1. What is the strategic context that is driving the organisation to change
1.1. The Big Idea - Strategy is the way that organisations respond to their environment to compete more effectively in their markets or those they want to enter, which makes them more efficient, different and focused.
1.1.1. The environment in which a business operates often moves slowly but is characterised by sudden dramatic and sometimes unpredictable shifts (Black Swans) in one or more - sometimes all - of six areas
1.1.1.1. Political - what political changes or conditions does the business need to take into account e.g., BRExit
1.1.1.2. Economic - what are the current or potential economic factors that might affect the business - the long term impact of Covid
1.1.1.3. Social - what social factors are likely to impact the business e.g., the change to home working
1.1.1.4. Technological - what changes in technology could be important such as increasing virtualisation and use of AI
1.1.1.5. Legal - what changes in the legal structure could be important e.g., the regulations caused by BREXIT
1.1.1.6. Environmental what environmental factors does the business need to consider like the use of plastics
1.1.2. This far environment affects the market the businesses already has for its products or those it is thinking about entering through the action of five forces Michael Porter
1.1.2.1. Threat of new entrants and what are the barriers to their entry
1.1.2.2. Threat of new substitutes for the products or services that are being provided e.g., Social media adds replacing traditional advertising
1.1.2.3. The bargaining power of new buyers perhaps as a result of an expanding comodotised market
1.1.2.4. The power of suppliers which could mean for example that they start to go direct to the client
1.1.2.5. How much competition and rivalry is there between existing competitors in the market for this product or service
1.1.3. According to Porter there are three strategic tools that a business has to address changes in these forces, to innovate or enter new markets.
1.1.3.1. Find some way to achieve overall cost leadership through reducing the cost of production in some way.
1.1.3.2. Differentiate the product or service being offered so that it has greater appeal to its customers
1.1.3.3. Identifying its strengths and using these to focus on specific customers and become dominant in that sector
1.2. Big Idea: Strategy is what businesses do to plan how they will achieve their objectives by envisioning their future in an uncertain world.
1.2.1. One way of dealing with this uncertainty is to use scenario planning and there are three ways of doing this
1.2.1.1. This starts by defining the underlying assumptions on which strategic decisions are being made
1.2.1.2. These assumptions are then run forward in a scenario to identify what the outcomes might be - so you can spot any contradictions or absurd ones
1.2.1.3. When you have agreed the scenario that is most likely to happen given the current environment you can then look back at how this scenario came about
1.2.2. By looking at how these strategies fit with your business model you can identify the types of changes that you need to make
2. How is this vision of change coordinated with the overall business strategy
2.1. Change takes place within the context of how the business manages strategy
2.1.1. Bradley 2012 described the delivery model for strategy as being made up of five steps
2.1.1.1. Search for innovative ideas to deliver value to customers because you need ideas to chose from
2.1.1.2. A vision or story that integrate these ideas
2.1.1.3. mechanism for making choices between options
2.1.1.4. implementing strategy by making changes
2.1.1.5. Regular review of the above
2.1.2. Big Idea - A strategic plan is just a good idea on paper without the people who must deliver it knowing how they need to change and the business knowing this change is happening.
2.1.2.1. Which starts with a SWOT analysis that identifies the change that the business can make in the context of the external environment of Opportunities and threats (great video worth watching)
2.1.2.1.1. Internal focus
2.1.2.1.2. External focus
2.1.2.2. Big Idea: A plan is only strategic if it is about how the organisation changes its relationship with the external environment.
2.1.2.2.1. An overall long term Strategic vision is clearly defined for the business and a score card created of leading indicators that it is being delivered e.g., NPS score improvement
2.1.2.2.2. These leading indicators are broken down into a series of business outcomes which will need to be delivered to achieve them in a Portfolio - e.g., year on year improvement in case resolution
2.1.2.2.3. These business outcomes are then used to inform the change initiatives that might lead to them - more flexible working
2.1.2.2.4. These initiatives are then implemented
2.1.2.2.5. Outcomes of initiatives compared with the leading indicators and score card which identifies whether the long term strategy is being delivered
2.1.3. Or is it a lot messier than that and in fact emerges at the bottom and has to b aligned
2.1.3.1. Big Idea: Change emerges from the real life practical experiences of managers and teams in the organisations which are nurtured by leaders to deliver their objectives.
2.1.3.1.1. This is a long video but very well worth listening to
2.1.3.1.2. This could be a response by different areas of the business to changes in customer behaviour or to meet legislative requirements
2.1.3.1.3. These local initiatives then need to be aligned and coordinated with each other and the overall objectives of the business.
2.1.3.1.4. The alignment of different change initiatives from across the business then leads to the development of a new vision and strategy
2.2. However change is defined it needs to be managed and coordinated otherwise it becomes chaos and this is normally done through portfolios, programmes and projects
2.2.1. Portfolio = achievement of strategic vision with available resources - permanent
2.2.2. Programme = manage a group of inter related projects - temporary
2.2.3. Project = delivery of specific change within a time frame - short term temprorary
2.3. Putting all this together a Strategic CHANGE Plan should include sections which describe the areas covered in the Change Management BOK
2.3.1. Defining the change you want to see
2.3.2. Being clear about the benefits that you want to see as a result
2.3.3. Developing a strategy to engage the Stakeholders in the change
2.3.4. Planning how you need to communicate the change to them
2.3.5. Being clear how you will measure the impact of the change on the organisation
2.3.6. Knowing how the change project will be managed to deliver these benefits
2.3.7. And how it will be sustained after it has been delivered
3. How does the organisation develop a vision of what this change needs to look like
3.1. Most strategic plans start with a vision statement that is powerful, succinct, understandable and explains where the business is going - here is the link for Cover Story Vision
3.1.1. Explore different view points from key stakeholders about what this vision might look like
3.1.1.1. Identify who these stakeholders are using Stakeholder Mapping and bring them together in focus groups
3.1.1.2. Use Lists and mind maps to explore future scenarios where this Vision is a reality
3.1.2. Identify those that might be of most value in moving the organisation on
3.1.2.1. Clarify Why the vision needs to be delivered through these scenarios
3.1.2.2. Get an understanding of What needs to happen by comparing this future state with now
3.1.2.3. Get some initial ideas about How this scenario will need to be brought about
3.1.3. One approach to developing a Vision statement recommended in the BOK is that it should be short and inspirational and have the following VOCATE elements
3.1.3.1. Viewpoint - consensus about what needs to be achieved
3.1.3.2. Owner - who would need to own this
3.1.3.3. Customer - who might benefit
3.1.3.4. Actors - who will need to do the work
3.1.3.5. Transformation - how will this all need to happen
3.1.3.6. Environment - possible constraints
3.2. But how do you engage stakeholders or know that they are committed to the vision?
3.2.1. Big Idea: People are only engaged and committed in a strategic vision when it helps them to deliver something that matters personally to them.
4. How does the organisation plan for this Strategic change to be a success
4.1. A key element of planning to deliver the strategy is to develop a Business activity model
4.1.1. A clear statement about the overall purpose of the change being made - what are the benefits that will be delivered
4.1.2. Create scenarios about what the world would look like when these benefits have been delivered and look back to identify the activities that brought them about
4.1.3. Develop a plan which will show how these activities will happen
4.1.3.1. List the activities that need to take place on a white board or story board using post it notes
4.1.3.2. Connect them with arrows showing dependencies between the activities which will determine the sequence they need to happen in
4.1.3.3. Show external factors that could impact on these activities
4.1.3.4. Describe the resources will be needed to carry out these activities and how these are to be made available - KOPE
4.1.3.4.1. Knowledge - what do we need to know and what data do we need
4.1.3.4.2. Organisation and People - organisational skills etc to perform the action
4.1.3.4.3. Process and procedures - what processes and procedures will be needed
4.1.3.4.4. Environmental factors that need to be satisfied
4.1.4. Create a Gap Analysis approach so that you can measure whether the planned activities are being achieved and the BAM activities are delivering results and define how this will take place by
4.1.4.1. Workshop with stakeholders to identify differences - future and now
4.1.4.2. Map on the BAM model and create a difference table using RAG analysis
4.1.4.3. Use KOPE to analyse the potential risks in delivering the planned activities
4.2. Decide how you are going to Manage Risk through the delivery of the plan and stop them becoming issues
4.2.1. Hotspot analysis around connections on the BAM diagram
4.2.2. Use Ishikawa to ask five questions to get to the route cause of any issues
4.3. A key area of risk is that these drivers for change are likely to be met by resistance and there needs to be consideration of how this is to be overcome
4.3.1. Big Idea: Change comes about when the balance between the driving forces behind it and the resisting forces that appose it that are keeping the status quo in place is disturbed.
4.3.1.1. The Force Field analysis is usually carried out in a workshop setting
4.3.1.1.1. Describe the situation requiring change
4.3.1.1.2. Lay out a white board as a central lie or box a clear explanation of the current Status Quo
4.3.1.1.3. State the desired end state and put on the right of the white board
4.3.1.1.4. List driving and resisting forces - one per sticky note either side of the Status Quo - drivers on left resisters on right
4.3.1.1.5. Discuss how to increase drivers and reduce resistance
4.3.1.1.6. Capture results