Shaping the human conditions for strategy execution

Understand what the situation requires

A strategy may need to be made concrete. Functions may be working to conflicting requirements. A change may be producing less effect than expected. I examine the business objectives alongside how the work is organized, resourced and managed.

The assessment establishes where the difficulties lie and what needs to change. Depending on the situation, the work focuses on strategic capabilities, organizational arrangements or the relationships between them.

Three ways of working together

I assess the situation, work with the responsible leaders on the changes required, and offer individual advisory and coaching conversations. We agree the scope around the business issue or the questions you face in your role.

What must the business be able to do?

Defining strategic capabilities is one way I make the requirements of a strategy concrete. A strategic capability is the organization’s ability to deliver a specific result required by its strategy. It depends on how processes, skills, technology, structure, management systems, culture and behaviors work together.

Start with three to five capabilities that matter most for carrying out the strategy. The number depends on what the business needs to achieve.

Deliver cost-effective solutions with high uptime

Delivering reliable solutions at a sustainable cost requires product design, operating data, maintenance, service skills and spare-parts availability to work together.

It also depends on how the business allocates resources and measures performance. Short-term cost targets can discourage preventive maintenance, even when it is needed to meet customer commitments and protect profitability.