Enhancing Your Strategic Influence: Understanding and Responding to Complex Business Problems
A one-day seminar from the Management Innovation Group
Schedule
March 23, 2006 at the Information Architecture Summit in Vancouver.
Scott Hirsch, Victor Lombardi, and John Zapolski of MIG will be joined by
Harry Max, Independent Consultant, formerly of DreamWorks Animation
Mark McCormick, Director of Design at Wells Fargo
August 17, 2006 in Denver, Colorado.
Description
While the skill level of design teams has increased dramatically over the last several years, many still lack the tools necessary to understand and articulate the broader implications of their work within a complex and dynamic business environment. The most successful are better at recognizing the roots of strategic change and opportunity, assessing the potential impacts on their organization, and determining what to do and who to involve in getting it done.
This workshop introduces participants to a new way of thinking about cause and effect in complex organizations — within functional groups, across departments, beyond business units, and across industries. Participants come away with a set of tools to identify social, cultural, economic, and technological change, match products to emerging and changing markets, develop strategies to capture market value, and change organizational capabilities to reflect changing market and technological dynamics. Special attention is given to learning how to create and maintain a workplace and culture that facilitate and sustain innovation and change.
Questions
Here are some of the basic questions that we will help participants answer, both in general and in the context of their companies:
- What is a business model? A value proposition? A business strategy?
- Given my role, what contribution am I making to my company’s success?
- How does my function deliver value in my company’s business model and value proposition?
- How do I determine how to choose my battles wisely: which high-value projects to push and which can stay on the back burner?
- How do I say “no” to bad projects? What language will be most convincing to my management and stakeholders?
- How can I get more visibility for my function in my company? How do I build alliances with like-minded stakeholders?
- How do other functions typically understand business problems, and how does that compare to the perspective from my discipline?
Who Should Attend
This session is designed specifically for managers and leaders who seek to use design as a strategic tool to understand and influence organizational change. While a deep knowledge of advanced design principles is not necessary for this session, participants should be willing to explore their roles as leaders and change agents within their organizations.
Types of attendees most likely to find this workshop compelling include:
- Managers of design teams
- Product Managers
- Entrepreneurs seeking to build a culture that values design
- Design practitioners who report to a non-designer manager
- Anyone who aspires to enhance their role as an internal change agent
Comments from Recent Participants
“The presentations were full of useful information, and Scott, John, and Victor were very responsive to the group’s needs and questions. I appreciate how the whole day was planned in sequence: multiple levels of experience and different points of view were considered. I felt engaged in the conversation and left the talks inspired to investigate the topics further and continue the conversations.”
Jon Littell, Hot Studio, Inc.