Ensure a nice-looking Counter Product Display
Strategic Thinking
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What does it mean?
Mastering the skill of Strategic Thinking means the ability to work with a proactive mindset, to identify concerns, and handle issues before they actually occur.
This requires thinking in both short term and long term perspectives when setting goals for your Region. Have in mind that each store and situation requires a specific fitting plan.
As a leader, you can solve cases by making quick fixes, but you will create sustainable impact by having a structured repeated plan. "A goal without a plan is just a wish".
Main Theory
Introduction
Strategic Thinking is the fundamentals of how to make a plan for the future to secure long-term performance. This is done by following sequence consisting of 3 steps:
1) Identify focus points
2) Set measurable goals
3) Outline how to reach the goals in a structured plan
You will need to master these three steps to prepare and navigate around future obstacles, ultimately ensuring a sustainable performance in the region:
THE 3 STEPS OF STRATEGIC THINKING
1) Pro-activity: Identify focus areas
Identifying what actions that are needed in the future is determined and practiced by reviewing five different kind of aspects:
A) Store Observation
You observe the current status of the stores and identify needed improvements and changes (Critical Thinking)
B) KPI Review
You study the RM Reporting to get insights on which parameters the different stores need to improve
C) Team Performance Overview
You plan the progressions and training of an employee to strengthen operational and people skills to raise the performance in the store.
D) Seasonal Calendar
You use the Seasonal Market Calendar to plan and execute different kind of tasks at the most appropriate time of the year (see appendix)
E) New Initiative
You plan an implementation of a new company initiative announced by the HQ
3-Months Plan aligned with Operational Excellence:
For the RM to improve the overall performance in a Region within the Circle of Operational Excellence, an RM must always work on aspects to improve all three categories; Employee Engagement, Guest Satisfaction & Financial Performance.
2) Goal-setting: Set the targets
Create operational goals and focus points to set the expectations of how well the actions should be executed. By setting goals for each of the stores, the BMs know what specific areas to improve and what they are working towards. In order to create realistic goals, we use the SMART model:
With the use of the SMART model, the RM can assess the quality of a goal. The process done by following steps:
Specific: Describe the goal as precisely as possible - it should be clear and obvious what the goal is
Measurable: Is it clear how and when you have reached the goal
Achievable: Do you have the skills and capabilities to accomplish the goal
Realistic: Is it realistically achieved given the tools and circumstances you work with
Timely: When exactly are you going to accomplish the goal, set a deadline
If your goal passes the progress of the SMART model, you can now set the goal and plan it going forward. If not, see if you can go on a compromise with your goal, else completely remove it from your plan of goals.
3) Planning: Structure and set the direction
The RM is responsible of showing the way with a long-term straight forward plan the BMs can stick to. This plan is a structured recipe of how to reach the goals and thereby improve the performance.
Planning vs. Reality:
Despite having a plan, the RM should be conscious of the reality and that everyday challenges and obstacles might occur. Despite these, it’s important that the RM’s trusts the plan and sticks to it, even with potential deviations.
The illustrations and icons in the figure could be synonyms for following challenges:
- No-shows
- Shift covering
- Disagreements
- Long e-mails
- Broken equipment
- Uplift in turnover
Secondary Theory
The Five Benefits of Planning?
"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail"
There are five major advantages of using Strategic Thinking and planning for the future. These five direct positive effects are:
“Planning facilitates management by objectives”
When giving your BM’s objectives to work with, there is no doubt about what to use time on as long-term improvement points have been delegated.
“Planning minimises uncertainties“
When you are planning for the future, uncertainties will have a smaller impact on your operation. If you are able to forecast any possible uncertainties and include them in your plan, you will be able to remove obstacles before they even occur.
“Planning facilitates co-ordination”
Planning makes you able to identify what future resources that are needed in the operation and makes you able to get the right people in before it is too late.
“Planning provides motivation”
People gets inspired when there is an actual plan they can follow. If there is no plan, the employees will experience a feeling of a disorganised environment and can suffer frustration.
“Planning provides a guide for action”
Employees can work towards something and won’t waste energy on unnecessary actions. Employees are most productive when they understand the purpose, have a guide of action and a goal to reach.
There are great benefits from making a strategic plan, but it all goes back to one thing: To create future stability. Strategic Planning is done to ensure a sustainable future and fix issues in an early phase to free yourself from fire-fighting.
The Five W's of Planning:
As an RM, the strategic plan must always be capable of answering The Five W’s to ensure that the plan is bullet proof:
The Five W’s:
- Why: Purpose and benefits
- What: Specific plan of objectives and goals
- Who: The involved participants and stakeholders
- Where: The locations of actions
- When: Clear timeline and deadlines
If all questions above can be replied, there is a great chance for the plan being as SMART as possible with high chances of succeeding.
Theory vs. Practice
It is naive to think that all theoretical understandings will happen 1:1 in practice, while it is also naive to think that all practical work can be done without any theoretical understanding.
It’s therefore inevitable that the RM uses their skills on planning short and long term goals going forward.
Theory is linear learning, while practice is chaotic and stressful. Using theory in practice will straighten out the chaos and make it less overwhelming.
Appendix
Understanding the seasonalities in Joe & The Juice
There are repeating challenges we experience at the same time of the year. We also know what time of the year we are facing increasing and decreasing turnovers. Having this in mind, it is up to us how we utilise this market seasonality in the best possible way.
Example: Planning of a BM Training
We will always prioritise to execute a BM training in slow months rather than in December where more focus is needed towards the store and operation. In that way, the conditions of the training will be the best possible.
When you are making a 3-month plan, you need to keep in mind the different seasonalities of your market. These can be found in the Seasonal Calendar:
Sum Up
The 3 steps of Strategic Thinking
1) Pro-activity: Identify needed actions and long-term focus points by:
- Observing improvements through a Critical Mindset
- Analysing KPI reports and pointing out negative patterns
- Ensuring growth planning and training of employees
- Applying the suggested focus areas from the Seasonal Calendar in the plan
- Planning the implementation of company initiatives to fully prepare workforce
2) Goal-setting: Set appropriate goals to long-term focus points
3) Planning: Structure the recipe of reaching the goals in a 3-month plan
Five BENEFITS of Planning = Reflect on each of the five wins of planning and ensure to put them into practice when working with the 3-month plan
SMART Goals = Make sure your plans are Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and with a Time Horizon
Five W's of Planning = Ensure you always know the Why, What, Who, Where and When of your plan
Theory vs. Practice = Planning is different from Reality. There will be obstacles, but trust the process.
The training of Strategic Thinking is divided into 4x exercises and 1x exam preparation that the RM must go through together with the Trainer.
- Exercise 1 is an entirely practical exercise with hypothetical topics.
- Exercise 2, 3 and 4 are portfolio exercises. The answers and findings from the exercises will be used in the exam where the RM has to create their first 3-month plan.
This means the RM and Trainer have to meet up 5 times to cover all exercises with a total OH Hours of 5 hours each. If the Trainer believes the exercises need to be revisited, use the allocated exercise OH hours once again and request approvals from the Market Manager or HR Manager.
Exercise 1: “Customize Seasonal Calendar”
Objective
The objective of this exercise is to let the RM review the template Seasonal Calendar and adjust relevant headlines to fit into the RM's own Region.
Step 1 - Review Seasonal Calendar Template- 10 minutes
Trainer and RM will now go through the template Seasonal Calendar. This is a template based on a general one-size fits all concept.
Understanding this framework, will give the RM an overall understanding of how the seasonality's change generally in the Company across all stores.
Step 2 - Discuss Content- 10 minutes
The RM will point out what information and headlines in the Seasonal Calendar template that doesn't match with the RM's own Region.
Trainer and RM will discuss the initiatives and identify the gaps between the template and the reality of RM's own Region in terms of seasonality's, turnover and trends.
Step 3 - Customise to fit own Situation - 20 minutes
The RM will now update the template in the Excel Toolbox in order to create a more fitting and realistic seasonal calendar, matching their own Region.
Step 4 - Present to Trainer - 10 minutes
The RM will present the updated and personal seasonal calendar to the Trainer by going through headlines and trends for each month.
The Trainer will provide feedback in order to describe the seasonality's as accurate as possible.
How to videos
Exercise 2: “Identify Focus Areas”
Objective
The objective of this exercise is to let the RM practice identifying challenges to include in the 3-month plan. These areas can either be directed towards one store or the region as a whole if it applies to all stores. These focus points will function as the individual plan for each of the BMs to focus on. The findings of the exercise is the baseline of topics that the RM will include in their very first 3-month plan later on.
Introduction
The RM will practice by creating 3 x focus points per store and practice making an Implementation plan to improve performance.
The choice of KPI’s should include 1 x KPI from each category within circle of operational excellence. Furthermore, it should tick off minimum one of these three boxes:
Let the RM argue why they haven chosen as they did.
Step 1 - Employee Engagement- 10 minutes
Inform the RM to get Engagement insights from the Peakon platform. The RM will note down the most challenging driver to improve on per store and select it in the toolbox.
Step 2 - Guest Satisfaction- 10 minutes
Inform the RM to review the latest store observations and guest feedback. The RM will identify 1 x KPI per store and select it from the RM Toolbox in order to improve the overall guest experience.
Step 3 - Financial Performance - 10 minutes
Inform the RM to review the latest RM Report and relevant KPI reports. The RM will select 1 x financial KPI from the toolbox which they strive to improve per store.
The RM will include and adjust relevant actions from the above and update their 3-months plan.
Exercise 3: “Goal Setting”
Objective
The objective of this exercise is to let the RM practice setting both ambitious, but also realistic goals and targets to their focus areas of improvement.
Introduction
The RM must create goals to each of the chosen focus points in the previous exercise.
The goals should preferably be quantitative, meaning they will be able to measure if the BM reach the goal by a single number or value.
Step 1 - Why We Set Goals - 10 minutes
Start by explaining that reaching the goal actually isn’t the essential part of goal-setting. The reason why we create goals is to make people try their very best to improve themselves towards the goal. In other words, it’s the journey - not the destination. Use the illustration as inspiration.
Step 2 - Consider Company Average & Benchmark - 10 minutes
Find out and note what the Company average is for each KPI and reflect on what performance level the stores can strive for per selected focus area.
Step 3 - Set Goals to Each KPI's in the Focus Areas - 20 minutes
Agree on and select a numeric target and goal to each of the focus points in the 3-months plan.
The goal must live up to following criteria:
- The goal must be ambitious for us show impactful improvements.
- The goal must be realistic for the store to achieve it within 3-months.
Example:
Focus Point: Counting and Stock Handling
Goal: BM to have maximum 5x counting mistakes 4 weeks in a row
Measure: Review KPI report and view if the BM has less than 5 counting mistakes those 4 weeks
Create 8x goals for each of the stores based on the focus points in the previous exercise:
Step 1: Observed improvement points = 3x goals to each store
Step 2: KPI improvements = 3x goals to each store
Step 3: Goal concerning the personal progression = 1x goal to each store
Step 4: Goal to each of the chosen focus points from Yearly Calendar = 1x goal to each store
Exercise 4: “Action Creation"
Objective
The objective of this exercise is to let the RM practice setting appropriate goals that are both optimistic and realistic.
Step 1 - Solution & Process Approach - 10 minutes
Trainer will explain theimportance of having both a solution and a process to each challenge.
DESCRIPTION:
Solution = Should either relate to a training module, team meeting, communication plan, follow up, or other kind of tool that can guide an action for the BM and the team.
Process = The time frame of improving the operational challenge. How many times should each part of the solution be done? What is the general process of guidance? All issues cannot be fixed in a one day
Example on Solution + Process Approach:
Operational Challenge: Low App Sale%
Solution:
- Focus on Converting guest on the App
- Goal: Convert 5 guest per day on the App
- Make sure the team is fully trained in the e-Campus modules:
—> App Module
—> Pre-Order Workflow
—> Lean Packaging
Process:
- Week 1: Re-train the BM in all app modules and teach an extensive “Why we have the App”.
- Week 2-4: BM to teach all Juicers in the two app modules.
- Week 5-8: Daily Target and result of App Conversations will be announced once a week to push Juicers to convert more guests.
Step 2 - Short- & Long-Term Thinking - 10 minutes
Trainer will explain the difference between having a short-term and a long-term approach and emphasize why both aspects are important.
DESCRIPTION:
Short term: What the RM plans to doon a short-term basis, most likely already next week and between 1-4thweek. These actions shall be explained very detailed and specifically in the3-months plan.
Long term: What the RM plans to doon a long-term basis, most likely from month 2-3. These actions shall beexplained more holistic with headlines in the 3-months plan.
Step 3 - Practice Solving Operational Challenges - 30 minutes
Inform the RM to createsolutions to each of the fictive challenge below. The RM needs to form both asolution & a process to each challenge in their work sheet:
CASES:
1. Store Observation
A) Hygiene Procedures
You experience that one of the stores has really bad hygiene procedures which also has been resulting in a few complaints
B) DOC Issues
You experience that all stores have remaining DOC issues which is affecting the perception of the stores in a negative way
2. KPI’s
A) High Waste
Waste is on average 6% for the whole region and no stores are below 3%
B) High Waiting Time
Average Waiting Time is 6 minutes for 1 of your stores and at 3,5 minutes for 3 other stores
3. Team Performance Overview
A) BM Training
One of your BMs have been performing well for a while and is ready to step up as BM Junior. Training needs to be planned and a Trainer requested.
B) Juicer Pipeline
You identify a Juicer as a solid talent and wants to test how well the person can perform
4. Seasonal Calendar
A) No Pipeline
There are no BM Talents in the region. No-one is capable of becoming BM within a short period of time as 3x SM’s are going part-time to study
B) Busy Times Ahead
You are facing increasing turnovers in all stores and want to prepare the workforce in the best possible way
5. New Initiative
A) New Waste Feature
The Waste App is in-active and all waste have to be registered at the List. This new function has to be taught to the whole region. A guide of how to use the function has been provided by the HQ.
B) New Menu
We are launching 4x new products that the Juicers doesn’t know how to make, and that our guests haven’t heard of before. All needed information is provided in E-Campus
Step 4 - The Five W's - 10 minutes
The Trainer will go through each plan and ask the RM about the following five W’s of their plan:
What: What is the specific plan, objectives,and goals?
Why: What is the purpose and benefitsof the plan?
Who: Who are the involved participants andstakeholders in the plan?
Where: Which locations are being used?
When: What are the timeline and includeddeadlines?
Exercise Sum Up
Overall, in order for the RM to implement strategic thinking, all efforts has to live up to the SMART model. All initiatives needs to be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and with a time horizon.
Each of the taught objectives in the four exercises is the foundation of the RM's abilities within the leadership skill Strategic Thinking. Therefore, it is important to apply the exercises in the work going forward to continuously expand the capabilities within the skill. Following overview illustrates exactly how each of the learnings should be incorporated in the RM’s work:
The 3-month plan should be created every second month continuously. When the first two months of the plan has been executed, the RM needs to review the plan for the last (third) month and then add 2 new months.
Every time a 3-month plan has been created, the RM needs to present it to the Market Manager and/or Area Manager. They will suggest changes and corrections to optimize it fully before presenting it to the BMs in their region.
Clean Seating and Tables
Clean Trash Bins in Customer Area
Deep Clean Centrifuge
Clean Bar Bins
Clean Bar Lamps + Speakers
Clean Cleaning Tools
Clean Drains
Clean Floor Panels
Clean Ice Machine
Clean Menu
Clean Sandwich Grills
Clean Toilets
Clean Walls and Pictures
Clean Fridges
Deep Clean Stockroom + Fridges
Clean Bar Front
Clean Bar Filters
Clean Fruit Baskets
Clean Dishwasher
Clean Sinks
Clean Centrifuge Cave
Deep Clean Mazzer
Deep Clean Mythos
Deep Clean GB5
Clean Blender
Clean Centrifuge
Introduction
After the reflective exercises has been completed and the Regional Manager now understands what the skill means.
The RM will now gather and repeat the key findings from theory and exercises.
These findings will be written down and saved for them to present in the final exam in front of Trainer and Market Management by the end of the program.
As a part of the sum up and final exam preparation, the RM will explain the three layers of the circle to the trainer.
0.1: SUMMARY OF EXERCISES:
- The Trainer will repeat the headline of each exercise whereafter the RM will repeat the key findings from each step in the exercises. The RM can use their notes from the worksheets to recap what they’ve been through.
The RM will now explain the why, how and what.
1: THE WHY:
- Explain why Strategic Thinking is an important skill to have when leading and developing people as a Regional Manager in Joe & The Juice. Touch upon the consequences if not leading with Strategic Thinking.
2: THE HOW:
- Explain how to use Strategic Thinking in short and long term planning and how to apply this skillset in the daily work.
3: THE WHAT:
- Explain what the skill means with own words and include key learnings from the main and secondary theory incl. illustrations.
Clean Seating and Tables
Clean Trash Bins in Customer Area
Deep Clean Centrifuge
Clean Bar Bins
Clean Bar Lamps + Speakers
Clean Cleaning Tools
Clean Drains
Clean Floor Panels
Clean Ice Machine
Clean Menu
Clean Sandwich Grills
Clean Toilets
Clean Walls and Pictures
Clean Fridges
Deep Clean Stockroom + Fridges
Clean Bar Front
Clean Bar Filters
Clean Fruit Baskets
Clean Dishwasher
Clean Sinks
Clean Centrifuge Cave
Deep Clean Mazzer
Deep Clean Mythos
Deep Clean GB5
Clean Blender
Clean Centrifuge
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