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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
- Unlocking Strategic Thinking for Business Success – A Summit for Leaders and High Performers (Free)
- 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)
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
Author Archives: Greg Githens
Strategic Initiatives Case Study – Domino’s Pizza Turnaround
Provides detail on Domino’s Pizza turnaround strategic initiative, with 7 leadership lessons. Continue reading
Google’s Strategic Initiatives Team
Describes 5 leader competencies, and how applied to Google’s Strategic Initiatives Team. Comment notes that Microsoft has developed similar strategic initiative team. Continue reading
Posted in Competencies of Strategic Initiative Leaders, Examples of Strategic Initiatives
Tagged ambiguity, Business, case study, Google, google strategic initiative team, growth, Initiative, innovation, leader competencies, microsoft strategic initiative, organizational structure, strategy execution
4 Comments
How to Use the “What About” Technique
Explains practices for managing issues and overcoming ambiguity: “what about,” nominal group technique, RADIO classification scheme. Continue reading
How to Manage Issues
People often feel overwhelmed early in a strategic initiative. The good news is that there are any number of ways to get things to make sense. One way is to identify issues, and start a process of systematically managing them. … Continue reading
Posted in Useful Practices & Management Tools
Tagged ambiguity, Issue management, Project management
6 Comments
Six Leadership Traits
Academic research points to six things that characterize the leader of a strategic initiative. They foster alignment and create commitment. Also, interesting point that determined individuals make more of a difference than “organizational process.” Continue reading
Posted in Competencies of Strategic Initiative Leaders, Program & Portfolio Management, Strategy Coaching and Facilitation, Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives, Transforming the Organization
Tagged Competencies of Strategic Initiative Leaders, Decision making, Problem Solving, strategic thinking, strategy execution, transformation
5 Comments
A Concise Guide to the Differences between Programs and Projects
Provides two valuable tables of distinctions between programs and projects, and 3 PMI Knowledge Areas that are unique to program management. All strategic initiatives are programs, but not all programs are strategic initiatives. This is the most popular page on the Leadings Strategic Initiatives blog. Continue reading
Posted in Program & Portfolio Management, Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives
Tagged A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, program management, Project, Project management, Project Management Institute, Project manager, Stakeholder management, Strategic initiative, Strategic management, strategic thinking, strategy execution
14 Comments
Five Types of Decisions: A Practical Tool for the SI Leader
Fast and effective decisions lead to fast execution of a strategic initiative, because they drive alignment and commitment. First, identify which of the 5 types face the organization, and then make the appropriate decision. A practical and popular technique for leaders of programs and projects. Continue reading
Posted in Strategy Coaching and Facilitation, Useful Practices & Management Tools
Tagged Authority, Business, chief decision architect, consensus, Consensus decision-making, Decision making, empowerment, Management, Problem Solving, strategic initiatives, strategic thinking, strategy execution
6 Comments
The Four Driving Questions for Success
You can increase your ability to build alignment and commitment for strategic initiatives by asking and answering what I call The Four Driving Questions, shown in this graphic. The order is important: first why, then who, then what and when. … Continue reading
Strategic Initiatives Case Study: Hospital and Health Care – Part 2
Describes 6 leadership lessons from transformation effort at St. Mary’s Duluth Clinic Heart Center (SMDC), including managing the portfolio of initiatives through balanced score card and strategy maps. Continue reading
Posted in Examples of Strategic Initiatives, Transforming the Organization
Tagged balanced score card, Business, health care, Management, Organization, Organizational culture, Organizational Development, Strategic initiative, Strategic management, Strategic Planning Issues for Strategic Initiatives, Strategy, strategy map
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Strategic Initiatives Case Study: Hospital and Health Care – Part 1
Describes 5 leadership lessons for strategic initiatives, arising from Duke Children’s Hospital 10 years of positive results from performance improvement initiatives. Continue reading
Leading Strategic Initiatives 