Article
Strategic planning workshop - Turning ideas into tangible plans
In 2021, Mavericks, New Things Co, and Talented joined forces to create Witted Megacorp Plc. NeXec Oy joined Witted to strengthen our software development capacities in IT management and digital transformation consulting. Our main goal is to help clients navigate into the future by providing solid software development knowledge and building their internal capacity.
While the companies continue to operate independently, as partners, we collaborate to provide the clients with software consultants, project deliveries, support for developing recruitment processes and employer branding, and extra hands on deck for recruiting IT professionals and executives.
We organized a workshop at New Things Co headquarters with representatives from partner companies in Helsinki to welcome the newest member, assess how far we have come, and prepare an action plan for the future.
Our participants came from various cities around Finland. We only had one day for the introduction and workshop, so we needed to consider the time constraints when designing the activities.
Witted position
In this workshop, participants discuss their current position in the market and where they want to be on a holistic level. By clearly defining the present and the future, the group creates a high-level action plan to take them forward. I call this exercise Vision mapping.
Goal
Understand our current situation and create an action plan toward where we want to be.
Materials
Multi-colored post-it notes: Each color represents a corresponding column
Flipchart paper
Pens
Instruction
Step 1
Participants work in groups of 3-4 with partners from their companies.
Each participant reflects on the present-day situation and their role in the current Witted ecosystem.
Guiding questions:
What is our role?
Where are we in the market?
What are our strengths and weaknesses?
Step 2
Participants discuss within the group and share what they have written down.
As a group, define the vision of where Witted will be in the future.
An ideal goal is SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
Guiding questions:
What needs to be accomplished?
Can we track the progress?
Is it realistic?
Is it relevant according to the big picture?
When can the goal be implemented?
Step 3
Discuss what steps need to be taken to realize the vision.
Step 4
Regroup. Each group presents their notes to the crowd.
If there are similar ideas, participants should group the post-it notes.
Working together
After six months of working together as Witted, we know the challenges and needs on the day-to-day operations level. Together with the actions identified in the Vision mapping, we find actionable solutions on how to fix things, and prioritize where to put our efforts with the Impact and Effort Matrix.
Goal
To generate solutions and evaluate them by two factors: Impact and Effort.
Materials
Multi-colored post-it notes: Each color represents a different team
Blackboard
Pens
Instruction
Step 1
Participants work in groups of 3-4 with partners from their companies.
Each participant thinks of the current needs/problems and writes down potential solutions.
Step 2
Participants discuss within the group and share what they have written down, thinking about the impact versus effort required for each solution.
Step 3
Place the solutions on the matrix. The presentation starts with the solutions that have the highest impacts versus the effort
Summary
After a successful workshop, the Witted team has a shared understanding of our visions and a concrete action plan to achieve the goals.
Organizing a workshop to brainstorm ideas and form strategies can be highly beneficial for a company's future success. Here are a few key points to ensure a successful workshop:
Clearly define the objective: Make sure everyone understands the purpose of the workshop and what you hope to achieve.
Invite the right people: Ensure that you have the right mix of people in the room, including key decision-makers, subject matter experts, and outside perspectives.
Encourage open communication: Foster an environment of open communication and encourage participants to share their thoughts and ideas freely.
Use structured methods: Utilize structured methods, such as brainstorming, mind mapping, and SWOT analysis, to ensure that ideas are captured and evaluated in a systematic way.
Allocate sufficient time: Allocate sufficient time for the workshop, so that everyone has an opportunity to contribute and ideas can be fully explored.
Document and follow up: Document the key ideas and strategies discussed during the workshop and follow up to ensure that any actions or decisions are implemented.
We continuously evaluate and improve our facilitation skills by analyzing the feedback, and documentation to identify areas for improvement and make changes accordingly. We want to organize exceptional workshops to help our clients generate new ideas, align on a common vision, and develop a roadmap for the future.
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