Strategizing in a complex world
We help you to (re-)insource your strategic conversation, rather than to outsource it to consultants or delegate it to analysts.
We aim to engage your organization into a strategy conversation that generates the conviction, energy and competence for successful strategy implementation.
Our strategizing approach is driven by insight, not just analysis; commitment, not just deployment; confidence, not just information.
We see our added value in bringing the right tools, process and people together so that you generate the clarity, credibility, action orientation and excitement needed to drive performance.
ELP’s strategizing process is built on:
- work-out sessions: key people across the organisation working through the strategic options and surfacing the tradeoffs to be made
- a bottom-up as much as top- down approach: while the key choices and tradeoffs will need to be made at the top of the house, it is in the everyday interaction with clients, competitors and markets that success is built or broken. Hence the need to tap into our collective intelligence and to make clear and consistent decisions at all relevant levels
- building competence and confidence: the power of strategizing is not purely to be measured by the beauty of the slides, or the slickness of the mission statement. We work on input (i.e. the quality of the conversation, the diversity of the perspectives) as much as on output
- process, not just content: the power of strategies lies in how we develop them together. This process quality is created with the right combination of discipline, structure, creativity, diversity and energy
- starting from your customer: while companies typically spend a vast amount of time and energy looking at merger and acquisition targets, geographic expansion opportunities and other key moves , the roots of a company’s success lay in its capacity to win, retain and satisfy customers, every single day. Any other moves we make should ultimately allow us to do this better, faster, cheaper, differently and hence more successfully.
When having discussions with clients about strategy, we often talk about a few key question:
- Should you hire external consultants and experts for your strategic planning, or should you develop the internal competence (methods, tools, shared language and understanding) to have your leadership teams strategize on an ongoing basis?
- Is strategy a rational, left brain exercise, or are we missing out on valuable contributions the more creative and empathic right brain can make, and should we also include the heart (personal intent, emotions) and the hands (rehearsing, prototyping actions to shape the strategy)?
- Should strategy be a periodic deliverable, distilled into a plan, or should it be an ongoing conversation and exploration, informed and reshaped by current events as they arise?
- Are strategy formulation and implementation distinct processses, or is it impossible – even undesired – to separate these for the best results?
We welcome the opportunity to get into a conversation with you on these important topics. For more information Get in touch with Nick.
