strategy activation boot camp header

Strategy Activation Boot Camp

Bridge the gap between your vision and implementation with
Strategy Activation!

The UW E-Business Consortium (UWEBC), in collaboration with XPLANE, is proud to bring this unique Strategy Activation Boot Camp exclusively to the UWEBC network. UWEBC membership is not required to participate.

A frequently cited statistic in the domain of change management is “70% of change projects fail.” Sadly, no one bats an eye at numbers like that because making change that sticks is incredibly difficult! It is not possible to know what obstacles you will encounter along your change journey – and in organizations there may be hundreds, if not thousands, of people to bring along in implementing the change. Whether it’s failing to recognize that your organization is made up of people that don’t follow instructions as a machine would and need to be engaged to see it through, or it’s just not realistic to be able to invest the resources necessary to see it to its conclusion, there is so much nuance involved in getting it right. Despite the challenges, we continue trying because the cost of not changing is too significant.

Strategy Activation is the art and science of persuading people to align around, engage with, and adopt new ways of working in order to achieve a shared vision. In this Boot Camp, you will move from feeling frustrated that you can’t get people on board with change to effectively applying a powerful process that moves people from alignment to adoption and developing a strategy activation plan tailored to your organization. The course will introduce an overall framework as the first step in building your strategy activation practice, providing you with the tools, skills – and confidence – to see your team through the successful execution of your current and future change initiatives.

Following three full-day in-person classroom sessions led by Aric Wood, CEO of XPLANE, you will have the opportunity to fortify your learning by participating in three virtual collaborative learning sessions with classmates, facilitated by UWEBC Practice Director Matthew Cone, to share and discuss experiences around applying the methods, processes, and tools learned in the class.

By participating in this Boot Camp, you will:

  • Learn a step-by-step, proven system for engaging employees in change initiatives.
  • Acquire flexible change activation tools that can be applied immediately and reused for multiple applications.
  • Problem-solve and build relations with other professionals navigating similar change challenges.
  • Gain powerful insights into reasons strategy activation fails—and how to avoid the pitfalls.
  • Experience the framework in action led by an expert practitioner.
  • Complete activities and leave the course with a full draft of your unique strategy activation plan.

Learners will leave with:

  • A strategy activation plan geared to your organization that you can implement right away.
  • An instructional guide for how to lead the activities and ask the critical questions to continue refining your plan for your context.
  • Tools and frameworks for leading the activities in your daily practice.
  • A copy of “The Strategy Activation Playbook” to reference as you use these skills.

DATE

Three full-day, in-person sessions on the UW-Madison campus:

  • June 12-14, 2023, 9:00am-4:00pm

Three virtual follow-up sessions to share and discuss experiences around applying class concepts with classmates, facilitated by UWEBC Practice Director Matthew Cone:

  • June 26, 2023, 9:00am-12:00pm
  • July 14, 2023, 9:00am-12:00pm
  • August 9, 2023, 9:00am-11:00am

Interested in this Boot Camp, but unable to attend this time for whatever reason?

Click here to be notified about future offerings of the Boot Camp

This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.

Learn from the best in the field

Aric Wood, CEO

Aric leads XPLANE as its CEO and leader of the Strategic Planning and Strategy Activation practices, helping non-profit, government, and Fortune 500 clients chart a clear strategy and a path to achieve it. He is an international keynote speaker and has appeared in publications and broadcasts, including Forbes, CNN, Business Week, Entrepreneur, and Inc. Magazine.

Prior to his work at XPLANE, Aric served in leadership roles at Intuit and Epinions.com, and as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company. He earned his MBA at Harvard Business School.

The UWEBC is partnering with XPLANE, the leading advisory firm helping organizations solve complex problems and accelerate immediate and lasting results by leveraging visual thinking, design facilitation, co-creation, and people-centered design.

XPLANE exists to help you lead and realize your most significant change by activating your people. Whether launching a new vision and strategy or embedding new ways of working, we help you accelerate understanding and adoption by engaging your teams with communications, learning programs, and tools to accelerate adoption and results.

Decades of firsthand experience with global organizations inform our point of view that organizations are organisms, not machines. People are the cells that make up organizations and work in concert with systems, processes, norms, and behaviors, and guiding strategies.

We view your organization as a system and approach challenges from multiple dimensions to diagnose and improve the system as a whole, never losing sight of the importance of the people who make it run.

Our dynamic team combines the strategic expertise of a consulting firm with the creative power of a design studio. Our unique approach combines hands-on visual thinking, co-creation, and people-centered design to help you envision your organization’s future, design the path to get there, and bring your vision to life.

Overview

Day One:

Full-day, in-person classroom session.

FUNDAMENTALS OF STRATEGY ACTIVATION

Define Strategy Activation and explore principles of Modern Organizational Change. Align your Navigation System and develop a Measurement System.

Day Two:

Full-day, in-person classroom session.

DISCOVER & DESIGN

Keep empathy at the center while analyzing stakeholders, identifying Barriers to Change, and drafting your Activation Plan.

Day Three:

Full-day, in-person classroom session.

EXECUTE

Put your insights to work to continuously adapt and refine your plan. Design a Governance Model and consider the role of effective leadership in modern organizations.

Following the Classroom Sessions:

Leverage your cohort of peers to hear different approaches to implementing the methods and tools discussed in the course to better understand the positive impact you can make on your business using Strategy Activation.

Who should attend?

Executive Leaders: Developing and enacting organizational strategies across large and complex organizations.

Managers: Ensuring their teams are contributing effectively to executing corporate strategy.

Strategy and Management Consultants: Supporting/ facilitating clients through change initiatives.

Transformation and Learning Professionals: Looking to equip and align teams toward effective collaboration.

This Boot Camp is for you if…

  • You are responsible for major change initiatives in your organization.
  • You are part of a change or transformation team and want to build new skills to be more successful.
  • You are advising others on how to activate change in their organizations.
  • You need to engage employees more deeply in a change program.
  • You want to build new skills using change tools rooted in people-centered design, co-creation, and visual thinking.
  • You want to embed a more effective change methodology into your organization.
  • You are an advanced change practitioner who may benefit from the upcoming deep dive series.

Location and Accomodations

The in-person classroom sessions will take place at:

UW-Madison Pyle Center
702 Langdon St
Madison, WI 53706

These hotels are within easy walking distance of the Pyle Center. Book a room early to ensure availability!

UW-Madison Fluno Center Hotel
601 University Ave Madison, WI 53715
920-437-5900

Graduate MADISON
601 Langdon St Madison, WI 53703
920-393-7499

Hampton Inn & Suites Madison/Downtown
440 W Johnson St Madison, WI 53703
920-432-1234

Questions about this Boot Camp?

Matthew Cone

Position title: Customer Service Practice Director

Email: matthew.cone@uwebc.wisc.edu

Phone: 608-263-0635