Too often a gap occurs between formulating and executing strategy. In a disrupted environment this can be a fatal error driving unwanted costs, lost opportunities and, ultimately, failure to execute. And when failure at execution occurs, the losses are significant regardless of sector. According to the 2017 PMI Pulse of the Profession report, which surveyed 3,234 professionals globally researchers, in …
We all know the routine. A leadership team comes together to formulate strategy, then armed with the best of intentions, assign business unit and functional teams to execute the initiatives they’ve chosen. Mission accomplished! Not so fast, often a gap between understanding and performance is experienced by those charged with implementing the initiatives flowing from the strategy. This gap invariably …
Dubai was such a great experience for LBL last May that we had to go back! This time we sent our President, Randall Rollinson, to train a new batch of strategy professionals. Equipped with our new and improved Mastering Strategy Boot Camp program, Randall and 16 professionals from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Uganda spent five days learning together …
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a popular topic in the realm of business. From predicting IT failures to which new song will become a hit, AI presents many exciting opportunities. This begs the question: how is AI affecting the most critical element of any business — its strategy? MIT Sloan Management Review recently partnered with The Boston Consulting Group to …
At Agile Strategies, we apply the lessons of both Agile software development and organizational learning to the whole enterprise, particularly the process of formulating and deploying strategy. Here are the guiding principles we work with: #1: Sense and respond An agile organization senses and responds to disruption and opportunity in real time. This is the only way to address the high levels of …
As a chief strategy officer or someone involved in business performance management, you know firsthand the struggles associated with getting your team (or more broadly, your organization) to execute on strategy. There are so many obstacles to overcome, including those associated with using Excel or PowerPoint as your performance management system. Fortunately, there is a way to save a tremendous …
We use the term “strategic management” often, but what exactly does it mean? To some, it might seem obvious, but the reality is that the term has a lot underneath the surface that is worth unpacking. To understand what strategic management is from a base level, let’s turn to our friends at the Association of Strategic Planning (ASP) who define …
Gene Kranz helped build NASA from the ground up in the late 1950s, developed the space program through Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, and he was the flight director for missions including Apollo 11 and Apollo 13. He’s the guy that ran mission control, one of the key players in achieving the goal of “landing a man on the moon and …
Strategic planning is all about the unknown. What will my business look like in six months? What will happen if I make this decision? How can I improve as a strategic planner? The list of questions is endless, but fortunately, there have been many individuals to go before you who can provide answers. It’s rare to find yourself in a …
When it comes to setting organizational goals, finding the right measures to track your success is a crucial part of the process. If you want to keep up with a changing market, you should know how well you’re doing, how you can improve and what effect your actions are having on your overall strategy. Needless to say, the pursuit for …
When you compare strategies between businesses, you’ll find that no two are exactly alike. Each business is trying to accomplish something another isn’t – however large or small the differences end up being. This fact could lead you to believe that a strategy professional’s talents are unique to each business too, with no transferable skills. But, when you look into …
As the rate of innovation, disruption and change accelerates across all sectors private, public and nonprofit, the requirements of strategic planning are called into question. New methodologies, techniques and tools such as OKRs come to the fore challenging organizations to adopt shorter timetables and be more nimble in the formulation of strategy, evaluating performance and making course corrections. In the …
The topic of innovation can be daunting, filled with vague terminology and mysterious processes. How does an organization innovate? How does one create a culture of innovation? And how does one guard against – or create – disruptive innovation? And what does all of the above even mean? Steve Jobs said it best, “Creativity is just connecting things. When you …
As the business world’s dependence on data collection and analytics continues to grow, many strategic planners are left wondering what their role is going to be in this new era of computer-driven decision making. Is the old-school CEO going to be usurped by technology, or is there still room for someone with professional experience to make the call? The answer …
A few years ago our team completed an intense assignment with a mid-sized organization located in the Midwest. Our charge was twofold. In Phase 1 we helped the organization set and communicate a new strategy for the future. As part of this process we conducted a thorough environmental assessment with more than fifty key stakeholders. We took the findings and …
To effectively and efficiently implement an organization-wide strategy requires many factors come into alignment before successful implementation can occur. First, an accountability model must be clearly defined and embraced for each element of the strategy. Who owns each objective in the plan? Who is responsible for each of the organization’s strategic initiatives? Who is responsible for defining, collecting and reporting …
That is an excellent question! It’s always exciting when your organization comes to consensus about where you’re headed and the strategies to get you there. Once you get to the point of determining the objectives you expect from each strategy, the obvious next step is to determine the initiatives and projects that will help accomplish those objectives. Sounds easy, but …
If you’re looking for the difference between KPIs, KRAs and OKRs, you can find that article here. A key result area (KRA) is an strategic factor either internal to the organization or external, where strong positive results must be realized for the organization to achieve its strategic goal(s), and therefore, move toward realizing the organization’s longer term vision of success. Key result …
In this the second segment of our “Radar” post. We offer insights into facilitating the learning and strategic thinking processes in leadership teams of mid-sized organizations. Whether it is in a private sector, public sector or nonprofit organization we believe these principals apply. Let’s begin with a clear statement of our baseline assumptions. Accurate assessment of any strategic environment is …
