Strategic Thinking in Action

Pull yourself out of the operational detail and lead where it matters.

The Problem

So many senior leaders find themselves pulled down into the details of day-to-day operations far too often.

The busier they get, the harder it is to lift their eyes to the horizon. The urgent crowds out the important, and the leadership the organisation actually needs from them never quite happens.

The Insight

The operational leader leans on hard work. The strategic leader leans on hard decisions and hard conversations. Strategic thinking is a discipline that can be learned and practised, and it starts with stepping off the dance floor and onto the balcony. Michelle Rushton and Shaun Kenny, founders of People of Influence, help senior leaders build exactly this habit.

Watch

Watch a short introduction to bringing strategic thinking into your day-to-day work.

The balcony and the dance floor

A core idea from adaptive leadership. Leaders spend most of their time on the dance floor, caught up in the action. The strategic leader learns to step onto the balcony, to see the whole system, the stakeholders and the horizon, then move deliberately between the two.

“The operational leader leans on hard work.
The strategic leader leans on hard decisions and hard conversations.”

Key Outcomes

What your leaders walk away with

01
Know what great looks like
Leaders understand what strategic leadership actually looks like, and how the strategic leader differs from the operational one.
02
See where they stand today
The Wall Street simulation gives an honest, in-the-moment read on how strategically each leader thinks and acts under pressure.
03
Strategies they can use immediately
Practical frameworks and tools, from Outside-In Thinking to Balcony Time and the Buffet Mindset, ready for the very next week of work.
04
Practise the skill for real
Leaders apply strategic thinking live in the simulation and against their own real challenges, with feedback from colleagues and the facilitator.
05
A toolkit and an action plan
Each participant receives a Takeaway Toolkit, plus the balcony time and hard decisions they commit to in the session.
06
Nudges that reinforce over time
Behavioural nudges that remind and reinforce the strategic habits long after the session.
The Simulation

The Wall Street Behavioural Simulation

The session kicks off with the Wall Street Behavioural Simulation, a sophisticated, challenging, high-energy and tactile team-based activity. It puts participants in a competitive, pressured environment that tests their ability to think and act strategically. The training then piggybacks off the simulation, going deeper on the practical frameworks and tools they can use immediately in their work.

Watch the mini documentary →
A mini documentary of our Wall Street simulation with a senior group of leaders.
Session Flow

How the session unfolds

Timings and emphasis are tailored to your group and the time available.

1
Wall Street Behavioural Simulation
Teams compete under pressure in a fast, tactile simulation that surfaces how they really think and act when it counts.
2
Debrief
We unpack the strategic behaviours that showed up in the room, the good and the costly, and connect them to real work.
3
The balcony and the dance floor
The principles of adaptive leadership, and why balcony time is critical to leading strategically.
4
Outside-In Thinking
Stakeholder analysis and unit of analysis: how to see your goals from the outside in, at every level of the organisation.
5
Balcony Time and the Buffet Mindset
Practical habits for making strategic thinking a routine, not an afterthought, and for choosing rather than just doing.
6
Make it real
Each leader commits to the balcony time they will protect and the hard decisions they will take back to their work.
Format & Delivery

Shaped around your context

Duration
Half day (90-minute simulation plus 2 hours training)
Delivery
In person
Audience
Senior and executive leaders
Two ways to work with us

People of Influence is the consultancy through which Michelle Rushton and Shaun Kenny deliver leadership programs, team offsites and impactful conferences.

Contact People of Influence →

Leadership Engine is our proprietary platform for diagnostics, dashboards and roadmaps.

Visit Leadership Engine →