standard strategy-making approach will hopefully broaden out participant’s thinking, perhaps taking them into the macro- or industry-level environment. One reason for including these models is their ability to direct thinking outside of normal patterns or approaches, so they may be beneficial. Do remember that if participants do not produce ideas or issues, move on; the process is very much qualitative and dependent on the insights, thoughts, concerns, and priorities of the participating actors. If the group “dries up”, keep moving.
Some final tips: establish how long the participants have available for the session and then keep the session moving to a fairly rigid clock. The issues section will be the most complex and generate the most information with subsequent sessions becoming faster and more focused. One thing to watch out for is the session turning into a discussion. Frequently participants have not had a formal opportunity to discuss strategy and so topics and issues will start to be debated in the group; a balance must be reached between allowing useful insightful debate and getting through the session. So having the constant mantra of “put it on the wall” will ensure that any conversations or insights undertaken by the group are logged and recorded within the cognitive map and are adding to the broader strategic insight, rather than just being lost in a talking shop.
A certain enthusiasm is always useful, as a much better map is produced when the facilitator encourages participants to move and coordinate the map rather than use the facilitator as a proxy; it is also faster and more fun.
Lastly, the maps will always start off looking complex, confused, and relatively cluttered. The process of grouping and reducing overlaps really does clean the map up; and no matter the number of issues or ideas generated, the map will distil down into some key important thematic areas which participants will recognise.
