In mid February Kent Smack, Director of Palladium Group, Inc.’s Executive Strategy Manager™ (ESM), and I traveled to Ghana to oversee ESM implementation and training at Vodafone Ghana. Historically Vodafone Ghana had been managing their strategy offline, but found the program lacking organization-wide energy and support. The leadership team and office of strategy management (OSM) recognized the need for leadership and employees alike to track objective performance through the use of measures, providing line of sight into their strategy across the organization. Likewise they recognized the inevitable connection between strategy communication and their internal culture. ESM became the missing piece in their puzzle, providing a forum to easily manage and communicate their strategy.
According to Doctors Kaplan and Norton, “Communication of mission, values, vision, and strategy is the first step in creating motivation among employees.” The strategy map and the BSC should be the first pieces communicated to clarify what the organization wants to accomplish and how it intends to realize its strategic outcomes. By allowing users to login to ESM, they have instant access to the enterprise strategy. Through the use of permissions, ESM can monitor the information each user has access to ensuring the appropriate strategic information is provided.
Let’s not stop there. I often hear Doctors Kaplan and Norton say, “Say it 7 times, 7 different ways;” leaving us with 6 more communication approaches to develop. At Vodafone we joked about having the strategy map taped to the bathroom stalls; but to be serious, it is this type of “in-your-face” exposure that drives the culture shift. As an organization Vodafone Ghana is working toward a culture of cross-departmental communication and visibility. In fact, while there we witnessed the kick-off promotion of a “Facebook” like network for Vodafone employees. This open door approach places strategy at the employees’ fingertips and more importantly conveys, “a commitment to performance and accountability, a focus on customer, and a relentless passion for continuous improvement, or creativity and innovation.”
As an ESM trainer, my goal is that by the end of the week the power users have the skills and “know-how” to begin working in ESM and are confident rolling-out the program using a “train-the-trainer” approach. As an organization, the success of the program will require an internal push. Executive buy-in, support from an OSM (office of strategy management), a clearly defined roll-out approach, and of course, a communication plan, are essential to the success and sustainability of strategy execution using the ESM.
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