Strategic Planning and Leading Change - Virtual

Personal benefits

• Learn how to recognize the need for change in your organization or department
• Move from awareness to tangible change outcomes
• Define the essential tools for implementing change
• Discover how to realign resources appropriately through an organizational change

Organizational benefits

• Gain knowledge on how to form and deliver an effective change strategy
• Be better positioned for successful change initiatives

The program is divided into two themes:

Creating the Game Plan for Change

• Correctly diagnosing your specific change challenge
• Designing your planning process to maximize buy-in to and understanding of the changes you need to make
• Creating an executable game plan, one that drives accountability, effort, and results
• Aligning resources and activities to demonstrable and tangible outcomes

Establishing the Winning Conditions for Success

• Using project management techniques and discipline to enable implementation
• Communicating your ‘change’ story
• Understanding what it takes to effectively lead change efforts
• Creating speed and establishing momentum around change efforts
• Leveraging the ‘human flywheel’ to its fullest

Dynamic Virtual Classroom

Participate in the program from anywhere. Our online learning platform combines live, interactive video instruction with breakout sessions, panel discussions, and expert Q&A.

Our learning platform is fully encrypted, allowing you to connect securely from home, office or anywhere in between.

Virtual programs are designed to fit within your schedule, allowing you to learn new skills and immediately put them to work.

Session Leaders

Session leaders include senior professors from Smith School of Business and knowledgeable experts from industry. These outstanding teachers are constantly in touch with today's business world through real-world business experience, Board memberships and their own consulting practices.

Elspeth Murray

Strategy, New Ventures and MIS
Smith School of Business

Elspeth Murray has served as the Associate Dean - MBA and Master’s Programs from 2012-2022 and has been a professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at Smith School of Business since 1996. She also holds the CIBC Fellowship in Entrepreneurship, and founded Smith's Centre for Business Venturing. She is the Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Social Impact. Prior to joining Smith, she worked in industry for 7 years for several firms including IBM, and Canadian Tire. As an integral part of her work in the strategy and new venture fields, Dr. Murray specializes in the management of change. In 2002, she co-authored a best-selling book, Fast Forward: Organizational Change in 100 Days, Oxford University Press, with Dr. Peter Richardson. She has recently co-developed (with Dr. David Saunders) the Analytics Climate Assessment Tool (ACAT), which is used to assess organizations technological capacity, skill sets, and analytics culture. Current research is focused on best practices in leading and managing change to create an analytics culture.

Dr. Murray teaches on many MBA and Executive Education programs, and consults widely with a diversity of firms including BMW, Detour Gold, Wawanesa Insurance, Versacold Logistics and the Auditor General for Canada. She serves as a Director for several firms and is an advisor to several start-ups and CEO's. Dr. Murray received an undergraduate degree in computer science and mathematics, and an MBA, both from Queen's University. Her doctorate in Strategy and Management Information Systems was completed at the Richard Ivey School of Business.

Peter Richardson

Strategic Management
Smith School of Business

Peter Richardson is a leading expert in corporate turnarounds and an authority on strategic management and the management of innovation. His strategic approach to cost management and margin improvement has been widely adopted by industry. During his years at Smith School of Business, Peter has authored over 75 papers and case studies on strategic management. With Elspeth Murray, he co-authored Fast Forward: Organizational Change in 100 Days. A previous book, Cost Containment: The Ultimate Strategic Advantage, remains one of the few books to be written on cost improvement. He consults widely for many organizations including BHP Billiton, Alcoa, CIBC Mellon, the Supreme Court of Canada, the Auditor General of Canada, and Natural Resources Canada, working closely with senior executives on strategy development and deployment.