BrainZooming

APRIL 6, 2016

I am in New York today delivering a Brainzooming branding strategy workshop on Engaging Your Internal Brand Team. The event is the Brand Strategy Conference. Our content addresses collaborative ways to strategically engage employees in creating and delivering the best brand experience. Mike Brown.

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BrainZooming

OCTOBER 24, 2016

Here’s the strategic thinking question I saw in that moment: Where are your mirrors? 10 Keys to Engaging Stakeholders to Create Improved Results. Creating Strategic Impact” Leaders are looking for powerful ways to engage strong collaborators to shape shared visions. What’s your mirror? – Mike Brown.

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BrainZooming

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Yesterday’s post on using a new type of SWOT analysis to stimulate bolder strategic conversations in strategy meetings garnered quite a bit of attention. It received enough attention that we decided to share an additional strategic thinking exercise that puts a twist on the typical SWOT analysis. We can help!

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Strategic Thinking Exercises Analysis Underperforming Technical Team 40

BrainZooming

NOVEMBER 13, 2017

What are all the change management strategy roles a change agent plays? We were working with an organization on its future vision while facilitating its strategic planning process. Despite the static language, strategic conversations with the team suggested they possessed a legitimate interest in pursuing innovative strategies.

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Strategy Strategy Change Management 93

BrainZooming

NOVEMBER 2, 2017

During this year’s presentations, I’ll be covering both brand strategy (Thursday) and social-first stories (Friday). 9 Areas to Tune-Up Your Brand Strategy for Peak Performance. Strategic Thinking Exercises – 5 Questions to Test Your Vision Statement Impact . Strategic Thinking Exercises – Where Does Your Brand Live? .

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Strategy Strategy Strategic Thinking Exercises 71

BrainZooming

OCTOBER 10, 2016

Going into a strategy meeting today that is sure to be a snoozer ? Even if you are going into the meeting with the same old people , the same old topics, and the same old expectations to just get a strategy done and put into a notebook on a shelf so you can go back to doing what you’ve always been doing, there is hope! Outrageous.

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Strategic Thinking Exercises Underperforming Technical Team Analysis 40

BrainZooming

NOVEMBER 25, 2015

If you have the right people present , and they are in a chatty mood, how can you morph the gathering into a strategic conversation? One way is by introducing strategic thinking questions that steer meandering conversations into strategic conversations. 9 Strategic Thinking Questions to Start Strategic Conversations.

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BrainZooming

APRIL 5, 2016

Since all the companies competed with one another, each one needed to determine its own business strategies. It seems ridiculous to help a company become better at strategic thinking and marketing without being allowed to tell them how to do it. Strategic Thinking Exercises – 3 Responses to New Ideas.

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Strategic Thinking Exercises Underperforming Technical Team Brainstorming 40

BrainZooming

APRIL 20, 2016

I asked them to engage in some strategic thinking about innovation opportunities for the company. They used that as a justification for opting out of strategic thinking. I disabused them of the idea, however, that their narrow job descriptions were synonymous with narrow strategic thinking roles.

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BrainZooming

AUGUST 29, 2017

Their processes turned out to be lax and inconsistent, which resulted in their customer experience strategy being the same. 3 Steps to Developing Consistent Customer Experience Strategy Processes. Off the top of my head, I suggested the following strategy to strengthen the consistency of their customer experience strategy.

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BrainZooming

JULY 25, 2016

It may be an old and tired story, but it still illustrates an important point about engagement and the willingness (or unwillingness) of employees to go all in with a new business initiative. The thing is, unsuccessful employee engagement strategies are not an employee problem. – Mike Brown.

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BrainZooming

OCTOBER 6, 2015

We, however, routinely share how we do things via our methodology, tools, and learnings from Brainzooming strategic thinking workshops. Why Do We Give Away So Many Strategic Thinking Exercises? These compilations are organized to be easier to use than combing through individual blog posts. What to Blog About?

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Strategic Thinking Exercises Creative Thinking eBook 40

BrainZooming

NOVEMBER 11, 2015

We have been working with a client that had done a lot of strategic thinking about a new initiative. Those are six starting places to use when you are doing strategic thinking about big lists. The thing is, they had done the hard strategic thinking and already had all the raw material they needed.

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BrainZooming

DECEMBER 9, 2015

We facilitated a two-day innovation strategy workshop for an industrial company. During the innovation strategy discussions, we addressed the production process changes from five different perspectives. From a facilitation standpoint, it was the most arduous couple of days of going through strategic thinking exercises I recall.

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BrainZooming

FEBRUARY 22, 2016

During in-person and online strategic planning workshops , we regularly use a strategic thinking exercise that helps leadership groups quickly identify a shared future vision statement. The descriptions are purposely neither good nor bad; they simply represent ways an organization could pursue the strategy.

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BrainZooming

JULY 12, 2016

Reviewing the innovation strategy challenges business executives identified when downloading Brainzooming eBooks , they frequently mention gaining “buy-in” for significant change initiatives. Here are five keys we’ve found for successfully engaging employees in innovation strategy. That’s no surprise. Ask me to participate.

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BrainZooming

AUGUST 10, 2018

Resources are a common barrier to innovation, download the Brainzooming innovation eBook, 16 Keys for Finding Resources to Accelerate Your Innovation Strategy. Accelerate will help you think about potential resources in dramatically new ways. What is the first innovation strategy question to ask? and lots of articles, too!

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Strategy Strategy Strategic Thinking eBook 45

BrainZooming

JUNE 26, 2018

Talking with one city’s representatives about strategies to sell-in a broadband recommendation with voters, they asked whether it is okay to engage its citizens after city leadership develops a recommendation. Engage your audience in collaborative strategic planning earlier than later. – Mike Brown.

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BrainZooming

MAY 31, 2017

Are your employees celebrities within your branding strategy activities? I’m asking about whether you feature your employees within your branding strategy in ways that allow them to attract attention and accolades for how great it is to have them as part of your brand? Want to guess the response to the idea?

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Strategy Strategy eBook Strategic Thinking 69

BrainZooming

JANUARY 31, 2017

Suppose you are on the hook to put together a team meeting or workshop to develop a strategy. Maybe you have done something similar before, or maybe you have never led a strategic planning process. Is there something or some place you can go to get ideas on how to develop a strategy workshop? Engaging participants.

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BrainZooming

OCTOBER 15, 2015

You start writing blog posts , stick with it nearly every day , repeat that for nearly eight years, and suddenly, you have two thousand blog posts. At least that’s what has happened with the Brainzooming blog! Today, based on the post counter in WordPress, is our two thousandth blog. MM, 2K, 2000.

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Strategic Thinking Exercises eBook Guidelines 40

BrainZooming

APRIL 22, 2016

I debuted a presentation on “Results – Creating Strategic Impact,” our mini-book on employee engagement ideas to boost an organization’s strategic thinking. The question was whether it makes sense to try and engage employees in the ways I discussed when they aren’t likely to be around for very long.

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Engagement Strategic Thinking Underperforming Technical Team Exercises 40

BrainZooming

FEBRUARY 13, 2017

If that’s the case, your task is to start turning the vision statement into strategy to drive and align activities consistent with it. 5 Ideas for Turning a Vision Statement into Strategy. Here are five ideas The Brainzooming Group uses to help clients when turning a vision statement into strategy. – Mike Brown.

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Strategy Strategy Exercises Strategic Thinking 81

BrainZooming

MAY 1, 2017

The four characteristics relate to quick decision making, engaging employees, anticipating forward-looking change, and delivering consistent performance. For each characteristic, here are related Brainzooming articles with exercises and tips to improve your own performance creating strategic impact. Engaging Employees.

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Underperforming Technical Team Strategic Thinking Exercises eBook 87

BrainZooming

FEBRUARY 24, 2017

We have released a host of eBooks on strategic planning exercises and ideas to increase collaboration, creative thinking, alignment, and successful implementation. The Results eBook makes our case for collaborative strategy planning among your organization’s employees (and even, in many cases, your customers).

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Exercises Tools eBook Strategic Thinking 94

BrainZooming

MAY 6, 2016

At the 2016 Brand Strategy Conference, Antonia Dean, Director – Marketing, Brand Development, & Strategy at The Estée Lauder Companies covered the strategic thinking ideas behind creating an entrepreneurial environment in a large company. 10 Keys to Engaging Employees to Improve Strategic Results.

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Strategic Thinking Underperforming Technical Team Company Culture 40

BrainZooming

FEBRUARY 10, 2017

We routinely ask those of you downloading Brainzooming strategy and innovation eBooks to share – if you are willing – the opportunities and challenges you are facing at the time. I went back through recent responses from among readers who are on the blog most frequently. Engaging Employees in High Turnover Situations.

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Strategy Strategy eBook Strategic Thinking 40

BrainZooming

DECEMBER 1, 2015

Success factors in strategic planning and creating collaborative strategy were the central topics we tackled on an edition of Smart Companies Radio, hosted by Kelly Scanlon, the owner of Thinking Bigger Business Media, Inc., Creating Strategic Impact mini-book. 10 Keys to Collaborative Strategy and Strategic Planning.

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BrainZooming

JANUARY 26, 2016

I fielded a request for a few ideas on social engagement for an upcoming eBook an online company is creating. One of the questions related to how brands can set themselves apart through a customer experience strategy and outstanding customer engagement. Innovation Strategy to Grow Your Business?

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Strategy Strategy eBook Strategic Thinking 40

BrainZooming

APRIL 21, 2017

The folks at Armada Corporate Intelligence offered an internal branding strategy take on the United Airlines woes, offering strategic thinking questions you can ask and answer to improve your brand’s resiliency and avoid brand crises. 3 Ways Your Internal Branding Strategy Can Be Smarter than United Airlines.

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Strategy Strategy Underperforming Technical Team Technical Review 72

BrainZooming

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

That sentiment all revolves around our content marketing strategy. The client we’re onsite with today working on an innovation strategy comes with an intriguing history. He changed jobs early in 2017 and re-subscribed to the blog with his new company’s email address. Looking for Brand Innovation to Grow Your Business?

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eBook Strategic Thinking Exercises Strategy 70

BrainZooming

JUNE 29, 2017

Someone downloaded a free Brainzooming strategy eBook, noting his biggest strategy challenge is “how to do a strategic planning process when you are new.” Secure copies of previous plans and strategy documents, and don’t settle for the first things people offer you. Getting to What Is Strategic.

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Resources Strategic Thinking Comparison Strategy 86

Leapfrogging

JUNE 3, 2020

Consultants are increasingly being pigeonholed as either “strategic” (and worth the high price) or basic “resources” for implementation (and not worth more than a modest hourly rate). How do you digitize a robust, collaborative business strategy process for an executive team, for example?

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BrainZooming

AUGUST 11, 2016

What leadership skills are necessary to successfully champion a collaborative strategy ? A client fully immersed in developing and implementing a collaborative strategy asked that question. When we leave after the plan is completed, however, we’re finding many leaders aren’t prepared to implement a collaborative strategy plan.

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Leapfrogging

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

A speaker’s ability to captivate, engage, and inspire the audience sets the tone and leaves a lasting impression. On the other hand, an ill-suited speaker may lead to disinterest, a lack of engagement, and a negative perception of the event’s value.

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BrainZooming

MARCH 27, 2018

The combination of branding exercises effectively identified new language to describe its strategic direction and supporting strategies. During the exercises and conversations to develop its big strategy statement , we discussed the role that expertise plays in the organization’s brand.

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Exercises How To Strategic Thinking eBook 61

BrainZooming

MARCH 9, 2016

The challenge in a client meeting was developing the strategy for a later meeting intended to build support for a biennial community event. The team leader asked, “How is it possible to listen to us talk and turn it into a strategy so quickly?”. 9 Creative Thinking Skills to Turn Talk into Strategy. – Mike Brown.

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