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Strategy

The development of strategy is a never-ending process, but periodically a plan must be divined from your work-in-progress so the organization has a plan upon which to act. While this might feel like the end of strategy and the beginning of execution, the reality is that neither has finite end-points. A good plan is a living, breathing document, subject to continual change, yet it must be sufficient at any point to enable action. To develop a solid strategic plan—one ready for execution—we apply a number of different tools.

 

Strategic Challenge

BMGI’s Strategic Challenge is designed to help you build confidence in your existing strategic plan—and to help you identify gaps, incorrect or unsupported assumptions, and plans that are seemingly sound, but for one reason or another will be difficult to implement.

At BMGI, we do not generally engage in core strategy development; however we often find ourselves asked to recommend new strategy as weaknesses in current strategy are revealed.

Strategic Challenge is a process of playing “devil’s advocate.” We use tools of provocation. We challenge assumptions. And we demand realistic execution plans. When one or more of these methods reveals a weakness, the weakness is addressed with a new or modified plan.

 

Analysis

There are many approaches to analysis and which we use depends on what it is we seek to learn. The most basic strategic analysis has been used by businesses for decades: the SWOT Analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). Tools used, or taught, by BMGI include:

  • Stakeholder Analysis
  • SWOT Analysis
  • Value Quotient
  • Outcome Expectations
  • Strategy FMEA
  • Stakeholder Analysis

Hoshin Planning

Hoshin Planning is much more than a simple planning process, and generally speaking there are no Gantt Charts; that’s not the point of Hoshin Planning. With Japanese roots, Hoshin Planning is often referred to by its loose English translation, "Policy Deployment," which doesn't do it justice, either.

Hoshin Planning is a holistic approach to conceptualizing, evaluating, vetting, and implementing strategy. Perhaps its most valuable attributes include the buy-in achieved from the inclusive nature of the process, and the assuredness of the plan itself because the ability to execute is considered every step of the way.

At BMGI, we incorporate the more traditionally recognized Balanced Scorecard at the front end of the Hoshin Planning process. While the Balanced Scorecard has merit in its own right, we have seen so many struggle with it that at BMGI we do not recommend it on its own.

 

Strategic Idea Generation

Idea Generation is at the heart of Strategic Planning, because Strategic Planning is about the future and the future is nothing but an idea until it becomes the past. At BMGI, we use a number of idea generation tools that are designed to help us, “think outside the box,” while still grounded in the reality that to execute, we ultimately have to get back in our box. Tools used for Strategic Idea Generation, Selection, and Prioritization include:

  • Trend Prediction
  • Creative Challenge
  • Provocation & Movement
  • Brainwriting 6-3-5
  • Imaginary Brainstorming
  • Random Stimulus
  • Idea Harvesting
  • Pugh Analysis

BMGI offers customized classes using the tools above, but we are most often asked to facilitate as opposed to teach. In addition to proficiency with the tools, BMGI’s facilitators offer an outside perspective that most often just can’t come from within.

 

Risk Optimization

You’ll notice we call it risk optimization, not risk minimization or risk management. That’s because we believe too many companies misunderstand risk. Risk is not to be minimized, it’s to be optimized. Business is all about maximizing the ratio of return to risk. In the extreme (in the “limit” as mathematicians would call it), taking risk to zero generally means taking your return to zero. Investors—private or public—provide capital to companies in exchange for a return and they understand and expect that there is some associated risk. To maximize the ratio of return to risk, we must fully understand the risks. BMGI offers a number of different tools and classes to ensure you do:

The Chief Risk Officer is a short course offered only on-site. While you may or may not have someone with the title of Chief Risk Officer, that doesn’t really matter, because at the end of the day your CEO is your company’s chief risk officer whether he or she likes it or not. This one day class is designed to help every executive understand the true nature of risk—and their responsibility in optimizing the return-to-risk ratio, and we teach a number of tools to help them do it. The course is highly interactive and is built around a number of different case studies.

To learn more about how to transform your business, call a BMGI expert today at +27 12 460 1967.

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