Visual mapping strategies are at the heart of the business model known as futureSME, a methodology that extracts the best practices and disciplines in strategic management used by successful companies, and applies them to small and medium enterprises. LEAP is the licenced provider of futureSME in Ireland. Here LEAP’s managing director Mike Gaffney reveals why this model is working for business owners.

What is the Management Team Programme?
The Management Team Programme is a government supported business development programme as part of the Action Plan for Jobs, funded through ManagementWorks, to allow companies to focus on both implementing their strategy and developing their management team simultaneously.

Who is the programme for?
It’s for management teams, including the managing director, and as many of the managers that are critical to the decision-making process in the organisation should participate in the programme.

What areas of training and development does the programme focus on?
It focuses on helping companies build the business through a clear strategy, and also to ensure that operationally, the company is being run as a tight ship.

What are the methods used on the programme?
LEAP has been on the go for 14 years and our biggest challenge is finding the methodologies and developing disciplines that companies can work with long after LEAP have moved on. We use visual strategies and visual management tools that are at the cutting edge of strategy development, not just in the multinational sector, but in any sized business that wants to be highly successful and effective.

It’s well documented that we remember 10 of what we write. We remember 50 of what we see. However, we remember 90 of what we interact with. So the use of a visual strategy by key team members who interact, develop and validate the content of that strategy, is 9 times more effective than the normal approach to developing business plans.

Also the extended team in the organisation can clearly see through visual representation, where the business is going and where each of them is having a direct impact in developing the business.

Why should a business consider doing the Management Team Programme?
The simple answer is: “because it works.” Irish businesses are poor at thinking and acting strategically. Whatever chance they have of creating a strategic plan, their execution of it is very poor. The Management Team Programme takes away any requirement to have the expertise in-house in strategic thinking and strategic execution. FutureSME is a visual methodology that if applied, will change the functioning of your organisation, improving it incrementally on a continuous basis.

What feedback have you gotten from participants on the Management Team Programme?
The message is keep going. Keep engaging with our company and doing what you’re doing because it’s working. This programme would normally cost €7200, but with the governments support through the Action Plan for Jobs under ManagementWorks, the cost per participating company is €3500. That’s all in, for as many members of the management team as they require to attend the programme. It’s run in-house and it’s sharp and snappy: 6 workshops, typically delivered over a 12 week period.