Assess your organisation’s strategic position …… Define an inspiring vision …….Shape your future strategic path with confidence
Organisations usually struggle or fail without a strategy. An absence of strategy 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.
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: 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.
‘Adaptive’ implementation for strategic plans
Translating strategy into action is, of course, key – but often challenging. The traditional approach of senior management following up their 3 or 5 year strategy with annual tactical plans and simply expecting staff to follow won’t do anymore.
Not least, employees nowadays, to give their commitment, expect to have a role in discussing and shaping plans, as well a seeing how their job connects with the organisation’s vision.
Also, as change is so constant nowadays, more organisations are turning to an ‘agile‘ approach to implementation, with many tactical goals and (team-centred) action decided, implemented and reviewed every few months or so – rather than annually – following the organisation’s strategic framework as a guide: in this way the organisation can respond faster to external change and new ideas can be tried sooner.
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 in the strategy process, we’d be pleased to assist. Contact us today!