For an organization to grow and unfold fully, both for its clients and employees, it needs to look into the future i.e. to create and revise from time to time its own growth strategy. This is valid, of course, for all kind and size of organizations and can encompass particular strategic products/services or groups of such as well as the organization as a whole.
This is why we created Redesigning strategy: Strategy planning sprint.It is a working framework and customizable program designed to build agile strategies supported by everyone in the organization.
What is a strategy design sprint?
A recipe for accelerated effective work where teams align on the strategic goals of own departmet or the whole organization and plan their next steps. It is tailored for management teams who want to compress tedious and energy-draining strategy meetings into a creative, productive and engaging work sessions with tangible deliverables. At the end all the output, with clearly defined roles and timelines, is created digitally in an interactive white board and thus is easily accessible, sharable and editable by each stakeholder. In other words, the strategy design sprint adds agility to your strategy planning process.
When should we run a strategy design sprint?
In the beginning of every strategy planning process.
The end result of the strategy design sprint is:
/ Reflection on the main strategy elements
We lean on our strategy template in order to pay attention to all important areas – Purpose, People, Potential, Process, Progress.
/ Strategy goals and scope that all team members support
The team will align around the strategic objectives which support the common vision and will identify the main challenges and map the key stages. In addition the team will map agree around their guiding principles when implementing the strategy.
/ Common metrics elaborated and agreed by the whole team
Who said setting KPI’s is boring? Not when done collaboratively. Prepare to be surprised.
/ Building of stronger leadership team
It is not necessary the work on the strategy to be boring. The choice of inspiring environment for the sessions and agenda combining creative and teambuilding elements will definitely help for a deeper getting-to-know and synchronizing of the team.
What does it look like, how long will it take?
/ Prep with project owner
Before the strategy sprint we do a predesign phase which represents research and discussion with the owner of the projects and key stakeholders. The goal is to download all the necessary information about the processes and the situation “as is” so that we customize the sprint. The predesign phase is also completely tailored to the scope of the strategy.
/ Strategy sessions
The strategy sessions are different in number and duration and are a combination of virtual and offline workshops, depending on the desire of the organization. Each session is customized for the particular needs of the teams and is facilitated by launchlabs Sofia experts. No matter if online or offline, from launchlabs we have prepared all the necessary tools for co-creation, templates, the online whiteboards, the workshop flow and interesting activities to keep the group energy high throughout the whole work.
/ Coaching sessions
During the sprint and when necessary, we provide coaching sessions to participants in order to support their independent work between the sessions. After finishing the sprint, we plan follow-up coaching sessions to help put the strategy goals into actionable steps.
How do we customize a design sprint exactly for you?
As business redesigners, we know that each industry has its unique challenges and needs and a one-size-fits-all approach is hardly ever the answer. That’s why when starting a sprint, we always make an effort to have a good collaboration with the client i.e. we co-create. The goal is the sprint to be designed in a way that it works to solve the specific task at hand considering the company’s DNA, processes and workflow.
When you plan a change in your products, the strategy sprint might not be the best option but the design sprint for new product. When you do minor changes (ex. navigation redesign) shorter formats such as concept poster or testing sprint are more appropriate.
For redesigning services or planning to launch a new product, please check out our other sprints: Redesigning Services - Customer Journey Mapping Sprint and Redesigning Products - New Product Sprint.
Examples of strategy design sprints we’ve done?
We have designed a Strategy Planning Sprint for Telenor Bulgaria and the Leadership development program to foster strategic thinking and innovation practices for Accenture
How to do a strategy design sprint remotely?
From the beginning of the Pandemic, we completely redesigned our portfolio to fit the new sudden needs of companies for remote work and fast change. We transferred online the whole design sprint process using interactive and effective tools for digital collaboration such as interactive whiteboards and ”breakout” rooms for teamwork. We’ve tested more than 20 different online platforms, and combinations thereof, in order to create the closest possible scenario to an effective and meaningful live interaction.
Providing a virtual setting for collaboration, a structured format and workflow which to keep the energy high throughout the sessions, we actually save the companies and their agile teams time and effort to digitalize and have easy access to the output of their strategy work.
Our selected credentials include Accenture Global, Deutsche Telecom, Telenor, Roche, Raiffeisen Bank and many others.
Not sure if the strategy planning sprint will be the right choice for you? You can start by trying the Pre-design Workshop first. It’s a 1-hour workshop that reflects the workflow, mechanics, and, most importantly, the speed of the design sprint process.
Now, let’s start redesigning. To request a presentation or book a free 1-hour one-one session drop us a line at hello@launchlabs.bg.