CASE STUDY

Cascading Board-Approved Strategy to Every Employee

  • A large utilities provider’s forward strategy had been approved by the board. A cascade of strategic objectives was needed for every level of the organisation.

  • A desktop review of strategy, annual reports and values, followed by one-to-one interviews with executive team members to understand accountabilities and priorities.

  • Every employee had pre-populated performance objectives, consistent across the organisation and appropriate to their role level.

Our Approach

The organisation’s forward strategy had been approved by the board. The task was to take that strategy — written at a high level, for a board audience — and translate it into objectives that meant something at every level, from the executive team down to individual contributors.

The work began with a desktop review of the strategy itself, the organisation’s annual reports, and its stated values, to understand the language and priorities already in use. One-on-one interviews with each executive team member then built a clear picture of accountabilities and priorities at the top of the organisation — the layer everything else would cascade from.

Each strategic objective was translated into relatable actions, aligned to the organisation’s values and appropriate to the expected contribution at each level of the business.

Outcomes

Every employee across the organisation had objectives pre-populated into their forward performance plan — consistent with the strategy, consistent with each other, and appropriate to what was genuinely expected of someone at their role level.

Background

This engagement was delivered under MAKR Consulting, working closely with the organisation’s executive team to ground the cascade in real accountabilities rather than generic objectives.

As a large utilities provider, the organisation operates across multiple sites and role levels, making a consistent, values-aligned translation of strategy especially important for organisation-wide clarity.

This engagement was lead by:

Rachael Kelly
Principal, HR & People & Culture Strategy

What this
engagement shows

A strategy built with the team that will deliver it lands differently to a strategy built for them. Discovery-first work and genuine co-design produce a roadmap people are willing to own.

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