STRATEGIC PRESENCE
Five Levels of Strategic Thinking Through Theatre Pedagogy
Develop strategic presence through theatre pedagogy across five thinking levels—from operational awareness to transformational presencing—unlocking systems insight, visionary scenarios, and adaptive strategies that drive competitive advantage and future-ready organizations.
What This Programme Is
Strategic Presence develops capacity for strategic thinking through five progressive levels: operational awareness, tactical thinking, strategic thinking, visionary thinking, and transformational thinking (presencing). Drawing on Mintzberg's distinction between strategic thinking (creative, synthetic, intuitive) and strategic planning (analytical, programmatic), Liedtka's five elements of strategic thinking, and Scharmer's Theory U, this program builds leaders who can see systems, envision futures, and sense emerging possibilities. Theatre provides experiential pathways for developing increasingly sophisticated cognitive capacities through dramatic structure, long-form improvisation, and ensemble creation.
Who This Is For
Senior leaders needing to think beyond immediate operations
Strategic leaders working with fundamental business model shifts
Innovation leaders creating futures that don't yet exist
Anyone developing capacity to see patterns and envision possibilities
Leaders moving from tactical execution to strategic vision
Format
Embodied exploration including Meisner observation exercises, long-form improvisation, dramatic structure analysis, devising original work, viewpoints composition, and Forum Theatre scenario testing. 80% practice, 20% framing.
What You'll Develop
Core Capabilities:
Observational accuracy: seeing current reality clearly (Meisner's "what's really happening")
Tactical intelligence: connecting actions to outcomes through improvisation
Systems perspective: seeing patterns, leverage points, interrelationships
Strategic intent and structural tension (Fritz's framework)
Integrative thinking: holding opposites in creative tension (Martin)
Presencing: sensing and actualizing emerging futures (Scharmer)
Key Competencies:
Five levels: operational awareness, tactical thinking, strategic thinking, visionary thinking, presencing
Pattern recognition through repetition and dramatic structure
Hypothesis-driven experimentation and scenario exploration
Mental model identification and transformation
Collective intelligence access through ensemble practice
Emergence: strategy arising from relationships and meaning
