CONSULTING
When strategy and people need to move together
You may be working out where the organisation needs to go next. Or the direction may already be clear, but people aren't getting behind it. A plan keeps losing momentum. The organisation has grown and some of the ways you've been working no longer fit.
I work with leaders, boards and smaller organisations on strategic direction and what it takes, organisationally and with people, to make it happen.
Structure matters. So do people.
Getting clear about direction might be part of the work. So might turning strategy into workable plans, improving structures and ways of working, or looking at what's happening in the leadership team or wider culture.
I'll usually spend some time at the outset talking with the people involved and looking at relevant information. Sometimes I'll bring in a wider perspective too — sector information, for example, or experience from elsewhere that helps us question what we're taking for granted.
From there, we can decide where best to put our attention. We don't have to tackle everything we notice.
“Sandra has been incredibly helpful to our organisation in facilitating our new three-year Business Plan and providing leadership coaching.
She suggested a new format for our Business Plan, which is working really well for us, giving us a clear direction for the organisation. To date, we have had a 100% success rate in our funding applications. Sandra has such a friendly yet professional approach, which has hugely benefited us.”
— Branch Manager, Caithness and Sutherland Women's AidWorking alongside you
I've spent much of my working life in and around senior leadership — first in international business and marketing roles, and for more than twenty years working with leaders and senior teams as a coach and consultant.
So I'm comfortable moving between the business question and what's happening with the people involved.
I might help shape a strategic direction, improve planning or organisational structures, work with leaders or teams, or help turn decisions into action.
Part of my work is thinking carefully about how change happens: what needs attention first, who needs to be involved, and how to help people take up new responsibilities and ways of working.
You know your organisation from the inside. I bring another perspective, experience to draw on and a willingness to say what I see.
Over time, I tend to do less as you take on more, staying involved where I'm still useful.
What this can look like
Some case studies
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The differences weren't simply about strategy. There were real concerns underneath them that needed to be heard.
A senior team held very different views about the future of the business. Underneath some of those positions were understandable — and rational — concerns about the risks involved in the more ambitious direction.
I worked with the team to listen to and understand what was behind the different positions, so that people could work on the future side by side rather than pulling in opposing directions.
Some of the more ambitious proposals were tested through pilots before full launch. This allowed the business to manage risk, learn and adapt, while building the confidence and alignment needed to move forward together.
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Before spending time and money on the proposed solution, we needed to know we were tackling the issue at the right level.
I was asked by the board of a growing organisation to review a senior role that wasn't working as expected.
I began with the role itself, but also looked at the structure around it and spoke with the people involved. It became clear that rewriting the role description wouldn't solve the problem. Responsibilities and accountability elsewhere were unclear, development hadn't kept pace with expectations, and some of the management structures needed to make the role workable simply weren't there.
The organisation had grown beyond some of the informal ways of working that had served it well when it was smaller.
So the work shifted to strengthening the conditions around the role: clarifying leadership and management responsibilities, decision-making and accountability, and putting in place the structures and development needed to support people in their roles.
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What customers experience on the outside is closely connected to what people experience and do inside the organisation.
This was one of the ideas at the heart of a programme to help a business become more customer-centred.
We used customer service excellence as a lens through which to look at culture, leadership, teamwork and behaviour, gathering information from across the business to understand what was happening from different perspectives.
A Culture for Customer Excellence team was established to carry the work forward. I coached the team through its first six months as its members came together, developed their plan and put a range of initiatives into action. This meant attending to structures and behaviours in parallel, while building the capability to continue the work inside the organisation.
The business subsequently received special recognition at its European regional awards for being an excellent place to work, alongside excellent sales and customer feedback results.
Begin with a conversation
You don't need a perfectly formed brief.
If you're facing a question around strategy, organisation or people that isn't straightforward, let's talk.