Boston's community entrepreneurship hub Intelligent.ly thinks that your team is badly in need of an OGSM...also known as an Objectives, Goals, Strategies, and Measures Workshop, Intelligent.ly’s first addition to its up-and-coming list of organization-focused business lessons designed to help people of start ups and corporations alike refine and refresh their leadership skills.
Six lucky Boston companies will snag a coveted spot in Intelligent.ly's inaugural all-day workshop, on July 16th. The workshop will be lead by former CEO and co-founder of BzzAgent, Smarterer, and Intelligent.ly, Dave Balter. Balter has guided companies of various stages through the OGSM program before, from local Boston start ups like Promoboxx and Ubersense, to larger corporations such as Tesco and dunnhumby. “OGSM is used at very high levels of business,” Balter explains. “We picked it up from P&G and automakers back in the fifties.”
But we aren't talking about dusty–old, cookie–cutter leadership training, solely for the big guy in the corner office. "This is not what your grandpa used to do," Balter jokes. He is quick to point out that OGSM “absolutely may be even more powerful in a start up, where business is often in flux and the leader is constantly trying to figure out where it's going and how to keep employees aligned. In start ups, we don't really take the time to sit down and make sure that everyone really knows what the mission is and what they are doing to support it...You're asking the questions, 'What are we doing, and how can we tell if it works?'"
The six teams fortunate enough to make the cut for the OGSM workshop (rumor has it a couple of companies have even registered already) will listen to an engaging presentation lead by Balter. After the lesson, each company will separate, and begin to run through its own OGSM based on what the team just learned, with support from brand new Executive Director Dana Artz and the Intelligent.ly team.
According to Balter, what he is most looking forward to is the class coming back together, post-OGSM, to discuss how each company did. "We'll see where they are finding roadblocks, what parts of the process companies had a hard time with and the certain sections they are doing well in," says Balter.
This team and leadership workshop design is a new venture for the Intelligent.ly team. Since its 2012 founding, Intelligent.ly has been focused on finding innovative ways to help budding entrepreneurs develop their skill sets: “You learn what you need to know to win, from people who’ve done it before.” A few times a week, the organization would open its doors on Harrison Ave. to host hour and a half long classes on a variety of different business-related topics, taught by Boston professionals with real world experience to their names. People registered and paid for these in-depth seminars on topics ranging from legal classes to coding on an individual basis.
But over the course of the past few months, Intelligent.ly heard from its members a continuous need for leadership workshops, according to Balter. “We kept getting asked, ‘How do I distinguish between an objective and a strategy? Why do you spend time on a vision?’”
So, the good people at Intelligent.ly listened. July’s OGSM workshop will be Intelligent.ly’s first steps towards offering more organizationally focused lessons designed to aid in team building and the development of leadership skills for starter CEOs. “The ratio of organizational to individual-style classes is going to become much more distinct,” Balter shares. “We are putting a lot of effort into leadership workshops as the future of Intelligent.ly.”
According to Intelligent.ly, we could all use some more OGSMs in our [business] lives. Sign up your team now!
