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Ambitions and objectives
Neil: Great strategy, whether it's business-wide or function-specific, is about stretching your organization and setting it up for future success. But once that future vision has emerged, we often find that clients struggle to translate big lofty ambitions into a set of more pragmatic, tangible interventions.
Elizabeth: This really comes down to balancing ambition with realism, creating something that's actionable and fit for purpose, but which still allows you to achieve a set of really impressive outcomes which change your organization for the better.
Neil: A successful strategy is always deeply rooted in business outcomes. One of the biggest indicators of success for a transformation program is the extent to which the team is squarely focused on delivering a set of clearly articulated, well understood, business-led benefits.
Elizabeth: But relentless pursuit of a strategic ambition doesn't just mean targeting every single one of those business benefits simultaneously. To progress at pace and demonstrate success along the way, you'll have to prioritize ruthlessly based on concrete evidence of what's going to deliver real value.
Neil: It's often helpful to start with something tangible, perhaps something low risk, or easier to execute. This helps showcase your transformation capabilities and demonstrates to your organization that you're able to deliver meaningful change. It's also helpful to learn lessons and make mistakes early on before you reach for more ambitious targets. Delivering any sort of change is a social process. If you get a broad range of stakeholders enthused about your ambitions from the outset, you're getting them ready to go on this journey with you and advocate for what you're trying to achieve throughout the organization.
Elizabeth: The best way to get people on board is to show them the value that underpins your ambitions. Show them evidence of the positive change you're seeking to effect for your organization and just get them excited. Share your enthusiasm.
Neil: Keeping things practical, it's always important to establish a timeframe for delivering your ambitions. Capital intensive industries will likely take a longer-term view, while more dynamic sectors are more likely to set a three-year strategy, keeping one eye on market developments to ensure their objectives remain relevant over time.
Elizabeth: Your ambitions may be huge; the challenges ahead of you may be even bigger. But as long as you've clearly articulated and evidenced the case for change, have a pragmatic plan in place and can free up the right resources to execute, you can be confident that your ambition remains deliverable.
Transformation bites: answers to questions clients often ask
How do we ensure our strategy evolves and stays relevant?
Natalie: To remain relevant an organization needs to be able to pivot and adapt to changing demands, trends and market conditions, anticipating the correct mix of capabilities resourcing needs and technology is key. Mature companies build an infrastructure of leading and lagging indicators of strategic performance. They create clarity around accountability of ownership of those metrics, and create incentive structures around them to reward delivery. We often tell clients, what gets measured gets done, and getting those metrics right is crucial.
How should I factor the global net zero challenge into my strategy?
Ben: Starting your net zero journey involves first measuring your impact. Understanding what options are available to you for reducing your footprint, and then setting some targets both long term and short term. You need to break your ambition down into objectives for each part of the organization. Something that means something to them. You need to understand what's in your control, what you need to develop, and what things you're relying on being in the world in future. You really need to bring everyone with you and help them understand the part they play in your journey. Delivering those big ticket items is important, but it's actually the small things that everyone can see that really make them believe.
How do I build confidence around my case for change?
Ryan: A good strategy can push ambition on the edges of achievability. But that often means that people need to be brought along the journey to believe that it can be done. Benchmarking is an important part of building confidence in the strategy. It gives the sense of whether something like this has been achieved before, and therefore whether it feels realistic. for decision makers. We often find that scenario modelling or red teaming as a great way to stress test the strategy. It allows people to express their reservations and the risks they perceive, then collaboratively, share them with the group and work through them in a constructive way. We regularly find that this leads to much better additions to the strategy that hadn't been included before whilst also building buy in.
How do you know if you have the right ambition and objectives?
Sandy: Your strategic goals should be inspiring, purposeful, but achievable. These goals should act as the North Star for your organization to guide decision-making. It's important to keep it simple. Be authentic to the purpose of your business so that everyone can relate to it and understand the role in which they play. Your goal should speak to the position that your business is in today and set up the context for the overarching strategy. Then you'll be in a position to identify the tangible and measurable changes that need to happen, whether in capability, skills or technology, in order to equip your organization with the ingredients it needs to achieve success.
What does good strategy feel like?
Ian: Good strategy starts with a set of crisp problems that need to be solved. It defines what we need to do to solve those problems and it sets out how we should solve them, what we will need to be successful and when things need to happen. To some people, strategy can end there, just a description of things set out in a neat document. But good strategy has to go a lot further than that. It has to be persuasive, to shareholders, to directors, to staff. It must be social. And in being social, it should be exciting. Reflect the organization's ambitions and help to motivate everyone to embark on a journey. It has to reflect reality on the ground too and allow for nuance and quirks particular to the business. It has to be deliverable and recognize the level of effort that's needed to achieve it. It has to be adaptable to issues that will inevitably arise as time progresses, and it has to be measurable so that progress can be tracked and celebrated. Above all, it has to be owned by the business, not just by the CEO or the leadership team, but by everyone. Good strategy done properly feels like everyone pulling together in the same direction to solve problems of today, to help build the organization of tomorrow.
Our transformation consultants
All of our people are experienced transformation specialists. Meet some of the team.
It’s always important to establish a timeframe for delivering your ambitions and to ensure objectives remain relevant over time.”
Neil McClumpha
Partner, US
The consulting work I do is most rewarding when clients express their delight at what we have managed to achieve by working together.
Be authentic to the purpose of your business so that everyone can relate to your ambition and understand the role they play.”
Sandy Kyin
Consultant, US
When I look back at my life, I want to be able to say that I have contributed positively, even if minutely, to change the world for the better.
Good strategy has to be adaptable to issues that arise over time, and measurable so that progress can be tracked and celebrated.”
Ian Herbert
Consultant, UK
Professionalism and credibility are hugely important to how I do my job. This routes back to always doing the right thing and being comfortable about providing a different opinion.
