Strategic doing and CONNECTS
CONNECTS gives you access to the Strategic Doing Community, know-how and training. CONNECTS’ vision is to create a ‘level playing field’ for all businesses around the world, giving them equal access to opportunities, capabilities and resources. Unlike other matchmaking and community management platforms, we want to provide you with a whole user experience in strategy, agile leadership, in partnership with Strategic Doing, that validates and supports your activities.
Strategic doing teaches people how to form collaborations quickly, move them toward measurable outcomes and make adjustments along the way. In today’s world, collaboration is essential to meet the complex challenges we face.
Why do we need a new approach to strategy?
Much of our work requires collaboration, whether between organizations, or among units within the same organization. There’s often no one person that calls the shots. Instead of our old habits of command and control, we have to figure out how to align and activate a network of people and organizations. In this new context, a new approach to strategy is required.
Strategic Doing isn’t about fixing an old system – it’s about designing what’s next. It enables leaders to design and guide new networks that generate innovative solutions. It is a new strategy discipline that is lean, agile and fast—just what organizations, communities and regions need to survive and thrive.
By becoming a member of the community, you will gain free access to materials, events, Strategic Doing weekly Talks, practitioners worldwide and options to sign-up for training and/or masterclass. On the Strategic Doing Practitioners Community you will find a list of upcoming trainings and weekly talks with fellow practitioners and the authors of Strategic Doing book.
If you’re ready for tools that work in the new world of networks, check out our opportunities to learn more (community link)
Who should use Strategic Doing?
Strategic Doing is aimed at corporate leaders and senior decision-makers elsewhere that look for a new strategic approach in dealing with complex challenges.
Anyone who is leading organizations in which a high degree of collaboration is needed and/or the environment in which they’re operating is highly dynamic, will find the masterclass useful.
Want to learn more about Strategic Doing, and meet Ed Morrison, and other successful practitioners? Join us every Friday at 3 pm for a series of Strategic Doing Talks. The first one starts on October 7th! Contact us for the invitation.
How was Strategic Doing developed?
Strategic Doing has developed over more than two decades of work with people trying to strengthen their organizations, communities and regions. Here’s Ed Morrison, the developer of Strategic Doing, reflecting on its origins:
The seeds were planted over 30 years ago on Capitol Hill, of all places. Coming out of college, I landed a job as a legislative assistant to an Ohio Congressman, where I confronted the really complex challenge of globalization in the post-World War II era. This complex challenge – how do we improve the productivity and competitiveness of the American economy? – became the focus of my early career. For nearly a decade, I joined a small army of people looking for answers in Washington. The notion was straightforward. If Washington pulled the right policy levers, we could set the economy on the right course.
Ed Morrison – The founder of the Purdue Agile Strategy Lab and now the Director of the Lab at the University of North Alabama, Ed’s work emphasizes the strategic value of focused regional collaborations and open innovation, network-based models in today’s global economy. He is co-author of Strategic Doing: 10 Skills for Agile Leadership.
What happens at a Strategic Doing practitioners course?
A Strategic Doing workshop is a session in which a group takes on a question about their community or organization’s future, and uses the 4 Questions to explore, identify opportunities, and begin to take action on the most promising of those opportunities. Here’s some things you’ll notice at a workshop:
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- It’s interactive: in Strategic Doing, no one will tell you what your strategy should be. The process will lead you to sort that out for yourselves. There will be a short overview of the process at the beginning, but you’ll quickly move right into discussion in small groups around tables.
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- It’s realistic: instead of dreaming about what would be possible if you had a big grant, more staff, or a new facility, the conversation will be centered on what you already have at your disposal.
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- It’s focused on action: there’s a reason we call it Strategic Doing. You’ll walk out the door at the end of the workshop with a strategic action plan to guide your future work, and you’ll have already started on implementation.
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There are no observers: everyone in the room participates, even the facilitators (which we call “table guides”)
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Workshops are usually somewhere between three hours and a full day, depending on the previous work the group has done and how much they want to accomplish. Even in a short workshop, the process ensures that you won’t get “stuck” – you’ll have a strategic action plan at the end to guide your future work, and you’ll have already started on implementation together.
Check out next trainings and start your journey alongside Ed Morrison, who will help you build your own strategic action plan:
Training course – Become a practitioner is postponed until Q1 2023
Here are some things you’ll notice at a workshop:
– It’s interactive: in Strategic Doing, no one will tell you what your strategy should be. The process will lead you to sort that out for yourselves. There will be a short overview of the process at the beginning, but you’ll quickly move into discussion in small groups around tables.
– It’s realistic: instead of dreaming about what would be possible if you had a big grant, more staff, or a new facility, the conversation will be centred on what you already have at your disposal.
– There are no observers: everyone in the room participates, even the facilitators (which we call “table guides”)
Masterclass – is moved to Q1 2023