A strategic plan built without creative thinking tends to just repeat what everyone else in the industry is already doing — which is exactly why so many plans produce mediocre results even when they're technically well-executed. This Training Course in Creative Thinking for Strategic Planning, delivered by the Arab British Fellowship Training Academy, is designed to fix that by training participants to generate real alternatives, not just follow a template.

Applied fully and properly, strategic planning can transform an organization's growth trajectory: it lets leadership define goals precisely and pursue them deliberately, grow market share and profits, and attract the right talent. Getting there means locating problems honestly, developing real solutions for them, and feeding back what's learned into the next round of planning — which is exactly the mini-program this course is built around.

Course Objectives:

• Identify the key skills managers need to develop administrative and planning levels.
• Spot strengths and weaknesses in current plans and anticipate future opportunities and threats.
• Evaluate contributing factors and brainstorm to define alternative strategic plans.
• Identify gaps between the present and the desired future, and close them through an integrated strategy.
• Avoid the common causes of failure in managing organizations and businesses.
• Identify the parties responsible for setting and owning strategic plans.

Target Audience:

• New entrepreneurs and business managers in public and private institutions.
• Owners of multiple establishments and business interests.
• Officials at all administrative levels responsible for operations and strategic plans.

• Module 1: Why Creative Thinking Is the Missing Ingredient in Strategic Planning

  • The importance and benefits of strategic planning
  • Common obstacles that block creative planning
  • Responsibilities involved in the planning process

• Module 2: Scanning the Environment for Fresh Insight

  • Political, environmental, social, and technological analysis
  • Identifying an organization's distinct core competencies
  • Conducting a SWOT analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats

• Module 3: Brainstorming Strategic Alternatives

  • Evaluating factors to select the right strategy
  • Brainstorming and exchanging ideas for different alternatives
  • Choosing among competing options

• Module 4: Evaluating Alternatives and Aligning Them with Reality

  • Analyzing and evaluating strategic alternatives
  • Applying TOWS analysis
  • Matching strategies to the organization's real capabilities and identifying gaps

• Module 5: From Idea to Action — Formulating the Plan

  • Closing the gaps through targeted practice
  • Responsibilities for formulating the strategic plan and setting milestones
  • Launching programs and projects from the strategy, with employee participation

• Module 6: Monitoring, Measuring, and Adapting the Strategy

  • Setting performance measures and unifying evaluation indicators
  • Forecasting, planning for, and responding to change
  • Avoiding the common causes of strategic failure

• Module 7: Putting It Together — Practical Workshop

  • Applying the full process to a real or simulated case
  • Group exercises in generating and defending alternatives
  • Feedback and continuous refinement of the plan