Leaders’ Meeting – “Strategy at the Crossroads: New Directions for Planning”.
On September 26, 2024, we are holding another leaders’ meeting.
This time we want to talk about strategy in changing, unpredictable times.
“We need more strategic thinking and less planning.” – Henry Mintzberg, professor of management at INSEAD, urges .
We are noticing how the old thinking about strategic planning no longer fits the dynamic reality. Vision and strategic direction have taken precedence over rigid plans. But are we ready for this?
This meeting is for you if:
- You are a leader and are looking for inspiration in the area of strategy implementation, stakeholder engagement, and turning visions into realistic plans.
- Want to join in helping Spring Association in building strategic directions and concrete solutions.
- You are willing and able to spend 4 hours working in an interdisciplinary group: sharing corporate, organizational experiences or implementing challenging projects and engaging people for change.
The meeting will begin with a panel discussion with experts who are involved in strategy building and implementation in various industries and contexts.
Panel topics:
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- In the fast-paced world of BANI, VUCA – does strategic planning still make sense?
- Is cascading changes and decisions feasible at this rate?
- How do you turn a vision into an action plan?
- If not 20th century strategic planning, then what’s next?
SOCIAL IMPACT*, or strategic thinking in action.
The second part of the meeting is a Time Machine simulation, an experience of an engaging team technique for building an ambitious vision by activating strategic thinking in a diverse team. We will use it to collectively experience supporting this year’s Game Changers Academy grantee, the Spring Association**. The author of this method, Scott Cochrane, tapped into our courage to think about the future. Thanks to the discoveries of neuroscience, he facilitated the removal of limitations and blockages from our thinking system, resulting from beliefs or the situation at hand. This is how the Time Machine technique works. Together we will create an engaging, inspiring and socially meaningful experience that works best with a diverse team of leaders and experts from different organizations and worlds. By activating and coaching strategic thinking, we have the opportunity to support the Spring Association in developing non-obvious solutions and inspiring visions. “The most effective strategies are visions, not plans”. – Henry Mintzberg says. Once again, as part of the GCA Social Impact program, we will work together on a specific challenge of one of the largest NGOs in Poland. After the simulation, we will invite you for small refreshments, networking and exchange of ideas behind the scenes.
Approximate Agenda of the Meeting
9.00 Registration start and morning coffee
9.30 Panel discussion
10.45 Short coffee break
11.00 start of Time Machine Workshop
14.00 Discussion and brief summary
15.30 Refreshments and networking
- Game Changers Academy – SOCIAL IMPACT*.
- This is an annual initiative in which we join forces to support a selected NGO working on systemic and large-scale solutions to social challenges. To date, Game Changers Academy has funded as many as 9 scholarships for representatives of the non-profit sector, and this will be the fifth time we organize GCA Social Impact sessions. In previous years, we supported, among others, the Children’s Memorial Health Center IP and the area of public health – as a result, the KIDS Foundation – Children’s Hospital Innovators Club was established. In 2021, we worked with the Give Children Strength Foundation (reported here), focusing on the issue of disseminating standards to protect children from abuse. In 2022, we dedicated the year to climate issues, supporting a team from one of the international organizations, the United Nations – specifically, the UN Global Compact Poland initiative. In 2023, we took to the wall the challenge of a foundation dedicated to education and building smart schools – the Center for Civic Education.
- Spring Association**
- The Spring Association is one of the largest non-governmental organizations in Poland – organizer of such projects as Szlachetna Paczka and Future Academy.
Spring coordinates a number of system projects implemented nationwide. It creates their assumptions and methodology, management, IT, communication, training and logistics systems. Thanks to standardization, the solutions are implemented throughout Poland and allow to engage hundreds of thousands of people in helping. The Association’s initiatives respond to current social needs and challenges.
Spring’s projects are based mainly on the work of volunteers and the financial support of individual and business donors.
- Academy of the Future has been helping Children who do not believe in themselves, have low self-esteem since 2003. It is a safe, creative space where the Child meets another human being, an adult who is willing to devote his time and attention to him, to be a wise companion for him.
Academy of the Future is based on the combination of Donors, Volunteers and beneficiaries of the program, i.e. Children. Donors fund an individual Index of Success for a selected Child, thus supporting the development of the Academy. Thanks to the weekly individual classes with a personal volunteer tutor, which last during the school year, the Children open up to the world, gain a new perspective and gain self-confidence.
The Academy of the Future has grown from a local project to a nationwide scale and is now present in more than 200 schools in about 60 cities across Poland, with about 2,000 Children helped in each edition. - Read more about the Association here https://www.wiosna.org.pl/o-nas/
The Spring Association in the GCA Master of Business Change program is represented by the Director of Noble Parcel and Future Academy, Agnieszka Grzechnik.
