Presentation to the EECS Shreveport steering committee on the strategic doing methods of Ed Morrison - slides provided by Ed Morrison under creative commons license.

3. We live in a networked world Internet map of city-to-city connections Source: chrisharrison.net

4. The iPhone production network Question: Who makes the iPhone? Answer: A network led by Apple

5. Question: How many companies made the Wizard of Oz? Answer: One (Metro-Goldwyn Mayer)

6. Question: How many companies made the Spider Man 3? Answer: Fifty-six (working in a network)

7. Question: How did regions function in a pre-networked world? Answer: Silos

8. Question: How do regions function in a networked world? Answer: Still Silos

9. We need new approaches to link and leverage assets within our communities and regions

11. Strategic planning evolved to handle the complexities of managing large hierarchies...like the military and Fortune 500 companies A small group at the top did the thinking A larger group at the bottom did the doing

12. As organizations have become more networked, older strategic planning models do not work so well. The reason: There is no top or bottom to a network.

13. Dilbert emerged to make fun of strategy in a hierarchical world...

14. Organizations have been moving toward teams...where there is no separation of thinking from doing

15. Strategic Doing is a discipline to enable teams of people to do complex projects in these open networks

16. Most places: People and organizations work in isolation trying their best Strategic Planning: A few people try to sort it all out (but it often does not work) Strategic Doing: A continuous process of aligning, linking and leveraging

17. With Strategic Doing, leaders guide open conversations to translate ideas in to action... Key Insight: People move in the direction of their conversations

18. Strategic Doing is simple, but not easy. It takes practice to keep focused on four key questions... What could we do together? What should we do together? What will we do together? How will we learn together?

19. Strategic Doing begins when a core team of people agrees to take responsibility for the Strategic Doing process... The Core Group agrees to use a Strategic Doing process to produce and update a Strategic Action Plan EECS Steering Committee

20. The Core Team identifies focus areas of opportunities to produce dramatically better results.... Building Energy Efficiency Transportation / Land Use Green Business Incentives / Workforce EECS steering committee

21. Within each focus area, teams start with initiatives or projects Building Energy Efficiency Transportation / Land Use Green Business Incentives / Workforce EECS steering committee

22. 30 Days The process of shaping a strategy is continuous

23. The team starts with Strategic Action Plan Version 1.0, then 1.1, then 1.2 and so on... 1.1 1.2 1.0 1.3

24. Strategic Doing is not that much different than planning a family vacation

26. In hours, Strategic Doing generates all the components you need for a Strategic Action Plan to guide innovative collaborations. Strategic Doing is fast, flexible, and (surprisingly) fun.

27. Strategic Doing quickly generates “link and leverage” strategies Strategic Doing produces alignments, links and leverage A great example...The new Water Council in SE Wisconsin

33. Core Team Expertise Networks Strategic Doing Opportunities Outcomes

34. National Center for Community Renewal Shreveport, Louisiana 2006

35. National Center for Community Renewal Shreveport, Louisiana 2006

36. Center for Community Renewal Shreveport, Louisiana

37. Center for Community Renewal Shreveport, Louisiana

38. Center for Community Renewal Shreveport, Louisiana

39. Center for Community Renewal Shreveport, Louisiana

40. Gorilla innovation Swarm innovation Strategic Doing produces a swarm of innovations

46. Here’s an example of how a regional hospital has created a “safe” space for innovation to take place... The Innovation Cafe at Memorial Hospital in South Bend serves no food, but offers a place “where staffers and outsiders can learn to craft new ideas."

51. Strategic Doing is simple, but not easy. It takes practice. We start with our assets.... What could we do together? What should we do together? What will we do together? How will we learn together?

52. What could we do together? (Critical steps to defining opportunities by linking and leveraging assets) 1. Explore the assets at the table 2. Watch for patterns and possible connections 3. Find opportunities by connecting assets (What if?)

53. Here’s an example of a worksheet to connect assets to opportunities from a Strategic Doing Pack What are the assets you can contribute or share? What are the opportunities we see when we connect these assets? Who are the partners that could be engaged in this opportunity? Example: Network of professionals committed to youth initiatives Example Opportunity 1: We could conduct monthly webinars to inform us of the innovations taking place in the region. WIB, 3 key service providers, the community college Opportunity 2: We could create weekly forums to keep people informed and build our networks... WIB, library system, community college

54. As we connect assets, we notice something strange starts to happen... The “network effect” takes hold...

55. We next need to make strategic decisions and focus What could we do together? What should we do together? What will we do together? How will we learn together?

56. What should we do together? (Critical steps to creating a focus) 1. Pick an opportunity 2. Define an outcome with 3 characteristics 3. Describe one initiative using 3 SMART Goals Where do you want to be in 3 years? SMART = Simple + Measurable +Achievable + Relevant + Time Sensitive What will people be doing? And how will they be doing it? Pick something transformative..not just something you are already doing...Pick something that you can do together that you cannot just do alone An initiative is a project

58. Here’s a worksheet for defining characteristics of an outcome...As we define outcomes clearly, sensible metrics emerge What does success look like? Define 3 characteristics of your Outcome Define a way to measure this characteristic Example: Creating a nationally recognized workforce summit that regularly pushes innovative initiatives to address the challenges of at-risk youth. Characteristic 1: Active on-line community of innovators Metric 1: Number of people engaged in our on-line network Characteristic 2: Strategy teams that engage at-risk youth as members Metric 2: Number of at-risk youth participating in our strategy sessions Characteristic 3: Example: Regular webcasts Metric 3: Number of webcasts; total number of webcast participants

59. Here’s a worksheet for SMART Goals to define an initiative Describe your initiative: Define 3 SMART Goals For this project by this date.... We will do this.... What are you going to do to achieve your outcome? Example: September 2009 We convene a core team of professionals in the region engaged with at-risk youth to complete budget and agenda for summit December 2009 Complete funding March 2010 Launch summit

60. Next, we need to make transparent commitments What could we do together? What should we do together? What will we do together? How will we learn together?

61. What will we do together? (Critical steps to making transparent commitments) 1. Write an Action Plan of who does what by when 2. Make personal commitments and share them with others

62. Here’s a worksheet for an Action Plan Action Steps: To move our project forward over the next 30 days, we will take these action steps: Responsible: By When: Date: Questions? Contact:

63. Finally, we need a clear process for learning together “what works”... What could we do together? What should we do together? What will we do together? How will we learn together?

64. How will we learn together? (Critical steps to learning together) 1. Capture your Strategic Doing Pack on the web 2. Plan the next face-to-face meeting for revisions 1.1 1.2 1.0 1.3

65. Here’s a worksheet for the Learning Process Key elements of our Learning Process: Answers: Who will compile notes from the Strategic Doing session? Who will post these notes to the web? Where, how and by when? What is the plan for the group to come back together to revise the Strategic Action Plan and continue the learning process? What other steps can we take to keep connected and expand our network?

66. Strategic Doing is like paddling a kayak in the ocean The task requires quick strategic assessments and continuous “doing”

68. We can start by learning how we applied Strategic Doing to our work in North Central Indiana. We began with conventional reporting relationships. We created a core team of about 8 people from different organizations

69. We next created four strategic focus areas....these are areas of activity...”buckets”.

70. Within each of these four focus areas, we then added initiatives that we thought would be “transformative” -- replicable, scalable, and leveraged. We now have over 50 initiatives 1.0 1.1 1.2

71. Strategic Focus Areas for CERT’s Strategy Advance North Louisiana

72. Thank you! Questions? Ed Morrison [email_address]