The Rockwood Strategy Gameboard: A Critical Foundation for Strategic Planning Efforts
By Patricia Koopersmith, Rockwood Company Founder and CEO
The strategic plan is the cornerstone of every major change effort. Rockwood regularly supports visionary leaders in developing and implementing strategies, or strategic plans, to realize their vision at speed. We nest our strategic planning process in a gameboard framework to set the foundation before diving into the specifics of the strategic plan (which include the organization’s goals, objectives, measures, and roadmaps). The Rockwood Strategy Gameboard consists of the following five discussions :
Current State: The framework’s first conversation explores the past and current state of the organization. Key stakeholders partake in an open and honest discussion about the current situation from multiple perspectives and surface the difficult topics and issues they typically dodge or only vocalize behind closed doors. Before moving to the next conversation, stakeholders should ask themselves: Do we have a thorough understanding of the current state?
Future Context: The second conversation explores the factors that will be in play in the future context of the organization. This may include budget pressures, emerging technology trends, evolving adversary tactics, and cultural sentiments, among others. Understanding such factors enables leaders to design a future that considers the environmental context. Before moving to the next conversation, stakeholders should ask themselves: Do we have a shared sense of the significant environmental forces that will affect it in the future?
Future State: The third conversation requires stakeholders to agree on a vision for the future organization that will inspire and motivate the workforce to bring the vision to fruition. The future state is about what the organization will look like in the future, not how it will get there. Within transformation initiatives, leaders must design a future state that is unconstrained by the past or present. The future state vision tells a story of the future world at large, the community the organization serves, and the capabilities and outcomes the organization delivers, and the culture the organization embodies. Before moving to the next conversation, stakeholders should ask themselves: Do we agree on why the organization exists in the future, what capabilities and services it provides to enable specific outcomes for its future customers, what is its unique value to achieve these outcomes, and what is the organizational culture in the future?
Case for Change Assessment: The fourth conversation assesses the case for embarking on this change effort. A powerful case for change demonstrates that maintaining the current state is unacceptable and the realizing the future state is so enticing that the organization must change. Since organizational change requires a significant amount of work, leadership must be able to articulate a compelling case for change to gain buy-in and keep the workforce motivated to achieve the future vision. Before moving on to the next conversation, stakeholders should ask themselves: Are the consequences of maintaining the current state so disadvantageous and the advantages of achieving the future state so compelling that we must change?
Strategic Shifts: Once leaders have resolved the previous four conversations and are compelled to push ahead to the future state, they can identify the strategic shifts. These are shifts that must occur to move the organization from the current state to the newly designed future state and will guide the behaviors and decisions at all levels throughout the change effort. Shifts are concise yet descriptive and may include categories such as people, culture, processes, and technologies.
The Rockwood Strategy Gameboard framework is built off of more than two decades of experience while at RGS Associates, Touchstone Consulting, and The Clearing as well as from industry best practices for designing strategies. This strategic framework provides a practical and proven structure to what can otherwise feel like an insurmountable strategic planning process. After applying the framework, your organization will be well positioned to chart a course toward the future state, establishing the goals, objectives, measures, working lanes, and milestones required to realize the future vision.
General References:
[1] Michael Hyatt, The Vision Driven Leader (Baker Books, 2020).
[2] John Kotter, Leading Change (Harvard Business Review Press, 2012).
[3] John Kotter, Buy In (Harvard Business Review Press, 2010).
[4] Ethan Rasiel, The McKinsey Way (McGraw-Hill Company, 1999).
[5] John Bryson, Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Guide to Strengthening and Sustaining Organizational Achievement (Jossey-Bass, 2011).
[6] Dan Eberner, Fred Smith, and Donna Crilly, Strategic Planning: An Interactive Process for Leaders (Paulist Press, 2015).
[7] HBR's 10 Must Reads On Strategy (Harvard Business Review Press, 2011).
[8] Chris McGoff, The Primes: How any Group Can Solve Any Problem (John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2012).
“The Rockwood Strategy Gameboard framework provides a practical and proven structure to what might otherwise feel like an insurmountable strategic planning process.”