Strategy Survival Guide

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Strategy Survival Guide Version 2.1 Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit home | strategy development | strategy skills | site index Strategy Skills Successful strategies are rarely achieved by spontaneous flashes of genius, but rather result from the systematic collection, analysis and evaluation of facts, circumstances, trends and opinions. In the same way, teams do not work to maximum effectiveness and strategies do not deliver full benefit unless explicit attention is given to understanding the motivations and developing relationships with the people involved. Successful strategy work therefore requires a wide range of skills, including those below. Although each skill may prove to be of most use at a particular phase of a project, the relevance of each is by no means confined to any one phase. Within each skill area there are a number of tools and approaches that can help to support strategic thinking. These are discussed together with ‘in practice’ examples from recent strategy work. Managing People and the Project Structuring the Thinking Appraising Options Building an Evidence Base Planning Delivery Managing Stakeholders & Communications Strategy Survival Guide – Strategy Skills Page 44
Strategy Survival Guide Version 2.1 Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit home | strategy development | strategy skills | site index Strategy Skills > Managing People and the Project Tools & Approaches People • Recruiting a team • Building a team • Working as a team • Encouraging creativity • Giving & receiving feedback The Project • Developing the plan • Structuring the work • Setting milestones • Managing risks • Defining accountability • Evaluating the project Managing People Difficult strategic issues require creative and fresh thinking. To maximise the contribution of all participants, including stakeholders, to this process, effective people management skills are required throughout the project. Particularly in the early phases of the project, attention needs to be given to recruiting a team of the right size, with the right skills and with the right team leader. Once recruited, it can take time to transition from a group of individuals into an effective team. An active approach to building a team may be necessary given the short time scales of many strategy projects. Working as a team also requires a clear articulation and common expectations of roles, responsibilities, modes of communication and decision-making, and an appreciation of different working styles within the team. Actively encouraging creativity is also an important way of maximising people’s contributions. Giving & receiving feedback is the iterative process by which the team optimise their performance. It should occur informally to enhance the day-to-day functioning of the team, as well as formally to provide appraisal points and aid long-term professional development. Managing the Project The overall co-ordination of the project to ensure the timely delivery of an acceptable and effective strategy requires excellent project management skills. At the outset of a project, it is helpful to document the proposed management approach in a project plan. Developing the plan aids explicit communication, and helps to ensure common expectations. The plan should be continually revised and updated as the project progresses. The team leader should determine the best way of structuring the work to get the most out of the team and address the issues in hand. Setting milestones for each work-stream as well as the overall project will help to keep it on track. Identifying and managing risks to the successful completion of the project is also key. The governance structure for the project should be agreed by defining accountability. It may be appropriate to establish a steering committee or advisory board to whom the project team can report. Evaluating the project before the team disbands it an important means of capturing what has been learned. Strategy Survival Guide – Strategy Skills Page 45
Page 1: Strategy Strategy Survival Survival
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Page 6 and 7: Building an Evidence Base 113 Data
Page 8 and 9: A Framework for Strategic Direction
Page 10 and 11: These four components need to be co
Page 50 and 51: Recruiting a team In Practice: SU G
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Page 56 and 57: WHY ...are you telling me this? SO
Page 60 and 61: Try to put into practice the princi
Page 62 and 63: Encouraging creativity In Practice:
Page 64 and 65: There are clear differences between
Page 80 and 81: Identifying key stakeholders and th
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Strategy Survival Guide Version 2.1
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Reinforcing Loops A + Balancing Loo
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Structuring the thinking - Systems
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Opportunities • Where are the goo
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Structuring the thinking - PESTLE I
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Revolution This is creativity at it
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For example, Sub-problem: My collea
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Structuring the thinking - Creativi
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in The Magenta Book) are rigorous m
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• Avoid asking the same question
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Expectations can be shaped by a num
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Collecting data - Surveys In Practi
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Collecting data - Interviews & focu
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Step One: Define the problem explic
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• Are the units correct? Step Sev
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Analysing data - Modelling In Pract
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The Five Forces Framework can be us
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References Structure, Conduct, Perf
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Symbols • What language and jargo
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• Put a contact name, telephone n
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Learning from others - Internationa
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4. Functional Benchmarking or Gener
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Strengths • Quantitative forecast
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3. Bring drivers together into a vi
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Scenario development In Practice 1:
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Scenarios used in the Strategy Unit
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groups at random. In other words, t
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events. There are a number of diffe
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Multi-criteria analysis In Practice
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Cost-benefit & cost-effectiveness a
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For further material, see the Ratio
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Compelling vision for action - the
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Designing an implementation plan In
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Creating Public Value http://www.nu
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National Statistics http://www.stat
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Driver trees 97 Econometric modelli
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management 17, 20, 27, 34, 45 outpu
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Strategy Unit, Admiralty Arch, The
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