Strategic

Doing
Workshop
Pack
Bobrow-Williams Group, LLC
Franklin Delano Williams, Senior Consultant
3237 Ramsgate Road, Augusta, GA 30909
bobrow-williams-group@comcast.net
Cell: 706-833-6396

These materials are Copyright by Ed Morrison and distributed under a Creative Commons 3.0
Attribution License. You are free to copy, modify and distribute these materials, provided only that
you include this copyright notice in your slides.
 Overview
This Strategic Doing Pack is designed to guide discussions in a Strategic Doing Workshop. It
represents a set of exercises that can help you keep your discussions focused. These exercises
are tied to Strategic Doing, a practice of thinking and acting strategically in open networks.

At the end of the workshop, you should have touched on all of the topics needed to compile a
Strategic Action Plan.

Before you begin, you should pass around a sign in sheet to make sure that you have captured
all of the participants and their e-mails.

You should also designate one or more people as your Knowledge Keeper. Capturing the key
points of your discussion is vitally important to moving the conversation forward. As you put
these notes on the web, it enables people to reconstruct the history of the conversation and to
join the conversation at any point.

Ed Morrison of the Purdue Center for Regional Development prepared this Strategic Doing Pack.
You can contact him at edmorrison@purdue.edu. Please include the following notice in your
slides:

These materials are Copyright Ed Morrison and distributed under a Creative Commons 3.0
Attribution License. You are free to copy, modify and distribute these materials, provided only
that you include this copyright notice in your slides.
Step 1: List the names of people at your table

Name e-mail

Step 2: Pick a scribe to distill your conversation

(Someone who writes clearly)
 The Strategic Doing cycle
What could
we do together?

How will we learn What should

together? we do together?

What will
we do together?
 The Strategic Doing cycle
Exercise 1: What could
Opportunities we do together?

Exercise 2:
Outcome

How will we learn What should

together? we do together?

Exercise 5:
Exercise 3:
Learning
Initiative
Process

Exercise 4: What will

Action Plan we do together?
 Exercise 1:
Opportunities

Find opportunities by Opportunities describe a transformation

connecting assets made possible through collaboration. An
opportunity is something meaningful we
can do together, that we cannot do
individually.

Focus on connecting Opportunities emerge when we connect

assets: “What if?” our assets. Focus on “What if?” scenarios
that connect the assets shared around the
table.

Look for patterns and connections.

What is an asset? An asset is something that participants are

willing to identify and share. Assets can
be experience, skills, networks. Assets
can be “organizational” or personal.
 Exam
p le s
Exercise 1:
Opportunities

What are the assets you can What are the opportunities we see when Who are the partners that could be
contribute or share? we connect these assets? engaged in this opportunity?

Example: Network of professionals Example Opportunity 1: We could conduct WIB, 3 key service providers, the community
committed to youth initiatives monthly webinars to inform us of the college
innovations taking place in the region.

Opportunity 2: We could create weekly WIB, library system, community college

forums to keep people informed and build our
networks...
 Exercise 1:
Opportunities

What are the assets you can What are the opportunities we see when Who are the partners that could be
contribute or share? we connect these assets? engaged in this opportunity?
Exercise 2:
Outcome

Define a Strategic A Strategic Outcome describes your

Outcome with 3 destination: what success looks like.
Characteristics
If you want people to help, you must give
them a clear outcome. Think in terms of
defining your outcome with 3
characteristics, 3 features that people can
see in their mind’s eye.
What is a A characteristic describes a feature. It
Characteristic? answers questions like Who? What? When?
How?

Think about describing a “quality car”.

You could describe it with three
characteristics like: 1) a four door sedan;
2) that gets 30 miles to the gallon; 3) has
a sunroof.
 Exercise 2: Exam
Outcome p le s
What does success look like? Define 3 characteristics of your Define a way to measure this
Outcome characteristic

Example: Creating a nationally recognized Characteristic 1: Active on-line community Metric 1: Number of people engaged in
workforce summit that regularly pushes of innovators our on-line network
innovative initiatives to address the
challenges of at-risk youth.

Characteristic 2: Strategy teams that Metric 2: Number of at-risk youth

engage at-risk youth as members participating in our strategy sessions

Characteristic 3: Example: Regular webcastsMetric 3: Number of webcasts; total

number of webcast participants
 Exercise 2:
Outcome

What does success look like? Define 3 characteristics of your Define a way to measure this
Outcome characteristic
 Exercise 3:
Initiative

Define a Strategic Strategic Outcomes are just words until we

Initiative (project) describe what we will actually do to
achieve our outcomes. Strategic initiatives
(or projects) describe what we will do
together.
We still need to be more specific though.
We need to mark the path forward with
some SMART goals -- or road markers.
Use 3 SMART Goals to SMART Goals provide clear ways to define
define your initiative our strategic initiatives. They are goals
that are Simple, Measurable, Aggressive,
Relevant and Time sensitive. They are
milestones to mark our path.

So a SMART Goal might be: By June, we

will set a baseline to determine the
number of current students going to post-
secondary education.

In this exercise, focus on defining your

initiative with 3 SMART Goals.

Exercise 3:
Initiative
Describe your initiative:
What are you going to do to
achieve your outcome? Example:
Building an innovation network
focus on the challenges of
Disadvantaged Youth
Exam
p le s
Define 3 SMART Goals
By this date... We will do this....
SMART Goal 1: By September 2009 We convene a core team of professionals in the region
engaged with at-risk youth to complete budget and
agenda for summit
SMART Goal 2: By December 2009 Complete funding our budget
SMART Goal 1: By March 2010 Launch summit promotion
 Exercise 3:
Initiative

Describe your initiative: Define 3 SMART Goals

By this date... We will do this....

SMART Goal 1:

SMART Goal 2:

SMART Goal 1:
Draft an Action Plan An Action Plan clearly outlines who is
for the next 30 days going to do what by when.

Focus on the next 30 days. If you cannot

complete an action plan for th enext 30
days, drafting an action plan beyond that
time will not matter much.

Why we need Action Action Plans are important for three

Plans reasons:

•The force us to make clear, personal

commitments;
• They help us keep track of complex
projects; and
• They help us make fast adjustments
when inevitable changes arise.
 Exam
p le s
Exercise 4:
Action Plan
Action Steps: Responsible: By When:
To move our project forward over the next 30 days, we will
take these action steps:

Assemble a list of professionals engaged in disadvantaged youth Mary Next week

Research social network tools (Twitter, blogs, etc.) we could use Bob 30 days

Date:
Questions? Contact:
 Exercise 4:
Action Plan
Action Steps: Responsible: By When:
To move our project forward over the next 30 days, we will
take these action steps:

Date:
Questions? Contact:
 Define a clear A Learning Process usually includes three
Learning Process key steps:

•Putting your Strategic Doing Pack on the

Web, so your team can review it;
•Converting your Strategic Doing Pack into
a written Strategic Action Plan, so you
have a document to revise that reflects
your current strategy; and
•Deciding when you will come together
again to share “what’s working” and revise
your Strategic Action Plan
Why we need a clear We need a Learning Process for four
Learning Process reasons:

•We need to learn “what works” and

expand our successful initiatives;
•We build our relationships and the
effectiveness of our networks by sharing
what we learn;
•We can establish a convenient, simple
library of what we are learning, so that we
can pass on our best lessons to others who
follow;
•With a clear process, people can
participate in our network at any time. (We
avoid the problem of “going back” and
 Exercise 5: Exam
Learning
Process
p le s
Key elements of our Learning Process: Answers:

Who will compile notes from the Strategic Doing session? Bill

Who will post these notes to the web? Where, how and by when? John

Who will draft and revise our Strategic Action Plan? Bill. John, and Beth

What is the plan for the group to come back together to revise the We will meet again in 30 days. We will also launch a blog to
Strategic Action Plan and continue the learning process? keep us up to date with each other.
 Exercise 5:
Learning
Process

Key elements of our Learning Process: Answers: