Home / Non-Accredited / Strategy, Risk, Governance & Compliance / Strategic Execution Masterclass: Develop, Implement and Evaluate an Operational Plan (3 days)
Quick Look Course Summary:Strategic Execution Masterclass: Develop, Implement and Evaluate an Operational Plan (3 days)
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Length: 3 day(s)
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Price (at your venue): 1 Person R 14,997 EX VAT 3 Person R 11,205 EX VAT 10 Person R 8,120 EX VAT
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Certification Type:Non-Accredited
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Locations & Venues: Off-site or in-house. We train in all major city centres throughout South Africa.
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Strategic Execution Masterclass: Develop, Implement and Evaluate an Operational Plan (3 days)
Turn your organisation's strategy into a workable plan for your unit – then deliver it, measure it and correct course before targets slip.
Most strategies fail somewhere between the boardroom and the work floor. Heads of department receive targets but no method for turning them into a plan their team can run, so work drifts, resources go to the loudest request and problems only surface at the quarterly review. Operational planning training closes that gap by giving managers one practical process for the full cycle: decide how the unit will contribute, plan the work, deliver it and check that it is working.
Over three days delegates build an operational plan for their own unit. Day one covers analysis and operational strategy: reading the organisation's strategy, scanning the unit's environment and choosing where to focus. Day two turns that strategy into a plan with SMART objectives, actions, owners, budgets, timelines and a stakeholder communication plan. Day three deals with execution: organising implementation, choosing KPIs, setting up monitoring routines, analysing variances and taking corrective action.
Delegates bring their unit's real targets and leave with a draft plan and a one-page monitoring dashboard they can take straight to their manager. Examples come from South African private and public sector settings, including planning around budget cuts, supplier failures and load-shedding.
Why this course
For your organisation
- Departmental plans that link clearly to the organisation's strategy
- Resources allocated by priority, not by whoever asks loudest
- Earlier warning when targets are slipping, with a record of corrective action
- Managers who report progress against agreed KPIs in a consistent format
- Better coordination between units that depend on each other
For your delegates
- A step-by-step method for building a unit operational plan
- A draft plan for your own unit, written during the course
- Templates for action plans, resource schedules and KPI dashboards
- Confidence to present and defend your plan to senior management
What delegates will be able to do
- Interpret the organisation's strategy and translate it into priorities for your unit
- Analyse the unit's internal and external environment using SWOT and stakeholder mapping
- Formulate operational strategies that fit the unit's capacity and constraints
- Write an operational plan with SMART objectives, actions, owners, timelines and a budget
- Identify the risks to the plan and build contingencies into it
- Organise people and resources to implement the plan
- Select KPIs and data sources to track progress
- Monitor performance, analyse variances and take corrective action
- Evaluate the plan at the end of the cycle and feed the lessons into the next one
Who should attend
Heads of department, section and divisional managers, operations managers, supervisors moving into middle management, project managers, business analysts, and public sector and non-profit managers who are responsible for turning organisational strategy into a plan for their unit and delivering it. Delegates get the most from the course when they bring their unit's current targets or business plan.
Course outline
Day 1 – From strategy to operational strategy
How strategy and operations connect
- Strategic, tactical and operational plans: what each one is for
- How vision, mission and strategic objectives cascade to a unit
- Why plans fail at the execution stage
- The planning cycle: analyse, plan, implement, monitor, evaluate
Analysing your unit's situation
- Internal analysis: people, processes, systems and capacity
- External analysis: customers, suppliers, regulation and the economy
- A SWOT analysis that leads to decisions
- Mapping stakeholders by influence and interest
- Exercise: a situational analysis of your own unit
Formulating operational strategies
- Translating organisational goals into unit priorities
- Generating and comparing strategic options
- Tailoring the strategy to the unit's capacity and culture
- Testing options against stakeholder needs and expectations
- Selecting and documenting the unit's operational strategy
Risk in the strategy
- Identifying what could derail the strategy
- Rating likelihood and impact
- Building contingency into strategic choices
- Planning for disruptions such as supplier failure and load-shedding
Day 2 – Building the operational plan
Setting objectives and targets
- Writing SMART objectives for the unit
- Balancing financial, customer, process and people objectives
- Setting realistic targets from baseline data
- Aligning team and individual objectives with the plan
Action planning and scheduling
- Breaking objectives into activities and milestones
- Assigning owners and deadlines
- Sequencing work and spotting dependencies
- Building a realistic timeline with a simple Gantt chart
Resources, budget and structure
- Estimating people, equipment, time and money
- Allocating scarce resources by priority
- Drafting the unit budget that supports the plan
- Structuring the team and clarifying roles
Stakeholder engagement and communication
- Securing support from senior management and peers
- Communicating the plan to the team
- Agreeing service levels with other units
- A communication plan for the planning period
Workshop: drafting your operational plan
- Completing the operational plan template for your unit
- Peer review in small groups
- Facilitator feedback and refinement
Day 3 – Implementing, monitoring and evaluating
Organising implementation
- Launching the plan with the team
- Delegating and following up
- Managing change and resistance during implementation
- Staying adaptable when circumstances shift
Measuring performance
- Choosing KPIs that measure what matters
- Lead and lag indicators
- Selecting data collection methods and sources
- Building a one-page monitoring dashboard
Monitoring and corrective action
- Weekly and monthly review routines
- Spotting deviations and analysing variances
- Finding root causes rather than treating symptoms
- Deciding on and recording corrective action
- Reporting progress to senior management
Evaluating the plan
- Evaluating results against objectives at the end of the cycle
- Assessing what worked in the strategy and in the plan
- Feeding lessons into the next planning cycle
- Building a habit of continuous improvement in the unit
Action plan and close
- Finalising your unit plan and monitoring dashboard
- Personal 30-day implementation actions
- Evaluation and close
How it is delivered
Three days, 08:30-16:00. In person at your offices anywhere in South Africa, at a BOTI venue, or live online. One delegate or a group of up to 20; examples tailored to your sector on request. Workbook, planning templates and a KPI dashboard template included. We deliver it at your offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and anywhere else in South Africa, at a BOTI venue in Johannesburg, or live online for teams in different places.
What our clients say
“The course was efficiently scheduled and planned around our timetable. We were impressed by the quality of training”
“Coaching sessions have been delivered on a consistent monthly basis throughout the engagement, with BOTI's facilitators demonstrating professionalism, flexibility in scheduling, and a strong ability to tailor coaching content to the individual development needs of our delegates.”
“All training programmes were delivered in a highly professional manner, with effective coordination and strict adherence to our scheduling requirements. The facilitators demonstrated a commendable level of expertise, and the quality of delivery consistently met our expectations.”
Enrol or ask a question
Frequently asked questions
Can you run this course at our offices?
Yes. We train at client premises anywhere in South Africa, at a BOTI venue, or live online. In-house groups can work on one shared departmental plan.
How many delegates can attend?
From one delegate to a group of about 20. The price per delegate drops as the group grows – see the price table, or ask us for a quote.
Is the course accredited?
No. It is a non-accredited short course, and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance.
Can we work on our own strategy and targets?
Yes, and we recommend it. Send us your strategic plan or annual performance plan beforehand and the facilitator builds the exercises around it.
How is this different from the new venture strategy course?
This course is for managers who run a unit inside an established organisation and must deliver someone else's strategy. Plan Strategically to Improve New Venture Performance is for owners and managers of new and small businesses who set the strategy themselves.
Can you run this course in Johannesburg, Cape Town or Durban?
Yes. We train on site at your offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and across South Africa, at a BOTI venue in Johannesburg, or live online so a team spread over several offices can attend together.
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