Once in a while I have one of those days when I see the same topic appear from different places. This time the topic was strategy.
A big global vision from the World Bank Group
A Harvard Business Review report said that in 1995 (25 years ago) the President of the World Bank saw the need to reinvent the institution to move from its post-World War II reconstruction role to a new direction to focus on poverty reduction. Clearly a very aspirational and much-needed objective, as in 1990 30% of the world (1.9 billion people) survived on less than $1.90 a day. According to the article, by 2015, this number was reduced to 10% of the world’s population. Unfortunately, due to the economic brakes applied by Covid 19, the situation is likely to worsen rather than continue its improvement.
I wanted to know how they went about delivering such an ambitious objective. From what I can see they used tried and tested approaches:-
- The World Bank convened many working sessions, initially with Client Governments and the vision evolved to become more tangible by involving an increased number of professionals and a wider stakeholder group so the vision became “pursuing a dream of a world free of poverty”.
- Once agreed they were able to mobilise a wide range of partners who, each in their own way, contributed to the strategy.
APMG’s contribution to shaping skills and knowledge
Five years ago APMG was fortunate to be appointed by the World Bank to work with a global network of experts to develop a Body of Knowledge for Public Private Partnerships (PPP) together with a training and qualification scheme . This programme has been successful. Over the period, nearly 5000 people have been trained and gained a qualification. I like to think, in some small way, it contributes to the achievement of the World Bank vision as the projects delivered through PPP tend to focus on those that are most necessary to help people out of poverty, namely, the provision of good schools, healthcare, electricity and safe water -basic necessities that many of us take for granted but essential for the alleviation of poverty.
Holistic joined up development
On the same day that I saw the ‘You Don’t have to be a CEO to be a visionary leader’ article I spoke to a colleague in New Zealand who has been appointed by the IMF to help a government in Africa develop a portfolio of programmes to increase their living standard. Their standard approach was to use the Five Case Model for developing business cases to consider the Strategic, Management, Financial, Economic and Commercial perspectives. Based on some previous work, my colleague suggested that they are unlikely to achieve their objectives because too many initiatives were being pursued independently. He introduced the concept of taking a holistic view and setting a much bolder vision to ensure a strategic alignment between the various programmes for the benefit of all parts of society. To achieve this :-
- He encouraged the Ministers to convene meetings with those organisations that will be providing the physical infrastructure, power, water, education, housing, training and development as well as representatives from the societies that will be affected.
- They developed an inspiring vision that unlocked more commercial benefits, e.g a utility provided land on favourable terms for affordable housing.
I was struck by the similarity between this and the World Bank’s Approach.
Delivering strategic intent
The World Bank has certainly made huge strides in delivering their vision. My Colleague’s initiative is still work in progress. Both are fortunate in having people with the skills to turn a strategy into reality but I would suggest this is a rare talent.
We are very good at developing vision statements but, in my opinion, we often lack the tools, skills and ability to take the vision and execute it. The Strategy Implementation Institute was established to help all of us improve this connection between the vision and the ability to execute and to deliver that strategy.
In March, when classroom training stopped, a small team within APMG had been assessing online training platforms. Their foresight enabled us to accelerate our digital transformation. Not all organisations were fortunate enough to have creative, intuitive people ready to bring their plans into mainstream work. As we move towards a post-COVID-19 world and recognise the impact of the digital transformations that we have seen over the last 3 to 4 months (probably 2 – 3 years of transformation compressed into a few months) many organisations will need to identify those “bootleg” projects and expand all initiatives. We need to develop new business models to maximise benefits through programmes of change. How successful they will be without the pressure of the economic lockdown will depend on the capability and competence of the individuals leading and working on those change programmes.
Taking the strategic vision through a process of execution and implementation to deliver real benefit without the pressures we have faced over the last few months will be a challenge. The individuals involved in delivering the transformation will come from a wide range of professional areas. If you are involved in one of these transformations, regardless of your core professional discipline, you should check out the information available at Strategy Implementation Institute so the work that you do is fully aligned with the strategic intent of your organisation and you can muster the support you need in your new “normal.
After all, what is the value of a strategy if it isn’t implemented?
