The most frequently requested interventions

Improve, renew, and innovate faster? These are the most frequently requested interventions from Strategy = Execution.

The eight most requested interventions

Strategy Acceleration Sessions

Goal: to concretize strategy, answer outstanding questions and test assumptions; to get from an abstract strategy to an executable one.

There’s almost always a strategy of sorts, but seldom an effective strategy that forms a solid foundation for execution. Experience has shown that strategies frequently leave too much room for interpretation and set vague goals for distant time horizons. As a rule of thumb, “10 centimeters of vagueness at the top equals 10 meters of vagueness lower down in the organization.

A good strategy answers the following questions in clear, qualitative and quantitative terms: Which markets and customers do we want to serve? Why would we be likely to succeed there? By offering which products, services and value? Using which revenue model? What is our UVP? What demands does this put on our business model, and hence, on our processes, structure and governance, competencies and culture, technology and data management, and knowledge? Which portfolio of change initiatives do we need to execute this strategy? More info

Goal: to make smart choices in an ambitious yet feasible change portfolio.

This proven approach helps you translate your strategy into a portfolio of change initiatives in just 3 to 6 weeks. You learn to put the knife into the usual proliferation of outsize, unruly change initiatives without a clear scope.
Experience has shown that 33% of most change portfolios are in fact day-to-day tasks on the Running the Business side of strategy execution. Another 33% have an incorrect and/or overlapping mandate and/or scope, while 10% are zombie projects—in other words, projects that have become more or less permanent, and were started so long ago that no one remembers why. Did you know that 80% of organizations have bulging change portfolios, containing as much as 60 to 150 projects? Talk about setting yourself up for disappointment…

In a carefully considered selection process, you define a widely-supported change portfolio of initiatives and select your 9 most critical projects. You describe each of these in detail on a single page and on the second page, you specify the execution coalition needed to execute this initiative. This is the group of people who are going to assume ownership for the execution of the initiative and for the realization of its benefits. This frees up resources and gets all key actors to focus on the project and believe in its doability. The intervention includes a ‘to don’t’ list.

2. Change Portfolio Management: purge, select and balance your change portfolio

Breakthrough: facilitate your 3 most critical initiatives (‘change begets change’)

Goal: to achieve tangible results in your top 3 critical initiatives.

Providing these initiatives with customized support increases their chances of success, which in turn will inspire the execution coalitions working on other initiatives. With a set of specific actions and proven, practical methods, we help you to carry out the actual execution for each critical change initiative. We work with your people to ensure that:

it’s perfectly clear why the issue is so important
a breakthrough is achieved—typically by implementing three solutions fully instead of five halfheartedly
the first shot lands on target—because you often get only one shot
every key player personally checks in at a psychological level—people’s hearts need to be in it
the change is secured
the benefits are measured and the necessary adjustments made
lessons are learned.

More info

Goal: to become a more flexible, efficient and effective organization by using just one language and method.

Action- Based Learning in the Strategy = Execution Masterclass
Organizations that excel at strategy execution have chosen a single language and method for the essentials of strategy execution appropriate to their line of business and organization. Not only does this increase their effectiveness in executing change initiatives, it also boosts their strategy execution capacity year after year.
Click here for more information on the masterclass. More info

Masterclass: a single language & method

5. Benefits realization management & monitoring

Goal: measuring whether you are achieving what you set out to achieve.

Effective monitoring of your benefits. You set up measuring and benefit tracking systems right from the start of your first execution wave. You measure progress based on facts. Professionals need room to manage their responsibilities. Self-monitoring is more effective than supervision. The way you monitor matters. Let’s keep it simple and use modern visual management technology (dashboards with progress information). More info

Appeal: Communicate, Test and Enrich Your Strategy

You first want to test your strategy and enrich it with new ideas to create a living strategy. That requires much more than just one-way communication: the ‘why’ has to be crystal clear. Telling an attractive story is a must. Strategy-setting is not a solo effort—a select few people are involved—but not every key actor. Getting them involved is important to garner broad support, but also to obtain information that will help you choose the right execution strategy. More info

6. Appeal: communicate, test and enrich your Strategy

7. Activate: foster true ownership through execution coalitions and psychological check-ins

Goal: to inspire key actors to willingly take responsibility for an intiative, to ‘want to’ rather than ‘have to’.

In other words, treat them like entrepreneurs instead of employees. It’s time to acknowledge the importance of the soft side of change. In this intervention, we work with your leaders to ensure that the key actors who lead and execute your critical change initiatives (the ‘execution coalitions’) get a chance to take true ownership, right from the analysis stage through the entire intervention. More info

Goal: to organize strategy execution as a continuous process, structure, form of governance, set of resources, conduct and knowledge.

Aim for a decentralized structure where possible (agile teams), and centralized where necessary (transformation or program management office). Once organizations have increased their execution capacity, they try to secure and institutionalize this capacity. What often happens in practice, however, is fragmentation, leading to people reinventing the wheel. IT often manages a pool of project leaders, there is a central program management office (PMO) for big transformations, HR has its own pool for organizational development (MD & OD) and some organizations have introduced a new way of working in agile teams (e.g. ING bank, with its tribes, squads, chapters and guilds).

Who can keep track of it all? That is not to say that any one of these structures is the one and only, but clearly there is a need for rationalization and coherence. You have to consider all these structures and decide which need to be centralized and which decentralized—in the heart of the various divisions and business units. More info

8. Treat Strategy execution as a discipline

9. Bepaal het strategie-executievermogen van uw organisatie.

Doel: bekijk en ken de vertreksituatie van strategie-executie kritisch. In bedrijfskundige vaktaal heet dat: analyseer de capabilities, oftewel kwaliteiten.

Meet de harde en de zachte kwaliteiten. De harde kwaliteiten zijn onder meer de structuur, het systeem van prestatiemanagement, de processen en de technologie. De zachte kwaliteiten zijn onder meer de cultuur, gedrag en de stijl van leidinggeven en samenwerken. Zowel de harde als de zachte kwaliteiten kunnen betrekking hebben op het dagelijkse management, ‘run’, maar ook op het transformeren van het bestaande bedrijfsmodel naar een vernieuwd bedrijfsmodel, ‘change’. De analyse van de kwaliteiten die de effectiviteit van strategie-executie in een organisatie bepalen, is een belangrijke stap alvorens de definitieve ambitie van de missie, visie en strategie vast te stellen. Hierdoor ontstaat een beeld van de kracht, de volwassenheid en de samenhang van de basiskwaliteiten. Bij goede basiskwaliteiten kan de ambitie, de polsstok, navenant hoog zijn. Bij lage basiskwaliteiten is dat niet zomaar het geval. De strategische ambitie moet in lijn zijn met het executievermogen, ook wel verandervermogen genoemd. Bij een lage score op de harde kwaliteiten betekent dat niet automatisch dat de ambitie verlaagd moet worden, maar wel dat extra inspanning nodig is om de ambitie te realiseren. Een concreet voorbeeld: als uit de analyse van de harde kwaliteiten blijkt dat de gekozen hoofdstructuur geen effectief platform voor besturing en vernieuwing is, is het zinvol die structuur eerst aan te passen. Een oude of gebrekkige hoofdstructuur zal nooit een goed platform voor strategie-executie zijn. Dit is geen theoretische stap, een noodzakelijke.

Ga naar SECA.NU om in maximaal twintig minuten de Strategy Execution & Change Accelerator (SECA) online in te vullen en ontvang direct de score van de organisatie op zowel ‘run’ als ‘change’ en op de harde en zachte capabilities. En doe zo direct inzichten op hoe je de strategie-executie kunt versterken en versnellen. Tijdens deze bouwsteen analyseer je de harde capabilities.

Vanzelfsprekend loont het om tijdens de strategische analyse de uitkomsten van de SECA.NU-analyse te bespreken en zo de strategische ambitie en het vermogen op elkaar af te stemmen. Ik suggereer bij de bespreking drie agendapunten:

Kies de specifieke harde en zachte capabilities die in het licht van de strategische doelen versterkt moeten worden.
Welke samenhang in het bedrijfsmodel ontbreekt en moet hersteld worden?
Welke besluiten en acties zijn daarvoor nodig? Welke daarvan betreffen gewoon enkele managementbeslissingen aan de runningkant en welke initiatieven aan de changekant? More info

Would you like more information or a tailor-made quote? Vul het formulier in en wij nemen zo snel mogelijk contact met u op.

"*" indicates required fields

"By selectively picking the right critical change initiatives in your portfolio and working with agile and powerful execution coalitions, you can achieve a real breakthrough in execution.”

– Cees de Wijs, CEO Division Infrastructure VolkerWessels – Cees de Wijs, CEO, Dynniq

Los van de 9 meest gevraagde interventies is tijdens de covid-19 crisis de vraag hoe korte termijn risicomanagement te combineren met innovatie-executie:

Organizations that excel in strategy execution enjoy a three-month advantage in lead-time-to-execution and save 50% in total execution and innovation process time. They achieve 15 to 25% more of their goals. And these organizations increase their strategy execution capacity year after year, because they use a single language and method for the essentials of modern strategy execution.

Meest gestelde vragen op dit moment: Wat moet nu, wat moet stoppen, wat juist niet, wat moet na de ergste crisisweken doorstarten, hoe? Wat voor de continuïteit, wat voor de innovatie?

Dat zijn de vragen die relaties stellen en we onze opdrachtgevers mee helpen. Door zij-aan-zij snel en praktisch te besluiten en te helpen in acute executie (geen quick scans of adviesrapporten). Naast versterking van de acute nood bieden we twee noodzakelijke acties van elk vier digitale (e-change sessies).

Actie 1: Reset en doorstart van de prioriteiten. Concreet herijken van de strategie-executie prioriteiten. En de bijbehorende doorstart per prioriteit in executie.

Activiteiten:

Inventariseer bestaande prioriteiten
Stel belangrijkste veranderingen vast die ex- of impliciet zijn ontstaan.
Herdefinieer prioriteiten. We zetten de prioiriteiten en portfoliomethode in die Turner tientallen keren per jaar inzet.
Activeer de herijkte prioriteiten (hard en zacht, incl. Psychologische check-in).

Actie 2: Oogst en consolideer innovaties. Die in no-time zijn neergezet de afgelopen tijd. En de bijbehorende competenties. Innovatie = Executie.

Activiteiten:

Inventariseer het bestaande innovatieplan.
Stel belangrijkste innovaties vast: welke, waarom, waar, wie? Wat wil je behouden? Waar wil je op door? Wat zijn de belangrijkste de facto’ innovaties die zijn gedaan
Herdefinieer de innovatieprioriteiten. We zetten de innovatie prioriteiten en portfoliomethode in die Turner tientallen keren per jaar inzet.
Activeer de herijkte innovatieprioriteiten (hard en zacht, incl. Psychologische check-in).

Werkvorm: elke module heeft een direct executeerbaar eindresultaat, 4 digitale sessies met de sleutelspelers, 2-4 weken doorlooptijd, tussenproducten, per module, tussentijds praktische uitwerking door de deelnemers in onze e-change formats, eigenaarschap ingebakken in werkvorm. Track record en referenties beschikbaar. Fixed resultaat – tijd – prijs. Processen, systemen en onze mensen zijn al jaren ingericht op tijd- en plaatsonafhankelijk werken. NB: geen quick scans of rapporten, wel hand-in-hand analyse en executie.

"Meest gestelde vragen: Wat moet nu, wat moet stoppen, wat juist niet, wat moet na de ergste crisisweken doorstarten, hoe? Wat voor de continuïteit, wat voor de innovatie?"

– Jacques Pijl, directeur Turner

Strategy = Execution. Improve, Renew and Innovate Faster

How can organizations make strategy execution their number one priority? And improve, renew and innovate faster? This I describe in my book Strategy = Execution. Strategy = execution is based on the research that Turner started years ago into the success factors of strategy execution and innovation. We interviewed 60 directors and professionals and analyzed more than 75 cases, 300 relevant books and articles.

Look inside Order your copy

More about Jacques Pijl (author) and Turner Consultancy.
The most popular interventions based on Strategy = Execution
24 endorsements from organizational leaders
American management book of the year 2021, no. 1 in the category of strategic management, in the top 100 bestseller, seventh edition, translated into: English, German, Spanish, Russian and Bahasa.
Selection of the most important management books according to CEOs of innovative organizations (FD New Champions). Included in library of classics (mb.nl).
Nominated for Management Book of the Year.
Countless articles and interviews in FD, Emerce, Frankwatching and CFO.
Numerous Ted Talks and in-company workshops at the top 25-50 organizations, average rating 8.7.

Meet our experts

Jacques Pijl

Contact »

Tjalle Hoekstra