enter keyword Strategy Execution Services for Innovation & Strategic Management
- Center of Excellence for Strategic Planning Facilitation
- Strategy Planning and Alignment Workshops
- Strategy Execution Planning and Facilitation
- Strategic Leadership Training
- Strategy Execution Assessment Services
- Speaking and Keynotes
- Virtual Project Manager
Listed below is a representative sample of actual engagements we have delivered in the last several years in the following industries: biotech, healthcare, hospitality, high technology, commercial real estate, gold mining, industrial engineering, banking, IT, insurance, B2C eCommerce and retail!
Strategic Planning: We co-designed a strategic planning agenda for a fast high growth organization and facilitated a two-day strategy planning workshop for the top senior executives and produced a consensus-driven multi-year strategic plan that was executable versus a high-level non-actionable strategic plan of “fluffy” information and beautiful PowerPoints.
Agile Portfolio and Project Management System Implementation: We provided advice and mentoring on establishing an Agile-SCRUM portfolio and project management process and a hybrid sprint team approach using Kanban tools and process.
Design Thinking: Since 2001, we have been teaching and mentoring teams on Design Thinking using the IDEO model and the principles of the golden ratio.
These are strategy execution services along a continuum!
Virtual Project Management: We acted as project manager and planned and coordinated a global team of online marketing and Web specialists to design, build and then market a B2C commerce website.
Strategy Execution Capability Assessment: We worked with an organization to assess it’s total strategy execution platform and management systems. We scoped and tailored a custom problem-solving and opportunity finding workshop with top senior managers/directors to define the company’s unique business performance issues. During the assessment process, we conducted key stakeholder interviews over the phone, facilitated a two-day onsite workshop to define major business execution constraints and reviewed the existing strategic management processes, policies, and guidelines. We analyzed the workshop output data as well as current performance metrics and prepared and delivered a detailed report and presentation of our findings and recommendations for areas of improvement.
Enterprise Project Portfolio Management: We coached a major international company to design an enterprise-level Project Portfolio Management Office to manage the linkages between corporate strategy and business unit level execution. We established an organizational decision process between multiple PMOs to enable the discipline of strategy implementation on project investment decisions to make sure critical projects are selected, prioritized, and resourced based on strategic objectives. This type of planning helped estimate resource requirements and new organizational capabilities/processes required for execution. It also allowed strategy planners, executives and managers speak the same language to manage an integrated, enterprise portfolio based on the organization’s long-term strategic direction.
Strategy Execution Leadership Development: We facilitated the co-design of a global leadership curriculum based on specific leadership competencies and trained over 500 top managers and executives on four major continents. This helped build a leadership capacity, skills and capabilities within the organization required for better execution of their global strategy. This also included using the Insights Discovery Personality Preference assessment to bring the “soft” leadership skills into focus.
Business Process Improvement Office: We designed a new organizational function to act as a central point for strategy execution within the organization for a major business process transformation program. We were responsible for strategy execution practices, processes, tools, templates, change management, and project portfolio performance tracking.
Integrated Execution Planning: We facilitated the project and program planning workshops of all the major strategic projects that were defined in a multi-year strategy to drive the execution of specific initiatives. These projects required collaboration across business lines and functional areas. We addressed how the constituent project scopes were defined and integrated and what were the major interdependencies that might cause a major issue or resource challenges. The integrated deliverable schedule for a major complex IT program was built and defined within 3 days with the initial schedule that all the project teams agreed working towards.
Enterprise Performance Management: We helped redesign a corporate strategic planning and management process and design an integrated organizational performance scorecard that tracks both operational performance as well as strategic project execution performance. This approach combined the understanding of the core value creating processes of the enterprise with the corresponding leading indicators that are connected to individuals for clear process performance accountability – linked top to bottom.
Established Organizational Clarity around Strategy: We co-designed and helped implement the communications of a global strategy using a custom built strategy map to create a common language and shared understanding throughout the organization around it’s strategy, goals, objectives, execution capabilities, competitive objectives, critical activities and key performance metrics. We assisted in the co-design of the agenda for the annual global meeting and delivered the Keynote address.
Culture Alignment and Transformation: We facilitated the design and implementation of a global initiative that was a major cultural shift within the organization through new shared values, common expected behaviors, and change leadership.
Applied Project Management: We provided training for project managers with critical project management planning skills to drive the planning and implementation of specific projects and how to do this with a hybrid of internal employees and external contractors, where appropriate.
Executive Leadership Coaching: We have provided structured one-on-one executive coaching to both entrepreneurs who were scaling their organizations and executives in large corporate operations.
Why Work with S2R?
W. Edward Deming once said, “The knowledge needed to transform a system must come from outside the system.”
In addition the wisdom of Deming, our clients have told us there are several other good reasons to work with us:
- We can help your organization do strategic planning with an “execution” and “design thinking” focus so that major initiatives, innovation programs, and projects have a greater chance of happening.
- We bring real-world, cross-functional matrix management experience in leading difficult change initiatives and monitoring the performance of critical value creating processes.
- We bring an outsider’s viewpoint that is objective, impartial and unaffected by the organization’s politics.
- We impart knowledge of our processes and skills to your organization from our 30 years of experience and teaching at Stanford University in the Stanford Center for Professional Development.
- We bring a coherent strategy management process model adapted from our Harvard Business School Press book Executing Your Strategy and our years of leadership experience.
- We assess the current reality of your organization’s alignment holistically and come up with the most pertinent issues and questions for your management team to resolve.
- We are passionate about what we do!
Some Potential Organizational Outcomes as a Result of Better Strategy Execution Discipline
- Better Strategic Thinking with Effective Outcome-based Visual Strategic Plans
- Less Risk to the Enterprise, Fundamental Constraints Defined and Removed
- Faster Results with Current and External Resources, More Value Potential Realized
- Retention of Key Performing Talent, They are Engaged with a Purpose They Understand
- Organizational Learning Is Real via a Continuous Improvement Philosophy
- Stronger Competitive Advantage Because You and Your Leaders Are Learning Faster
- A Better “Execution Premium” from Wall Street Analysts
- Know-how to Change the System through a Systematic Process
- Collaborative Planning Processes Transform the Organizational Decision Competence