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Greg Githens is the author of How to Think Strategically (2019). He is a recognized thought leader in designing and delivering strategic initiatives.-
Read these recent articles
- The Skills Stack for Resilience
- Five tips for speaking truth to power
- Better Conversations Generate Better Strategy
- Insights Are the Secret Sauce of Strategy
- How a Strategic Decision Differs From a Tactical Decision
- Unlearning, learning, and a culture of strategic thinking
- How Mapping Can Improve Your Strategic Thinking
- How to Measure Business Acumen
- Strategy Execution as a Learning Process
- Why I favor a mental stance of disorder
- Critical Asking
- Transcending the Status Quo
- Connecting Strategy to Execution
- Complexity: Four Principles for Program Managers
- Use the PAVER Framework to Assure Strategic Commitments
- Strategic Experiments & Agile Responses
- Avoiding Four Pitfalls of Rapid Growth
- Operational Excellence or Strategic Excellence?
- Design Thinking: Five Landmarks for Strategic Initiatives
- Seven Must-Do’s for Better Strategy Execution
- Strategy as Problem Solving: An Example from a Large Technology Organization.
- Five Mental Anchors that Impede Your Strategic Initiative
- Five Must-Know Patterns of Disruption
- Beginners Guide: Competent Strategic Initiatives
- Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, & Ambiguity (VUCA)
- Four Recommendations for Effective Program Governance
- Six Strategic Thinking Skills: Developing the Proactiveness Habit
- What’s the #Strategy? Let Me Tell You a #Story
- Benefits of Being a Visible Expert
- Strategy is Not Long-Range Planning, Vision, Mission, or Values
- Five Ways to Involve Smart New Voices in the Strategy & Agile Innovation Conversation
- Is it Possible to Have a Perfect Strategy?
- Facilitating the Business Model Canvas: A Few Lessons Learned (Part 1)
- Designing Strategic Initiatives for Results: The Two Kinds of Coherence
- Perspective is More Powerful than Vision
- The Real Reason Strategy Implementation is Difficult (and the Solution to It)
- Grasping Essentials When You’re NOT the Expert
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
- Ambiguity and Strong-Minded Thinking
- 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
- Strategy Coaching and Facilitation
- Strategy, Ambiguity, and Strong-Minded Thinking
- Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives
- Transforming the Organization
- Uncategorized
- Useful Practices & Management Tools
Monthly Archives: October 2011
Contrast the Pain and the Gain: How to Use Benefits to Sell and Motivate
You can improve your benefits propositions and get more stakeholder commitment by contrasting the pain and the gain. Three example benefits propositions are provided. Also, the value of asking, “Who has the pain?” and “Besides yourself, who has the pain?” Continue reading
How to Build Consensus in the Strategic Initiatives Team
Consensus is a vital skill for strategic initiatives. Consensus means that there is 100% agreement to support the IMPLEMENTATION of the decision. Greg Githens explains the two necessary factors for achieving consensus (define the team and have a visible signal) and describes a personal experience in helping an IT group reach agreement on requirements. Continue reading
A Template for Strategic Objectives (Benefits Propositions, Part 3): A.D.V.I.C.E. & Business Drivers
This article explains how to write a strategic objective with a verb that addresses a business driver. The ADVICE acronym is provided for the verbs. Several examples of strategic objectives are provides. Part of a series on benefits propositions for strategic initiatives. Continue reading
Posted in Incremental Benefits Delivery, Program & Portfolio Management, Useful Practices & Management Tools
Tagged benefits, Business, Business model, CFO, Chief financial officer, Chief information officer, Disney, Google, program management, Stakeholder (corporate), strategic initiatives, Strategic management, strategic objectives
5 Comments
Director Business Transformation: Position Description & Relationship to Strategic Initiatives
Provides three examples of Director Business Transformation roles at Hertz, Sears, and SuperValu and suggests that there are similarities and distinctions with roles for VP, Director, or Manager of Strategic Initiatives. Continue reading
Posted in Examples of Strategic Initiatives, Transforming the Organization
Tagged Best practice, Business, Business transformation, change management, Chief financial officer, director, Greg Githens, growth, Hertz, Information Technology, job, Management, Organizational Development, position, program management, Project management, Sears, Strategic initiative, strategic initiatives, Strategic management, Supervalu, transformation, transformation initiatives
6 Comments
Three Templates: Strategic Initiative Benefit Propositions (Part 2)
How to write benefits propositions by stating “Because of ___” and “you will___.” Greg Githens calls the three templates direct mail, brag, and experiences. He provides an interesting graphic that displays the tradeoffs of benefits where the claims (brag) style is more objective and economic and the experience style develops more profound commitment to the strategic initiative. Continue reading
Posted in Incremental Benefits Delivery, Useful Practices & Management Tools
Tagged benefits proposition, buy in, claims, commitment, Decision making, economic benefits, emotive benefits, experience, program management, strategic initiatives, Strategic management, templates, value proposition
7 Comments
Strategic Initiative Benefit Propositions (Part 1): Identifying the Duties of Internal Stakeholders
Strategic initiatives deliver benefits to important stakeholders. This article explains how to identify benefits sought by internal stakeholders (CFO, CIO, and Treasury Managers as examples). Greg Githens explains that you should look at the individual’s job duties with respect to organizational performance and success. Understanding their duties can help the strategic initiative leader craft messages that increase acceptance for the vision and for the strategy. Continue reading
Posted in Incremental Benefits Delivery, Program & Portfolio Management, Strategy Coaching and Facilitation, Useful Practices & Management Tools
Tagged benefits, benefits identification, benefits realization, Business model, CFO, CIO, duty, economic benefits, program management, Project management, strategic initiatives
11 Comments
Leading Strategic Initiatives 