Teams read what their leaders tolerate on vision formulation and execution planning far more accurately than what their leaders announce. The hardest part of execution planning is rarely deciding — it is holding the decision when it becomes unpopular. The professional literature on this aspect of organisational leadership converges on a small set of controls that reliably work. The programme uses small-group work so that each participant's treatment of vision formulation and execution planning is examined, not just described. They leave able to brief senior management on this area of organisational leadership in terms that support a decision. Teams frequently over-invest in documenting execution planning and under-invest in testing it. It concentrates on the parts of vision formulation and execution planning that determine outcomes and treats the rest proportionately. It is designed for mixed groups, so that execution planning is examined from more than one functional angle. It ends with a prioritised list of changes to the organisational leadership discipline that the participant is prepared to defend internally.
Expected Learning Outcomes
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Manage the emotional load vision formulation and execution planning places on you and on the team.
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Hold difficult conversations about execution planning early, while they are still small.
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Set the minimum documentation for vision formulation and execution planning that is genuinely necessary, and stop there.
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Prepare a short, evidence-based briefing on execution planning for senior management.
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Compare the organisation's handling of vision formulation and execution planning with recognised practice, and close the material gaps.
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Read the informal dynamics that determine whether execution planning actually moves.
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Delegate responsibility for vision formulation and execution planning without losing sight of the outcome.
Who Should Attend
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Those responsible for briefing external stakeholders on vision formulation and execution planning.
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Newly promoted managers taking on execution planning for the first time.
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Department heads and senior managers accountable for vision formulation and execution planning.
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Board members and non-executives overseeing execution planning.
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Anyone whose accountability for vision formulation and execution planning exceeds their current formal training in it.
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Managers of geographically distributed teams handling execution planning.
Course Modules
Open any module to see its sessions and topics.
01
Vision formulation and execution planning: setting direction people can act on
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Building lasting competence in vision formulation and execution planning
Verify six months later that changes to vision formulation and execution planning have held.
Remove steps in execution planning that add effort without adding assurance.
Benchmark the organisation's vision formulation and execution planning against comparable operations.
Set the decision rights on execution planning: who decides, who is consulted, who is told.
Session 2Applying the standard on execution planning to your best performer
Decide what will be stopped to create capacity for vision formulation and execution planning.
Assess the workload execution planning adds and what you will remove to make room.
Rank the weaknesses in vision formulation and execution planning by consequence rather than by ease of fixing.
Give one piece of specific feedback on execution planning within the week.
02
Execution planning: delegation, trust and accountability
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Building someone who can run execution planning without you
Write down the reasoning behind your position on vision formulation and execution planning.
Prepare how you will respond when execution planning is challenged publicly.
Name the person accountable for each part of vision formulation and execution planning, not the committee.
Set the review point at which execution planning will be reconsidered.
Session 2Recovering after a visible mistake on execution planning
Record the rationale for each significant choice made about vision formulation and execution planning.
Review whether execution planning is aligned with the objectives of the management team.
Decide the point at which you would escalate vision formulation and execution planning.
Ask the team what they think is wrong with the plan for execution planning.
