The Glue

Strategy Execution is a Change Process - Part I

In this series of posts, I will be viewing a Strategy Execution implementation through a Change Management lens.

For those versed in change, most will have read Kotter's books.  In his latest installment, he outlined the eight "Stages of Change."  They include:

1. - Sense of Urgency
2. - Guiding Coalition
3. - Developing a Vision
4. - Communicating the Vision
5. - Empowering Employees
6. - Short Term Wins
7. - Consolidating Wins
8. - Anchoring in the Culture

So, let's tackle number one.  In the Strategy Execution Journey, the first step is gaining executive buy-in and support.  Unless you're in an organization where the top executive has been possessed by the force for change, this can be tricky.  Many consultants, myself included, preach the concept of identifying and leveraging an organization's 'burning platform.'  However, Kotter makes what I believe is an important distinction. 

How to Measure the Hard to Measure: Part 2 - Large Quantities of Measures

In my previous Part 1 post on measures, I discussed Measuring Project-based Objectives. This time I'll talk about how to deal with the omnipresent problem of too many measures.

Ideally, Strategy Execution projects include a lot of time of figuring out what critical few objectives are important to an organization and picking a few measures. Sometimes, however, there are industry standard measurement frameworks that are designed to make it easier to compare performance across different organizations.  These frameworks serve a great purpose and can really help define focus in an organization. But if you are not careful, you may find that the sum of the parts is not really a useful tool to help get the results you are looking for.

Take HEDIS, (Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set) for example. This is a set of more than 60 measures (the number changes with new releases) that indicates everything from how fast a health plan answers a phone to how well they screen their members for cancer.  It's a great tool for businesses to compare health plans and many health plans work hard to improve their numbers.  There are lots of other examples of such frameworks in hospitals, IT Organizations, Government and many other categories and the dangers we are talking about apply to them as well.

In an ideal world, the HEDIS measures might be sprinkled across many different scorecards in the organization -- owned by those accountable for them.  So the director of the call center might own the two or three metrics related to that, the Chief of Cardiology Standards might own the few related to heart treatment, etc.  Invariably, though, top executives want a single number that tells them "how we are doing on our HEDIS measures."

Identifying Strategic Outcomes

I have been receiving some great feedback on my new book, Executing Your Strategy, and I wanted to share an important related idea that I believe we tend overlook in the process of developing effective strategy maps: arriving at clearly stated, agreed upon outcomes is critical.

The strategy mapping process should focus explicitly on identifying required, but unmet, stakeholder outcomes. Since this result is so crucial to an organization’s strategic success, it is equally important to review all the supporting decision processes and information surrounding outcome identification and selection.

Understanding who the strategically determined stakeholders are and the important opportunities for improving their satisfaction enables the process to move from ambiguous outcome statements (e.g. “… to be the global leader”) to tangible and assignable actions directed toward that end (e.g. “…to achieve 35% global market share within two years”). Once outcomes have been so clearly defined, the organization may begin sorting out the key drivers and value creating activities that are most likely to achieve the final outcomes.

ActiveStrategy Conference Invitation

We recently invited readers of The Glue in Southern California to attend our Anaheim seminar. Now it's time for some East Coast parity. We have a different kind of event coming up April 29-May 1 in Philadelphia. This is our annual Client Conference on Strategy Execution, which features speakers from a wide-range of current ActiveStrategy customer organizations. Unlike some typical "users conferences," the topics at this event are primarily focused on overcoming the business challenges involved with strategy execution.

It brings clients together to share best practices, discuss ways to drive Strategy Execution amidst organizational challenges, and learn how to leverage ActiveStrategy software and consulting for maximum business results. The conference is also open to executives from organizations still learning about strategy execution methodologies and implementation best practices.

Speakers include key executives from:

• American Academy of Pediatrics
• Children's Hospital of Orange County
• Datron World Communications
• Excellus BlueCross BlueShield
• Kaiser Permanente Southern California Medical Group
• Miami-Dade Public Library System
• Saint Michael's Hospital
• and more...

We'll also be highlighting benefits of ActiveStrategy's new software version 7.0 in optional, small-group Solutions Sessions, so if you'd like to learn more about how technology enables strategy execution, you'll have time to do so.

To read more about the event, visit www.activestrategy.com/conference

If you're interested, sign up this week: early registration discount expires this Friday (March 21).
 

Questions? Contact me or post a comment below.

Hope to see you there!
Lisa Hobart