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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
Tag Archives: Strategic initiative
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
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
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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
Strategic Initiative Case Study: IBM’s Speed Team
The IBM Speed Teams strategic initiative shows 7 leadership lessons for identifying and driving strategic business transformation. Continue reading
Posted in Examples of Strategic Initiatives, Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives
Tagged agile, change management, Competencies of Strategic Initiative Leaders, empowerment, fast decisions, open innovation, Organizational Development, program management, resources, speed, Strategic initiative, transformation, vision
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Strategic Initiative Case Study: How Google Will Save Newspapers from Extinction
Identifies 10 leadership success factors found in a Google strategic initiative to help newspapers adapt to changes in technology and in production and consumption of the news. Continue reading
Good Meetings are Essential for Good Strategy
Practical tips for strategy meetings. The most important purpose of a meeting is making decisions. Continue reading
The “Improvement Map”
An improvement map is a guiding metaphor for the leader of a strategic initiative. Greg Githens identifies 9 elements that must be considered in strategic intiative planning. Continue reading
Two Success Factors for Strategic Initiatives: Commitment and Alignment
Commitment and alignment drive the performance of a strategic initiative, and program management tools foster these two outcomes. Provides brief, working definitions. Continue reading
Vision into Results….Definition of a Strategic Initiative
Defines strategic initiatives in terms of three outcomes and introduces implications for leadership and program management. Strategic initiatives are NOT the same thing as a strategic objective. This definition provides a practical tool for establishing a strategic initiative.
http://wp.me/pZCkk-1 Continue reading
Posted in Success Principles for Strategic Initiatives
Tagged Business transformation, define strategic initiative, definition of strategic intiative, Director Strategic Initiative, Initiative, Management, Organization, program management, Project management, Strategic initiative, Strategic management, strategic project, strategic stakeholders, Strategy, transform organization, Vice President Strategic Initiative, what is strategic initiative
16 Comments
Leading Strategic Initiatives 