Strategic Planning for Execution: Assessment and Risk (SPEAR)

The Course

The Strategic Planning for Execution: Assessment and Risk (SPEAR) Workshop provides a guided process to support Commanders and their executive teams to develop mission-critical strategic plans, execute those plans effectively, maximize Navy resources, and accurately assess the impact of their plans. Command teams have substantial time during this 3 day workshop to shape their specific planning initiatives with the help of professional facilitators and the expertise of Naval Postgraduate School faculty, who know best-practices and have proven practical experience working with numerous Navy commands, major corporations and other government organizations.

Questions to be addressed during the workshop include:

• Have you clearly defined your mission, and is it understood throughout the command?
• How will internal and external changes and emerging trends impact your strategic plans?
• What are the most important objectives for your command to achieve?
• What distinctive capabilities position your command for sustained high performance?
• How do you assess your objectives and select metrics that assure intended results?
• What risks are associated with your plans, and how do you mitigate risk?
• Are you maximizing your organizational leadership capabilities to gain support and resources for your strategic initiative?

The Faculty

Academic experts from the faculty at the US Naval Postgraduate School are joined by senior executives from the Navy to provide participants with a range of perspectives through which course objectives are addressed. Faculty are committed to providing support throughout the life-cycle of team efforts and are available to consult post-course to ensure continuity of effort as teams continue their work beyond the workshop.

The Location

The SPEAR is conducted in the spaces of the Center for Executive Education on the campus of the US Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California or in designated Fleet concentration locations. If at NPS, lodging is available on-base at the Navy Gateway Inn & Suites in historic Herrmann Hall.

Who Should Attend?

We recommend sending teams of at least 3-5, led by a Flag Officer, SES, or O-6. The SPEAR goal is for each team to strengthen their organization’s strategic planning process with attention to desired outcomes, metric selection and risk management. The workshop is effectively a structured and facilitated off-site for senior leadership and staff to focus on advancing their command’s effectiveness to accomplish key strategic goals. Each participating team can take away from the SPEAR workshop an improved strategic plan and assessment with clear, measurable objectives that enable all levels of the command to align their decisions and actions to achieve organizational success.