Greg Githens is Vice President Strategic Initiatives and Innovation. He helps executives turn vision into results and is available for short- and long-term leadership.-
Read these recent articles
- Accountability is the Willingness to Have Your Performance Measured
- Three Tips for Leading Strategic Alliances
- Don’t Ask About Deadlines and Due Dates
- Launching a Strategic Initiative? Here are Three Good Practices
- B.A.R.E.D. – Five Domains for Program Management Performance
- Strategy Execution Priority #1: Effectively Communicate Strategic Decision(s)
- Strategic Initiatives Case Study: Best Buy’s “Renew Blue” Turnaround
- The Business Value Proposition
- Strategic Thinking: Seven Questions for Your New Year’s Resolution
- Use Small Wins to Attract Allies To Your Strategic Initiative (and Overcome Shabby Thinking)
- Strategic Initiatives | What Are the Metrics That Matter?
- S.T.I.C.C. – A Useful Communication Tool for Critical Situations
- The “20%-of-Your-Time” Rule-of-Thumb
- That’s the Fact, Jack: Data Drive Strategic Initiatives
- A Simple Idea that Every Good Strategist Knows
- Apple versus Samsung: Three Lessons for Strategic Initiative Leaders
- Four Things Strategic Initiative Leaders Need to Know About Requirements
- The “Call to Action:” A Useful Leadership Tool
- Strategic Initiative Steering Teams: A Sharp or Dull Blade?
- Identify Performance Gaps and Get Out of the Rut of Solutioneering
- The Job of the Program Manager is to…..
- Use the Prospective Hindsight Technique to Improve Your Vision Statements and Story Telling
- The Purpose of a Strategic Initiative is Closing a Performance Gap
- How to Develop Completion Criteria and Success Metrics
- Ask Informed Questions
- How to Identify Strategic Assumptions
- Strategic Initiative Case Study: Intel’s Product Development Turnaround
- Strategic Initiatives | Are You Ready to Implement?
- Incremental Benefits Delivery: The Key to Sustaining Commitment to Strategy
- The Strategic Initiative Leader: The #1 Success Factor!
- Strategic Initiatives | Executive Sponsor Roles, Power, & Politics
- Know The “Follow-The-Money” Story. How was Your Strategic Initiative Funded?
- Path Finding and Way Finding
- A Powerful Idea for Your Strategic Initiative: Program = Brand = Trust
- Case Study: Strategic Initiative Kickoff in a Global Joint Venture
- Five Rules for Managing Complex Strategic Initiatives
- Advice for Strategic Initiative Charters
Talk to the Expert
Need a strategic planning facilitator, implementation coach, neutral mediator, workshop, seminar, or hands-on program manager? Greg Githens provides coaching, workshops, hands-on, and more. Contact him at GregoryDGithens@cs.com or 419.424.1164Categories
- Competencies of Strategic Initiative Leaders
- Examples of Strategic Initiatives
- How to Improve Your Story Telling Chops
- Incremental Benefits Delivery
- Interpreting Strategy Documents
- Program & Portfolio Management
- Strategic Planning Issues for Strategic Initiatives
- Strategy Coaching and Facilitation
- Strategy, Ambiguity, and Strong-Minded Thinking
- Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives
- Transforming the Organization
- Useful Practices & Management Tools
Monthly Archives: July 2011
Eight Distinctions between Portfolio Management & Program Management
This article clarifies the differences between program management, portfolio management, and program management along 8 dimensions: purpose, temporal nature, aggregation, strategic alignment, success criteria, risk, decisions, & competencies. Greg Githens explains four implications for leaders of strategic initiatives: meaning of strategic alignment, number of strategic initiatives in the portfolio, strategic initiatives as programs, and immature standards. The leader applies strategic thinking to do that. Continue reading
Posted in Program & Portfolio Management, Strategic Planning Issues for Strategic Initiatives
Tagged ambiguity, Business, differences project program portfolio, governance, Greg Githens, Leadership, Management, portfolio management, program management, Project, Project management, Project portfolio management, risk diversification, strategic alignment, Strategic initiative, Strategic management, strategic thinking, strategy execution, strategy formulation
10 Comments
Use the Columbo Question to Get Strategic Information
In the inquiry mode of leadership, questions help to set strategic direction and discover requirements and intentions. Greg Githens explains that the last question in an interview is, “Is there any question that I should have asked that I haven’t asked.” Continue reading
Posted in Competencies of Strategic Initiative Leaders, Useful Practices & Management Tools
Tagged Columbo, Competencies of Strategic Initiative Leaders, Greg Githens, Interview, management tools, Peter Falk, questions, skillful questioning, strategic information, Strategic initiative, strategic thinking, The Last Question
2 Comments
A Guide to the Three Types of Strategy and Business Model Scope
Strategic initiatives arise to support three types of strategies. Corporate strategies have to do with market selection. Business strategies have to do with competing within a business model. Functional strategies have to do with effective specialization. Each interact with the business model’s value proposition. Continue reading
Posted in Examples of Strategic Initiatives, Interpreting Strategy Documents, Strategic Planning Issues for Strategic Initiatives, Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives
Tagged Business, Business model, Business Model Canvas, business value, case study, Domino's Pizza, Greg Githens, Initiative, Management, Microsoft, Nokia, program management, resource availability, strategic alignment, Strategic initiative, Strategic management, Strategic Planning Issues for Strategic Initiatives, Strategy, strategy execution, strategy formulation, Swiss Life, transformation
13 Comments
A Practical Tool for Gaining Program Management Insights
Greg Githens describes the SIMple model (SIM = Strategy, Inquiry, Metrics) as a tool for framing key issues in a strategic initiative. He recommends starting with inquiry and metrics, and using that to evaluate and refine the program strategy. Continue reading
Posted in Program & Portfolio Management, Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives, Useful Practices & Management Tools
Tagged Business, Chief learning officer, Decision making, Greg Githens, inquiry, Management, measurement, metrics, program management, questions, Strategic initiative, Strategic management, strategic thinking, Strategy
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