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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: Strategy
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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Growth as a Strategic Initiative
Companies are shifting into a growth mode and we will see more strategic initiatives that emphasize a blend of incremental, platform and radical transformation. The drivers of growth may be strategy innovation, product innovation, or process innovation. It may be organic or inorganic growth, with use of open innovation straddling the two. The leader will need to develop an understanding of what growth means, and apply the described techniques for structuring a strategic initiative to gain growth. Continue reading
Posted in Examples of Strategic Initiatives, Interpreting Strategy Documents, Strategic Planning Issues for Strategic Initiatives, Transforming the Organization
Tagged ambiguity, Business, business development, Chief executive officer, GE Growth Playbook, Greg Githens, growth, IBM, incremental innovation, innovation, Inorganic growth, New product development, new service developement, open innovation, platform innovation, Procter & Gamble, program management, radical innovation, Sales, Samuel J. Palmisano, Strategic initiative, Strategy, strategy innovation, transformation
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Strategy is a Boundary-Spanning Activity
Greg Githens explains how leaders develop the strategic initiative execution plan by integrating concepts. Vertical connections are done through metrics and horizontal connections are a search for strategic synergy. He explains a pitfall of many strategies, which is to focus on the solution rather than the problem or opportunity. An example is provided for Human Resources strategy. This post describes Step 3 of 4 for interpreting strategy documents. Continue reading
Posted in Interpreting Strategy Documents, Strategic Planning Issues for Strategic Initiatives, Strategy Coaching and Facilitation, Useful Practices & Management Tools
Tagged ambiguity, balanced score card, Balanced scorecard, horizontal integration, Initiative, open innovation, program management, Strategic initiative, Strategic management, Strategic Planning Issues for Strategic Initiatives, Strategy, strategy execution, strategy formulation, vertical integration, vision
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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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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
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Leading Strategic Initiatives 