Strategy-making in turbulent times

The external environment for most registered training organisations (RTOs) is constantly changing and is, to some extent, turbulent. Continually undertaking strategy-making will ensure that organisations are responsive to their changing external environments and their stakeholders and clients. This report provides examples of RTOs effectively developing strategies in spite of the turbulent vocational education and training (VET) sector and the uncertain future. It presents findings from an evaluation of 28 strategic management and change management projects funded as part of Reframing...  [+] Show more

The external environment for most registered training organisations (RTOs) is constantly changing and is, to some extent, turbulent. Continually undertaking strategy-making will ensure that organisations are responsive to their changing external environments and their stakeholders and clients. This report provides examples of RTOs effectively developing strategies in spite of the turbulent vocational education and training (VET) sector and the uncertain future. It presents findings from an evaluation of 28 strategic management and change management projects funded as part of Reframing the Future, a national staff development and change management program. Major findings include: strategy-making is one of the most important activities undertaken by RTOs in their pursuit of high performance; RTOs were able to develop strategies in spite of the turbulence because they were both willing and able to come up with new strategies customised to suit their specific context; effective RTOs tap into the explicit and tacit knowledge of a range of their managers and use a range of planning strategies and models to develop strategies; some RTOs preferred the emergent approach to change management which views change as a continuous, unpredictable process; and ongoing strategic management and change management is needed in every RTO in VET. The contents are: Executive summary; Why focus on strategy-making not plans?; How did RTOs develop strategies in the midst of turbulence?; How did RTOs confidently develop strategies for an uncertain future?; How did RTOs change their entrenched cultures?; Will RTOs require improved strategy-making in the future? Included as appendices are: Research methods; References.