Designing strategy that works

The development of strategy and change management within the context of professional service organisations is at the core of our work.

Defining the key strategic issues faced by any organsation in the starting point of any strategy process.  Analysis of markets, clients, and competitors is fundamental as is an objective appraisal of your organisation’s strengths, weaknesses, and distinctive competitive capabilities.

In a high-performing professional services organisation these ‘big questions’ don’t simply centre on dispassionate analysis of this nature. They also require the arrival at a clear consensus of what sort of firm we want to be, what sort of work excites us, and defining what success will look like.

Hedley Consulting facilitates the development of strategy within the leadership group through surfacing and addressing these ‘big questions’.  Grounded always in a robust analytical approach we act as a ‘critical friend’, encouraging debate and ensuring that all avenues are explored.

It is by arriving at a considered view on these issues that any strategy development process can proceed confidently.

The development of strategy and change management within the context of professional service organisations is at the core of our work.

Since first considering these issues during his MA and MBA in 1992, they have been subject areas on which Andrew Hedley has focused his career and developed Hedley Consulting’s practice.

Our view is that the development of stretching but realistic strategies together with the building of skills which enable change are the two core competencies that will separate the successful from the “also-rans” in professional services.

This has never been truer as professionals face an increasingly dynamic and competitive market. It is all too common for the leadership team to spend far too little time focusing on the long-term prospects for their business while they deal with the distractions created by the pressing issues of the day. Practising professionals, charged with securing the sustainability and profitability of their organisations in the short term, often have difficulty in creating the necessary thinking time to consider the longer-term direction of their businesses.

Hedley Consulting facilitates the development of strategy within the leadership group. We advise on strategic options together with how to effect implementation and change management.

A strategy that can’t be implemented isn’t a strategy, it’s a fairy story!

Unfortunately, all too many strategies are founded more in fantasy than reality. As part of our strategy creation process, we confront the ‘how’ as well as the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ at a high-level. Our objective is always to offer robust challenge so that an implementation plan is developed that is, well, implementable.

Working with operational directors and practice leaders, we facilitate the next layer of strategic planning at the operational level.

In so doing we ensure that alignment is to the fore – with a clear line-of-sight from purpose, through values, vision, and mission to strategy and then onward to the implementation plan.

Working with firm as they go through the implementation process, supporting the implementation team, and assisting with progress tracking often represents an ongoing engagement after the high-level strategy has been set.