CEO strategy speech - prepare a speech to open a strategy workshop. By Ruth Tearle
As a CEO, you are expected to deliver the opening address at your organisation's strategic planning workshop or retreat.
The strategy speech, which sets the scene for the strategy workshop, usually lasts between 15 and 30 minutes.
What you choose to focus on in your speech, will affect what your team focuses on and how they will behave during the strategy workshop.
Why A CEo's opening speech is important
Set expectations for a strategy retreat
When you present your opening address at the start of a strategic planning workshop, the delegates at the workshop use your speech to determine:
- Whether to trust the workshop agenda or not. If what you speak about in your opening address doesn't match the agenda of the workshop, your team will become confused. They will spend hours wanting to debate the workshop agenda, rather than getting on and doing strategy.
- What to focus their thinking on. There is a difference between operational and strategic thinking. Leaders usually spend most of their time on operational thinking. This involves focusing on what is happening in the short term, inside the organization. However, developing a powerful strategy involves focusing on what is happening outside of the organization, and building a competitive advantage for the long term future. Many delegates are not comfortable with this type of strategic thinking. So if the CEO focuses on short term operational issues in his opening speech, the team will resist discussing factors that could affect the long term strategic direction of the organization.
- Whether or not to trust the facilitator. How you introduce the facilitator will determine whether or not the team trusts they are in competent hands and therefore whether they will support or sabotage the facilitator.
- The CEO's opening speech at a strategy workshop affects what the team focuses on and how they behave during the workshop.
- Whether or not to trust you, the leader to implement the plan after the workshop. Many people have attended many strategy workshops in their careers. Far too often, their experience has been that the strategic plans they developed at strategy workshop, never got implemented. Once the workshop was over, maybe the plan was communicated, but after that, everything drifted back to normal. So delegates are now wondering if you (as CEO) are going to do what it takes to implement the results of this workshop. And therefore if is worth their while to put in any effort in developing a new strategic plan.
- How they need to behave during the workshop. Many leaders are used to multi-tasking in their daily jobs. Phone calls, emails, texting and tweeting are part of a normal day's work. Yet during a strategy workshop, distractions and interruptions destroy the flow of strategic thinking, and prevent your team from crafting a powerful strategic plan. Teams often need to be told at the start of the workshop, not to allow themselves to become distracted during the workshop.
- How they need to work with one another during the workshop. Many organisations operate in silos. People are used to working with people in their own divisions, regions, or departments. Often they don't know, understand or get along with people in other areas, divisions or regions. This means they look at any organizational issue from the perspective of their own area only. People need to be reminded that a strategy workshop provides a wonderful opportunity to learn from people in different areas of the organization.
- How much confidence you have in them. In anything that requires high performance of teams, (whether it is a soccer match or a symphony concert,) a coach can inspire a team to either perform at levels they never believed possible, or can destroy the confidence of the players. It is important that at the start of a strategy workshop that you the CEO, tell the team that you believe that by working together as a team, you are confident that they will be able to solve the challenges facing the organization today.
2. the purpose of your opening speech
Shape the expectations of delegates
Use your opening speech to shape the expectations of workshop delegates so as to:
- The CEO's strategy speech sets the tone for how people are expected to behave during the strategy workshop.
Help the team focus on the challenges facing your organization. - Help them understand the purpose of the strategy workshop.
- Help them to understand the results you expect from the workshop.
- Help them accept the process they will go through during the workshop to achieve those results.
- Clarify what will happen to the work they do during the workshop, after the workshop.
- Encourage everyone to contribute to the workshop.
- Encourage people to work with and learn from people from different areas of the organization.
- Get people to focus on what will be in the best interests of the organization rather than in their own interests.
What to include in a speech to open a strategy retreat
Welcome
Let your team know that you respect them and look forward to their contribution.
- Welcome the group to the strategic planning workshop for your organization.
- State that you look forward to everyone contributing towards creating your future together.
For example:
"I’d like to welcome you all to the Strategic Planning workshop for the (put in the name of your organization.) Over the next 3 days we will be working together as a group to develop our strategic plan together. And I look forward to seeing everyone contribute towards creating our future together."
The strategic challenges facing our organisation today
1. Provide your view of your organization today - where it sits in your industry, and which model or paradigm it has been working under.
For example:
"We are one of the top four financial services institutions in our country whichever way you want to measure it. By staff, branches, balance sheets, values transactions and profitability. But we need to protect our position and we need to do better.
Up till now we have been operating on a BancAssurance model. Most of our business comes from the bank’s database. We have a wide distribution network consisting of 1400 branches country wide. While this is difficult to copy, it is also a disadvantage in terms of costs."
2. Provide examples of how the world outside your organization is changing, and how this poses challenges to your organization.
For example:
"The economy is growing at a low rate. Unemployment is higher than ever before. People are now looking hard at costs. We are no longer just competing with banks, insurance companies and asset management companies. Telecom companies, medical aids, retailers and IT companies are now entering our markets. They no longer play by our rules. They don’t carry the costs of bricks and mortar branches so they are able to offer products and services at a fraction of the prices we charge..."
3. End by stating that the industry your organization is operating in, is likely to be very different in the future.
For example:
"The future of financial services industry is going to be very different from today."
3. The purpose of this workshop or strategy retreat
State the purpose of this strategic planning workshop.
For example:
"The purpose of this workshop is to develop a strategic plan for our organization to be successful within this new competitive world."
4. The process we will follow to build our strategic plan
1. Explain what you will be doing during the workshop.
For example:
"During this workshop, we will:
- Develop a clear picture or vision of what our organization will look like, if it is successful, in 5 years time.
- Develop a clear picture of our organization today.
- Develop specific projects of what we need to do in the next 5 years to move from where we are today, towards our vision."
2. Explain what will happen to the strategic plan after the workshop.
For example:
"After the workshop:
- The consultant will document what we discussed in the form of a strategic plan and some group projects to begin implementing the plan.
- We will present this plan to our board of directors in March.
- Each subsidiary, business unit, region or division will develop their plans to support the new strategy."
- We will create project teams to work on strategic projects that cut across different divisions, SBUs and regions."
5. What you expect from the group.
State the behaviours you expect and don't expect from the group.
For example:
"We have invited you all here today, because crafting a high quality strategic plan is a difficult task to do alone. But if we all contribute our knowledge and ideas – we will create something powerful together.
To produce an excellent strategic plan that we can all be proud of, I am going to ask you all to remain focused and not to get distracted by other issues.
- Switch off your mobile phones.
- Focus on the organization as a whole in the future, rather than just on your own area.
- Work in teams and try to get the best out of one another.
- Do the activities given to you.
- Keep to the time limits given by the facilitator.
- Be creative and enjoy the workshop!"
The role you (The CEO) will play during the workshop
Explain the role you will play during the workshop. Get across the idea that there is no status during the workshop.
For example:
"During the next 3 days, I will not be acting as a CEO. Rather I will be a member of the team – working together with you to develop our vision."
Introduce the facilitator
Introduce the facilitator in a way that establishes his/her credibility.
For example:
"I'd like to introduce you to xxx, who will be leading us step by step through the process of developing our strategic plan."
State the companies the facilitator has worked with. Especially choose those companies that are part of your industry.
For example:
"xxx is one of the top strategy consultants in South Africa. She has worked over 98 companies and with most of the blue chip companies in our country as well as internationally. In our industry she has worked with:
- South African Reserve Bank.
- Standard Bank.
- Discovery Health.
- Metropolitan Group.
- Joshua Doore."
Explain why you chose that facilitator.
For example:
"She has a very creative way of getting the best out of each of us. And of ensuring that together we develop a strategy we can be proud of. So we are in very capable hands. I’d like to hand you over to our facilitator."
A short, concise speech of about 15 - 30 minutes covering the points listed above, will set the scene for a successful strategy workshop.
Strategy for CEo's - A step by step guide
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