Strategy Services
How can your board improve its strategy role?
Strategy is a continual process of shaping the organisation’s resources to achieve its goals. This involves many challenges including the board knowing the organisation’s capabilities and environment well enough to inform strategic thinking, connecting thought and action, and ensuring the right balance between control and responsiveness to change.
Resolving these challenges requires an organisation to develop expertise in two interrelated strategy skills:
- Strategic insight – thinking and learning about the organisation’s strategic landscape, capabilities and strategic direction; and
- Strategic practice – building an effective discipline of planning, implementation, review and decision making.
Strategy and risk are interrelated. Therefore, any proposed change in strategy has the potential to change an organisation’s risk profile. Our approach to strategy also recognises that it is important for boards to discuss and clarify the organisation’s risk appetite with management as part of the strategy process.
Effective Governance’s suite of services are designed to help the board and management continually improve their skills in strategy insight and practice, and work in partnership to develop and deliver on the organisation’s goals. These services help address the common problems faced by organisations in developing and executing strategy. The figure below illustrates our service offerings.
Strategy Offerings
Strategy Review
Helps organisations ensure that their strategic management systems continue to be excellent and create long-term value. It involves:
- Reviewing the organisation’s full strategic management system including: strategic infrastructure; planning hierarchy; planning documents; and processes for planning, decision making, implementation and review;
- Developing a report that highlights performance against each of the key components of strategic management, strengths and areas for improvement.
Strategic Direction
This critical stage in the strategy process, which leads directly into strategic planning, involves:
- Strategy discussion – dedicated time for strategic thinking and decision-making in a facilitated workshop with the board and/or senior management.
- Setting the strategic direction – develops a clear and concise statement of strategic intent for the organisation. It involves pre-work to understand the strategic landscape and a facilitated workshop with the board and senior management to develop or refine the organisation’s key strategy statements (i.e. vision, mission, values, goals and strategy statement).
Strategic Planning
Focuses the organisation on the strategies and programs that will deliver on the strategic direction and begins the process of translating the direction into action by:
- Developing a high-level strategic plan that identifies major strategic risks;
- Working with senior management to develop the full strategic plan including more detailed objectives, strategic options and strategic programs.
- Working with senior management to develop:
- Business plans to show how each business/function will help achieve the strategic direction;
- An implementation plan to allocate effort and resources for the coming year.
Implementation and Review
Effective Governance becomes a strategy development and implementation partner, helping to build the plans and capabilities to successfully execute the strategic direction by:
- Working with the board and senior management to develop strategic programs;
- Assisting with implementation activities e.g. developing scorecards, change management plans, action learning sessions;
- Facilitating strategy review meetings to monitor implementation, identify emerging issues, assist decision making and improve the strategic management system.
Strategy Professional Development
Effective Governance delivers training to enhance strategic insight, practice and decision making.
