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StrategyDriven Alternative Selection Forum

Leaders face the difficult challenge of selecting those few operational activities their organization will pursue from the multitude that are proposed every planning cycle. Collectively, these activities define the company; its culture, its direction, and ultimately its success or failure.

Selecting those activities the organization engages in requires a degree of both art and science. Initiatives pursued should support the organization’s qualitatively defined values, culture, and strategy while at the same time positioning it to maximize quantifiable benefit creation at minimum cost. The resulting portfolio of activities to be performed serves as an input to both the annual and long-range business plans; charting the course for the organization’s future.

Focus of the Alternative Selection Forum

Resources in this forum are dedicated to discussing the principles and practices enabling leaders to most effectively choose those options aligned with the organization’s values and goals while offering a maximum value return to the organization and its stakeholders. The following articles, podcasts, documents, and resources cover those topics foundational to effective alternative selection.

Articles

Principles

Best Practices

Warning Flags

Resources

Books

Alternative Selection Best Practice 3 – Reality Check

Just because the numbers look good doesn’t mean you should move forward with the initiative.

Leaders often face the dilemma of having numerous attractive initiative options to pursue when developing their strategic plans. Many of these options are provided by an eager and engaged workforce; individuals who diligently examine the proposed opportunity, associated costs, and make the strong case for pursuing these cost saving and/or profitable efforts. However, it is the responsibility of the leadership team to perform a reality check on these proposals in two ways. First, is a critical questioning of the numbers to ensure the real-world appropriateness of the assumptions used and the numbers presented. Second, is the assessment of whether the proposal can be executed considering the organization’s resources and capabilities.


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StrategyDriven Podcast Special Edition 32 – An Interview with Nilofer Merchant, author of The New How

StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.

Special Edition 32 – An Interview with Nilofer Merchant, author of The New How explores the transformation of the traditional, top-down approach to strategy planning and execution into a collaborative process proven to be significantly more effective. During our discussion, Nilofer Merchant, author of The New How: Creating Business Solutions Through Collaborative Strategy and Chief Executive Officer of Rubicon Consulting, shares with us her insights and illustrative examples regarding:

  • the definition of business strategy
  • why input from those lower in the organization is needed when formulating the organization’s strategy
  • why being the ‘Chief of Answers’ is harmful to the planning process and what can be done to avoid assuming this role
  • why it’s important for everyone within an organization to understand its strategy
  • the ‘First Principles of the New How‘ and why they are important to strategy development and execution

Additional Information

In addition to the invaluable insights Nilofer shares in The New How and this special edition podcast are the resources accessible from her websites, www.RubiconConsulting.com and www.The-New-How.com.   Nilofer’s book, The New How, can be purchased by clicking here.

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About the Author

Nilofer Merchant, author of The New How, is Chief Executive Officer of Rubicon Consulting, a strategy and marketing consultancy designed specifically to serve the needs of technology companies. Nilofer has honed her unique collaborative approach to solving tough business problems while working with and for companies such as Adobe, Apple, Nokia, and HP. To read Nilofer’s complete biography, click here.

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