This building block, aptly named SELECTION, guides you through the process of purging your portfolio of strategic initiatives every year. You need to be very selective so that you can set clear assignments and define unambiguous requirements in terms of their execution. I will tell you why it is so crucial to be selective in your portfolio-setting: you must attune your aspirations to their feasibility. Some discrepancy and overreach is good, but only in moderation.

Orchestrated failure

In my 20+ years as a strategy execution consultant, I have never heard organizations complain that their capacity exceeds their ambition. Suppose you have a 500-employee organization. This organization could opt to execute a mission, vision and strategy with four programs and ten projects, or with two programs and four projects. The former is likely to fail while the latter stands a real chance of success. Organizations often overestimate their execution or change capacity and launch far too many new initiatives while others are still ongoing. They let initiatives and expectations pile up without any real link to their actual ability to change, and in so doing set themselves up for failure. You should therefore cull, consolidate or cluster your portfolio of strategic initiatives. If this is not possible, it may be smart to compress, slow down or stop some initiatives.

Purge at least once a year

Purging your portfolio is the shortest and the surest way to get results in strategy execution. Most organizations are overburdened by a host of rambling, sprawling, and overlapping projects. Some even have zombie projects, projects that sprawl because something is forever being added or subtracted. Such projects can almost grow into separate little businesses, with their own corporate culture.

Purge your portfolio at least once a year, and preferably twice a year, at the start of your business planning meeting. That creates both focus and room to breathe. As a consultant, I insist on a preliminary phase, before starting on any transformation program. In this ‘phase zero’, the client and I weed out their current portfolio of projects and programs. It’s something that doesn’t happen nearly as much as it should. This two-week phase is one of the easiest ways for clients to save money. And more importantly, to free up time, change capacity and resources.

Here are a few ‘fun facts’. In my experience,

• 33% of project work turns out to be routine, line organization work; and
• 33% of the project work in a portfolio has an overlapping mandate or scope

Select to fit your strategy

When selecting new initiatives, they must fit your strategy. That’s the main criterion. A good portfolio consists of well-aimed shots at a strategic target. How good your aim is, is determined by the four dimensions represented in the figure below. This is a practical, widely-used matrix meant for reviewing strategic initiatives and matching them to a company’s change capacity. This figure is highly valuable from a content and communication standpoint; if it’s not in the matrix, it doesn’t exist