Case Study: How strategy engagement matrices aligned disparate groups behind a shared purpose
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In the past, water technologies had been a bit of a Cinderella industry. Working along in the background with limited investment. But over recent decades, growing ecological concerns have begun to bring water much more into the limelight.
As focus and opportunity shifted, one particular group of businesses came together to better engage with this.
They were the Water arm of a large multinational engineering conglomerate. Three separate businesses, with complementary technologies.
bringing businesses together
The newly appointed CEO wanted to bring the three businesses together. His intention was to create one business better positioned to engage with the emerging opportunities. The CEO was already familiar with the power of Strategy Engagement Frameworks from past experience. He believed, rightly, that it would help him better engage his new team in a shared purpose to make it happen. And he asked us to help.
Objectives of the Strategy Engagement
He believed that the key to success for new Water Technologies organisation was to:- Generate the level of growth and margin that the parent company looks for in its benchmark organisations
- Create a shared purpose, not only in terms of structure and process, but also in behaviours, attitudes and beliefs
- Develop synergies within the digital and other industries of the parent organisation. And to gain the cultural and performance (Agile and excellence) benefits of that approach
- Deploy meaning and develop personal senses of responsibility in all staff in order to: break down silo perspectives; take systematic ownership for achievements; and develop people and cross-functional teams to achieve their full potential
- Strategically engage with relevant elements of the parent company’s global portfolio to reduce the organisation’s dependency on municipal markets and their attendant 5 year cycles
The goal therefore was: to engage the energy, skills and motivation of the team in fleshing out what these things mean in practice for Water Technologies; to determine a common set of objectives in support of this; to define how those objectives will be fulfilled both in the near future and in the longer term; and to build commitment to deliver those plans together.
Pretty much what every company needs really. But with one key difference. The power of the Strategy Engagement Matrix in delivering and sustaining it.
Starting with where people are
Our approach to this type of work begins with individual interviews of the leadership team. Transforming an organisation is always a journey, an adventure. Everybody changes. But to make those changes efficiently, we need to know where we are starting from.Our interviews helped us develop a complete picture of people’s hopes and aspirations; their dreams and their concerns. Their ideas, and their blindspots; their passions and their dislikes; and their priorities and needs. From these interviews we could develop a complete picture of key consistencies and differences in the collective view; particularly where there was consensus and where there was disagreement.
journeys start where you are
And we could begin to map out the most likely journey; a practical route for moving from the current situation to whatever success might mean. A means of building on consensus and resolving the differences to achieve coherence, a shared purpose, and an agreed way forward.
The interviews also helped us to build rapport and trust. A realisation that individual perspectives were valued and respected within the process. And a confidence that the outcome could be better for everyone.
Clarifying where they want to be
We then held a workshop to work this all through together. Beginning with an analysis of the start point, and confirmation that it reflected their reality.
From this we could begin to develop a shared picture of success. Success not just in performance and operational terms, but also in cultural and human terms. A picture that truly reflected what success meant to them and their responsibilities for the business.
We used a range of participative and visioning tools to pull individual proposals into a shared picture of success. One which was not only supported by everyone. But which everyone agreed would make them proud, and was worthy of the investment of the next three years of their lives.Furthermore, a picture that would fulfil the business expectations placed upon them. And be sufficiently robust to meet the needs of their changing market and context.
set goals that are worthy of your life
This picture fell into 6 main areas: Customers; Growth; Productivity; Sustainability; People; and Finance. We used metrics to further define these and describe positive progress for each area. And we set targets for each by means of the clothesline tool.
Configuring for success
Clearly, this picture of success is to be delivered by the different parts of the organisation working together.But organisational structure is a choice, and some structural choices deploy meaning better than others. They provide better leverage over achieving the results.
organisational structure is a matter of design
With this in mind we asked people how they would define the different elements of the organisation required to deliver our goals. And then we asked how we could best group and configure those elements. How we might arrange them for maximum agility, impact and creative potential.
agile organisational structure is a matter of meta-design
Breakouts worked on different models, each with different strengths and weaknesses. We then selected a base model, and further refined its structure by borrowing strong ideas from the other models to address its weaknesses.
In the end, the titles given to the primary groups were fairly conventional: Sales and Marketing; Supply Chain; Execution; Product Management; Aftermarket and Service; Finance; HR and Support. However, the design and components within each one were new.
Engaging them within the Strategy Matrix
The workshop had deliberately been held in a very large room with extensive wall space.The wall space enabled us to lay out the longest wall to represent the six goal areas as rows, and the seven primary groups as columns. Which created areas of approximately 30cm by 70cm at the intersection of each row and column.
Plenty of space to explore what each group needed to deliver if it was to ensure the success of each goal. The resulting matrix served as a means to deploy meaning from the top level goals into the primary groups.
deploy meaning systematically
We began splitting into seven groups. Each exploring what their group was capable of achieving currently in yellow sticky notes. And then adding in green sticky notes to reflect its further potential to leverage the goals.
Then we split into six groups, each taking responsibility for a goal area. And considering whether the proposed contributions would ensure the goals were met. Would they bet £500 of their own money on it. They then added further pink sticky notes of what was necessary to give them that confidence.
betting your own money accesses a different
level of thought
This gave us a complete picture of what would be required. Each cell reflecting responsibilities for each group in delivering each goal. The group then further refined these by looking at the the output as a whole, and soliciting further ideas and concerns. And then working through them together.
Prioritising innovation and improvement
People were asked about their confidence that the proposed leverage of the objectives could be achieved. That the workload would be manageable. This led to the realisation that we would need to prioritise on the most important things. We split again into breakouts, and used sticky dots to identify what was essential, and align it with what was feasible.
seeing the whole picture
For the first time, the leadership team could see fully what it was trying to do, and how it could configure itself to deliver it. It could see how the different parts needed to work together to achieve it.
The matrix clearly deployed meaning from the top level goals into each part of their strategy. Furthermore they could better see themselves as a team rather than heads of functions. They could see that it was ALL their responsibility, not just siloed bits of it.
Deploy meaning to expand strategy engagement
However, the leadership do not have all the best ideas. Nor is it sufficient to rely solely on their ownership.The point about strategy engagement is to draw in the ideas and ownership of everyone. To deploy meaning right down through the organisation. So the next step was to use the big picture to engage those that actually do the work.
Teams were pulled together to take responsibility for each primary group (business area). Each had an appointed leader from the workshop.
to engage people harness their ideas
The role of the team was to understand the logic so far, and to translate this into clear goals for each of the business areas. To include their own aspirations and ideas for what might be possible. And to formulate a proposal back to the leadership team.
In some cases, they developed their own strategy engagement matrix. Embracing their own vision of success for their group. Deploying meaning even deeper into the organisation. And being creative in considering the local structure to deliver it.
Harmonising the approach
A second leadership workshop was held to receive the proposals from the different groups. These were used to update the top level Strategy Engagement Matrix. The leadership team could then consider whether it wanted to make counter proposals. It could also use the information to reconsider the targets it was setting itself.
a living picture of how everything connects
The end result was a complete framework which linked everyone’s work back into the vision of Water Technologies. People could see clearly where they fitted in, and their potential to make a difference. Furthermore the framework provided a practical framework for holding together Agile teams.
The final step, in workshop terms at least, was to ensure effective communications as plans progressed.
The Strategy Engagement Matrix includes for a half matrix looking at the interrelatedness of the teams. This ‘roof’ matrix enables the teams to meet together and understand whether their individual goals place them in conflict or synergy. It then enables them to work out what communication they need between them: Whether they need regular updates to avoid treading on each others toes; Or whether they would benefit from planning shared projects.
Empowering progress
Clearly, there were some role changes required in Water Technologies as a result of this work, but this was effected very easily. The purpose-centric definition of the new business areas, and the responsibilities therein, clearly helped in defining these. And by the ownership of individuals created as they defined their own roles and contributed their ideas.
the result was a transformation in Water Technologies performance.
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Author: Mike Clargo | Culturistics
Relevant Links:
An early example from 1997: The Designer Organisation