Assess your strategic position …… Define an inspiring Vision ……. Develop or Refresh your future Strategy
Organisations usually struggle or fail without a driving purpose, vision and strategy.
Absent these markers for the future, your company will typically be like a drifting ship with no sense of control or going anywhere. If you’re a charity or non-profit, you’ll struggle to create impact. If you’re a business, you’ll struggle to satisfy your customers and hit your bottom line.
But, once you have a defined pathway forward, of course, the world doesn’t stand still. You need at regular intervals to assess how your plans are going and update or, if needed, refresh or change your current strategy.
An independent, supportive pair of hands for the strategy journey
But finding time and space to focus on strategy can be hard, especially if time is short or management is under pressure. That’s where we can help. As research and strategic facilitators, we offer a flexible range of expert support – with a useful, ‘outside-in’ perspective.
Strategy is about finding the ‘sweet spot’ between your driving purpose, your external environment and your internal strengths and capabilities. It’s about creating a road-map into the future but also adapting along the way. It’s about combining analysis with imagination and engaging your stakeholders well. We can assist along the whole process.
Review your strategic position. Engage your stakeholders.
An internal review involves taking a look over your organisation’s performance, activities/processes, products/services, resources and capabilities. An external review includes analysing your competitive position and identifying significant trends or issues in your market/sector and wider environment. At the same time, a strategic review requires talking with your key stakeholders, to understand their views and expectations.
We’ll bring expertise in a range of research, analytical and consulting tools to such a review. Our techniques range from targeted desk/online research and dedicated surveys to face-to-face consultation visits, focus groups and facilitated group workshops.
Purpose, vision, values & strategy development
Developing strategy first needs checking off or updating what is your organisation’s long-term purpose, vision, key goals for future success, and distinctive ‘values’. These should act like a ‘north-star‘ for your organisation. Then comes ideation and assessment of different strategic pathways and options for the future, leading to a chosen ‘framework‘ of policy and action for the next few years.
A good strategic framework includes, for example: i) a summary of target markets/customers, your product/service offerings and business/operating model; ii) goals and action priorities for your ‘external-facing‘ (operational) activities; and iii) key details of internal functions that will enable or support operations (e.g: financing, IT, HR and systems for managing performance).
We offer expertise and support in all these areas of strategy development, working closely alongside your management team, as you wish. This includes designing and running tailored group workshops on key strategic issues and challenges that arise in the strategy process, as well as flexible working with individual teams or managers.
‘Agile’ strategy to cope with change and uncertainty better
To face today’s fast-moving, turbulent world, more organisations are turning to an ‘agile‘ approach to managing strategy. This involves treating strategy not as a traditional, fixed multi-year or annual plan, but as a rolling cycle of very regular (typically quarterly) ‘sprints’ of short-term goals and initiatives, stressing a fast ‘trial and learn’ approach.
Whether adopting this ‘fast’ approach to strategy, or not, all leaders nowadays need to make their organisations as change-centred and flexible as possible. This includes having, for example, good market intelligence processes, flexible structures and rapid systems for allocating funds and making decisions. We can assist you in all these areas.
Focused strategies and plans we can assist with
Complementing and backing up organisational-level plans, of course, need to be more focused strategies and plans. For example, strategic plans for specific products, services or markets, plans for individual business units or divisions, and plans for specific initiatives and projects. We can assist in all these areas.
The professional expertise and support you need
Strategy is about asking vital questions and framing critical courses of action for the future. It’s one of the most important – but demanding – tasks of leadership.
By working with Owen Morris, you’ll be able to access that, vital extra professional know-how, expertise and support that will complement your own team many times over.
Whether you’re looking for support in a specific area of strategy, or for more substantial support with a strategic review or development project , we’d be pleased to assist. Contact us at the office on 01994 278118 or email us via via the Contact page on this website.