Strategic Operations Leadership

Course Introduction

To excel in the digital age, modern businesses must integrate their processes across organizational boundaries and existing systems. Operational managers deliver business performance by effectively influencing work teams and co-coordinating among functions. This training course will enable you to enhance and create value to your organization by aligning department goals with your organization’s strategic vision and mission.

In this Oxford Management Centre's Strategic Operations Leadership training course, delegates learn to plan and implement change to meet stakeholders’ needs, create an innovative culture which leverage department's core competencies, and gain the leadership skills to effectively integrate strategic thinking with daily operations.

This Strategic Operations Leadership training course will highlight:

• Critical aspects of strategic thinking
• Leveraging operational strengths to enhance stakeholders’ value
• Executing strategy at the operational level
• Creating an innovative culture
• Operational change management

Objectives

At the end of this Strategic Operations Leadership training course, participants will be able to:

• Align operations improvements with business strategy to support growth.
• Build strategic thinking into operations excellence efforts.
• Appreciate the contemporary challenges that operations leaders need to deal within dynamic environment.
• Understand current strategies for improved operations competitiveness.
• Influence organizational culture and employee behavior to align strategic goals and operations management.

Training Methodology

The Oxford Management Centre training course will be conducted through a combined applications of (a) coach-led training, (b) practical application of techniques through individual and group activities, and (c) mini-focus case discussions and reflection of delegate real life experiences. Participants are given opportunities to apply strategic tools to their operations context. The main goal is to motivate participants to start thinking, evaluating and setting strategic priorities for their organization operations functions. The training course manual provides a guide to all tools and methods covered for future reference. 

Organisational Impact

Organizations will benefit from participants adopting holistic thinking, avoiding the sub-optimization that can result from fragmented improvement activity. The benefits are as follows:

• Leveraging strategic thinking at the operational level to add value
• Maximizing operational core competencies to implement organizational strategy
• Bridging the gap between organizational and operational goals
• Fostering an innovative culture to overcome strategic challenges
• Developing an effective change process that satisfies stakeholder needs

Personal Impact

This Strategic Operations Leadership training course will personally benefit the participants by being able to apply the thinking and techniques to identify, evaluate, and improve issues affecting them in the workplace.

• Focus on practical application in the workplace
• Progress and develop abilities quickly
• Network with and learn from other organisations
• Making data-driven business decisions
• Engage more effectively stakeholders in aligning strategies and operations

Who Should Attend?

This training course is appropriate for everyone in the organization but may be of special interest to anyone charged with driving the improvement of operating performance.

This Strategic Operations Leadership training course is suitable to a wide range of professionals but will greatly benefit:

• Directors and Vice Presidents
• Manufacturing, quality, and operations managers
• Supply chain personnel
• Operations personnel
• Team leaders

Course Outline

DAY 1

Critical Aspects of Strategic Thinking

• Strategy in the context of operations management
• Distinguishing between strategic thinking and planning
• Identifying the strategic challenges facing operational managers
• Identifying the impact of strategy on operational activity
• Aligning the organization's vision with reality
• Creating sustainable competitive advantage

DAY 2

Leveraging Operational Strengths to Enhance Stakeholders’ Value  

• Organisational vs. operational competencies
• Identifying the key strengths within your operation
• Rating competencies against strategic goals
• The importance of stakeholders in the strategy process
• Satisfying the needs of the stakeholders
• Positioning yourself within the four cycles of operational effectiveness
• Macro-environment scanning with PESTLE
• Micro-environment scanning with Porter's Five Forces

DAY 3

Executing Strategy at The Operational Level

• Qualifying the gaps between operational and organisational vision
• Establishing the foundation for realising goals
• Questioning assumptions: Discover new solutions and findings
• Managing operational strategic assets
• Rigorous planning through scenario assessment
• Quantifying the impact of proposed solutions

DAY 4

Creating An Innovative Culture

• The importance of innovation in strategic thinking
• Meeting the five preconditions for an innovative culture
• Facilitating team innovation
• Generating innovation ideas using tools for creativity
• Benchmarking objectives against actual performance

DAY 5

Operational Change Management

• Understanding stakeholders’ response to change on the change curve
• Implementing operational change using the ADKAR change process
• Gaining commitment using the influence model
• Applying influencing techniques to overcome resistance
• Earning support with entrepreneurial techniques