What we think

Post 4 of the ‘Strategy in uncertainty’ series

You have your strategy, people are engaged, but it’s still too easy to slip into old patterns and carry on as before.  From our experience there are strategic approaches, ways of working and mindsets which can all help sustain commitment to an agile and transformational strategy. 

1. Invest in the future now.  Consider McKinsey’s 3 horizon framework.¹  Consciously invest in the second (3-5 yrs) and third (5+ yrs) horizons to prepare for the future.   Monitor your spending and don’t expect immediate results.  Remember you are setting up for the longer term. 

2. Structure around goals not functions.  Multi-functional teams create cut-through on the things that matter to change.  Bring people together across functions to focus on the ‘Wildly Important’² and free teams up for what really matters. 

3. Impact, impact, impact.  We have said it before, but the relentless focus on impact is key.  Then focus on your role and added value in unlocking impact and excel at it.  Are you about providing funds, expertise or goods and services to programme participants?  That’s your route to impact. 

4. Keep external.  Do rapid reviews of the external environment and talk to external stakeholders.  Know what’s fixed, changing rapidly, or is transformed.   

5. Be responsive.  Focus on the needs, drivers and behaviours of your stakeholders.  Listen to them and be responsive.  Adapt to their changing needs. 

6. Impact reviews.  Review progress against impact goals regularly.  Go beyond leadership to engage country and programme staff and partners. Understand and do more of what drives impact. 

The future may look uncertain, but for the bold it can offer big opportunities.  A focus on impact and transformational change has never been more important. A new approach to planning and strategy implementation is currently required.  Adopting new ways of working can help deliver on your strategic ambitions to change and sustain lives and environments in uncertain times. 

By Jane Thurlow 

Footnotes

¹Enduring Ideas: The three horizons of growth | McKinsey

² Discipline 1: Focus on the Wildly Important | FranklinCovey

PARTICIPATORY PROCESS FOR IMPACT AND AGILITY 

Post 3 of the ‘Strategy in uncertainty’ series

Strategies on paper aren’t going to change the world.  Those that organisations live and breathe stand a chance.  Setting a dynamic direction, which engages and informs at all levels of the organisation, can help to navigate change.  Participatory processes in the development of a strategy are essential to build the necessary ownership and engagement in an agile strategy for its ultimate delivery.  

The three elements of the Ethicore Participatory Process:  listen, engage and ownership, are critical to strategic planning that lives within an organisation.  A mix of tools are used at each stage to ensure a strategy is built on deep insight, engages the organisation in possible directions and is owned and used by teams.  Our next blog will explore some of the tools in more detail. 

By Rachael Clay

Post 2 of the ‘Strategy in uncertainty’ series

An elaborate strategy can feel reassuring for Boards at times of uncertainty. However, it can also underplay risks, slow response times and miss opportunities during periods of change.  We have been evolving approaches to strategy development and planning with partners over the last few years, to build agility.  Our learning is that facing up to the disruptive forces, having an unrelenting focus on impact and a strong position are all essential to success.  Here are the five fundamentals we’ve found support effective strategy development in uncertain times: 

1. Set your goals for impact.  With pressure on funding, it’s tempting to prioritise income, but targeting and incentivising impact (with income) will focus your organisation on outcomes and help avoid going into pure survival mode. 

2. Embrace disruption. Face up to the forces of change. Identify the big trends (and likely predictable surprises) to anticipate and respond to, making sufficient investment in the areas that will help your organisation transform.  We use PESTLE, futures analysis and McKinsey 3 horizons model¹ to analyse this. 

3. Understand your position in the market – keeping an external focus.  Where do you add real value – build on that.  Make sure it’s distinct and material for your partners and funders. 

4. Design for agility.  Help your team make high impact decisions and be agile.  Give them the parameters to make decisions and respond to opportunities, engage them in the process and encourage them to create impact and learn. 

5. Act with conviction.   Tackle the big changes needed in the organisation.  Use the big bets, no regrets and resets model² to take action.  Identify new investments, core areas to change and operational ‘quick wins’ for a future focused model. 

Once we accept the uncertainty of our times we can design strategies to navigate through.  Embracing these fundamentals for agility can be reassuring for Boards and liberating for Leadership and their teams.  It starts with the strategic planning process but should become an organisational approach over time. 

By Rachael Clay and Jane Thurlow 

Footnotes

¹Enduring Ideas: The three horizons of growth | McKinsey

² When nothing is normal: Managing in extreme uncertainty | McKinsey

Post 1 of the ‘Strategy in uncertainty’ series

What if you didn’t follow your strategic plan, but it guided you on your journey? 

In our increasingly fragile world, we need to stay ever more alert to the threats of pandemics, conflict and climate change disrupting and destabilising the systems in which we operate.  The risk of shocks to the system are real – just look at the Covid disruption. Predictable surprises, like FCDO dramatic cuts to development funding, may be even more regular as long-term trends are accelerated. 

This challenges traditional models of strategic planning, where assumptions could be made for the planning period.  Now is the time for agility.  The role of the strategic plan has changed.  The agile strategic plan sets the ambition and goal, the general direction and the parameters for impact, guiding decision making along the way.  This allows the space to respond and adapt to opportunities and challenges, while keeping a laser-like focus on impact.  It requires an engaged team, who own the direction, and a strong external focus to navigate through.  In this blog series we will deep dive into the fundamentals for strategic planning and engagement in a time of agility.   

By Rachael Clay