“We developed a brilliant long-term strategy! Now what?”
Sound familiar? You are not alone – only a small fraction of strategies achieve their intended results. Translating strategy into action is usually where organizations fall short. Even if they get off to a good start, sustaining the change and spreading it through the organization becomes difficult.
From our perspective, strategy execution is all about driving change – focusing on building differentiating capabilities beyond business as usual. This critical component helps create real focus that drives behavior change, rather than overly generic “strategic pillars” that could be true of any organization.
To drive lasting change, organizations must connect their strategies with both processes and people.
Translate vision to tactics and embed within the organization’s processes
Connect the strategy and culture to the people responsible for driving that change
These components must be integrated into a Strategy Management System: a framework for ongoing execution that connects the strategy with process and people. Our approach is rooted in best practice frameworks from thought leaders such as Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton. Below is more detail about how we think about these components:
Connecting Strategy with Process
Long-term strategy ends up sitting on a shelf or displayed on a poster with little connection to day-to-day activities of the organization. The key is to translate your strategy into action by establishing a holistic strategic plan – including focused strategic choices, how to measure progress along the way, and how to connect it with key organizational processes (e.g., budgeting, performance management, etc.). We help organizations do this by focusing on areas such as:
Initiative Portfolio Management
Performance Management & Governance
Experience Co-Creation
Strategy Design
Strategy Management
Balanced Scorecard Creation
Connecting Strategy with People
Strategies don’t just impact processes and systems, they impact people. It is critical that individuals understand the change, are bought into it, and have the capabilities required to ultimately own their contributions to the change the organization is trying to drive. The key is understanding what the strategy means for them and what they do differently because of it. They must be able to answer these three questions:
We help organizations do this focusing on areas such as:
Workforce Planning
Goal & Incentive Alignment
Strategic Communication
Change Management
Culture Transformation
Leadership & Team Effectiveness
