Strategy and evidence go together like a horse and carriage – understanding the broad range of “evidence” and its critical role in decisions, negotiation, persuasion, research and communication is a vital cornerstone of strategic thinking.

What is Evidence?… and how to use it!

This course is day one of the ‘Strategy and Evidence special‘ but can also be taken as a single day course in its own right. See the main page (click here) for practical details.

(Click to email me about possible dates)
The cost is £365 (exc VAT) per delegate. Discounts may be available for non-profits, SMEs and multiple delegates.

Who is this training for?

This training is for anyone who has, or hasn’t, had a revelatory moment about how evidence can transform the way we work – and wants to know more about the great sweep of evidence and how to exploit it.

What is the aim of the training?

To bring a radical and practical approach to using the broadest sweep of evidence (quantitative, qualitative, gut-feeling, big data, observation) to the strategic heart of your work.

What will you will learn?

How to take everything we see, discover, investigate, know and feel into a structured framework and handle it as evidence
Why evidence and strategy are so deeply linked and form such a powerful combination
How to treat evidence and analysis with the proper respect and disrespect
How to embed evidence into strategic situations
How to select suitable data/information to operate on

Course content

Learning objective

To appreciate and use evidence in the broadest sense and understand how a structured framework transforms it into a valuable resource. To understand the critical role of evidence in decisions, negotiation, persuasion, research and communication and be able to confidently adopt evidence-based approaches as a vital cornerstone of your strategic thinking.

Overall outline

Evidence everywhere: Where do we see evidence used? Who is in the room today? How does evidence fit into your strategic approach?

Strategy and evidence: What are the hallmarks of strategic thinking and why does evidence play such a critical role?

Concepts and vocabulary: Familiarisation with key concepts so that they can be useful straight away

Finding evidence: Do you have an evidence base? Which parts of it should you use. If not, how do you go about putting together the simplest, smallest evidence base that is most useful?

Creating questions, finding answers: In strategic evidence-based thinking the questions are as important as the answers. This session looks at how the two must work together.

Direction, insight, impact: A three point plan for making evidence drive and feed strategic thinking

Take-away points and tomorrow’s changes

Course detail

Morning sessions

Evidence everywhere

Where do we see evidence used? A brief introduction (with delegate input) to some of the main places we find evidence impacting on strategy.

Who is in the room? Delegates will be able to share why they are there and what they hope to get out of the day. The relevance and applications of Understanding Performance at the individual, team and organisation level will be explored through the examples of delegates’ own working contexts.

How does evidence fit into your strategic approach? The four topics (Vision, Activity, Understanding and Feedback) and the seven steps of Understanding Performance will be presented as an overall approach and for each step, through an open trainer-led exchange, the relevance of each part to delegates will be explored.

Strategy and evidence: What are the hallmarks of strategic thinking and why does evidence play such a critical role?

Concepts and vocabulary: Familiarisation with key concepts so that they can be useful straight away

Finding evidence I: Do you have an evidence base? Which parts of it should you use.

Afternoon sessions

Finding evidence II: How do you go about putting together the simplest, smallest evidence base that is most useful?