Case Study

Assessments and Strategic Planning

Rockwood engages with critical stakeholders to understand and assess the current state, solidify the future state, and design and draft strategic plans and governance structures to achieve the future state.

The Client

A director within the Defense Security Enterprise (DSE), responsible for standardizing and increasing the effectiveness of security functions, policies, and processes.

Client Challenge

Despite publishing the DSE Strategy in July 2021, the client’s governance bodies were not acting as a collaborative forum, thus failing to effectively drive action. With a complex stakeholder environment and increasing threats, the DSE needed support to collaboratively develop a vision and strategy and improve the governance structure to drive results.

Rockwood’s Approach

Rockwood supported DSE senior leadership in developing a cross-enterprise five-year vision, a strategy to achieve this vision, and a governance structure to elevate, integrate, and optimize defense security in a formidable threat environment.  

Rockwood executed the following approach:  

• Analyzed the operating environment, policies, and guidance.  

• Conducted internal and external stakeholder interviews.

• Themed and analyzed data to provide a solid starting point for the strategy.

• Engaged specific key stakeholders to help shape a draft vision statement and a strategy to galvanize collective action toward the desired future state. 

• Facilitated a vision and strategy alignment session with senior DSE leadership to collaborate on the materials and gain commitment to drive change.

• Operationalized the enterprise vision through the creation of a multi-year strategy.

• Developed and implemented a tactical communications plan to convey the DSE vision and strategy to stakeholders.

Results

The DSE community has a clear vision and is driving the outcomes outlined in their strategy through an efficient governance structure. As a result, the DSE continues to make significant progress on complex cross-government security challenges and rapidly responds to real-world security situations as an enterprise.