How to Rapidly Move from Strategy to Implementation, meeting your Organisation’s Vision
Rapid Planning Workshop to Accelerate Organisational Response to Board Direction (A Jarther+ Case Study)
"Jarther+ gave us a clear roadmap to move from strategy to execution. We left with not just ideas, but a concrete plan. more importantly, we established accountability, ensuring we could take action immediately."Here’s the challenge:
After a dynamic Board strategy day where the Board, CEO and General Managers aligned around a unified vision for their multinational government-funded organisation, the Board issued a 'Letter of Expectations' to the wider management team. The letter requested a detailed action plan to implement the renewed strategic imperatives within a tight 90-day window.
The real challenge? Rapidly generating buy-in from the wider management team and organisation, ensuring meaningful engagement and fast execution of the Board’s strategic direction.
Additionally, there were underlying cultural, behavioural and values-based challenges within the organisation that the Board hadn’t fully recognised. These needed to be surfaced and addressed to ensure comprehensive and successful alignment with the Board’s strategic imperatives.
In essence, the challenge was multifaceted: aligning the leadership team swiftly, incorporating broader insights, and tackling deep-rooted organisational issues - all within a 90-day timeframe.
Here’s our response:
To tackle the multifaceted challenge, Jarther+ took a hands-on approach. We began by engaging closely with the CEO and aligning with the Deputy Chair of the Board. Together we designed a 5-hour workshop aimed at aligning the Management team with the Board’s vision. The session kicked off with a review of the Board’s vision, ensuring everyone was on the same page. This set the stage for focussed discussions.
We used a mix of divergent (individual thinking) and convergent (refining generated ideas) exercises to explore options to achieve the Board's top three priorities for FY25. Participants brainstormed and grouped ideas into major programs of work, which were then refined into agreed goal statements encapsulating the Board’s strategic imperatives. By inviting the wider management team and select contributors to the workshop, it quickly became evident that some of the organisation’s challenges were cultural, behavioural, and values-based - issues the Board had not fully recognised. By surfacing these challenges, the workshop laid a comprehensive foundation for both strategic and cultural transformation.
Throughout the session, Jarther+ employed its proven methodology. Our lead facilitator drove the discussion, while a strategy assistant captured and synthesised insights in real time. This dual approach enabled us to provide the Board with a concise and actionable plan immediately following the workshop.
To maintain momentum and execution post-workshop, we assigned employees as team leaders for each program of work. These leaders were responsible for forming working groups, ensuring ownership, accountability, and alignment with the Board’s expectations. Each program of work was expanded upon, capturing descriptions, high-level tactics, metrics, benefits and a future roadmap.
More importantly, here is the impact:
The rapid planning workshop delivered actionable outcomes that accelerated the organisation’s implementation of the Board's direction. Key outcomes included:
Clear Workplan and Framework: The leadership team left with a structured and actionable plan, ensuring clarity in how to achieve the Board’s strategic imperatives.
Enhanced Engagement: By involving diverse voices, including dissenting perspectives, the workshop fostered a sense of buy-in and ownership among participants. Managers and contributors felt heard and valued, rather than being sidelined.
Accelerated Implementation: Jarther+ ensured that the workshop’s outcomes were centred on actionable programs of work.
Focus on Execution: By assigning team leaders and creating clear accountability structures, the organisation mitigated risk of inaction, which is often associated with workshops. This ensured that the outcomes translated into tangible progress.
Immediate response to Board: Jarther+ employed its proven methodology, with the lead facilitator driving discussion and a strategy assistant capturing and synthesising insights in real time. This dual approach enabled the management team to provide the Board with a concise and actionable plan immediately following the workshop.
Talk to Jarther+ about how we can help you accelerate strategic implementation and develop a clear workplan and reporting framework that ensures employee and leadership buy-in.