Case Study

Strategy Implementation

Rockwood applies human-centered design principles to implement governance mechanisms for rapid decision-making, support working groups to achieve strategic objectives, and help leadership instantiate a new culture that supports the future vision – all to enable sustained change.

The Client

A component of the US Air Force responsible for providing environmental predictive analysis in support of both conventional and special operations forces.

Client Challenge

Prior to the pandemic, the client was the policy arm of a cross-service enterprise, each functioning under different authorities, funding systems, and priorities. The client's lines of communication were already stifled, and key leaders had competing areas of interest. This issue was only compounded by the onset of the global pandemic, which eliminated entirely the possibility of in-person meetings to address cross enterprise issues. The mission was highly saturated with data and had antiquated processes and technologies that required inefficient allocation of human resources. A new Director sought to develop a collaborative leadership team to drive digital, procedural, human capital, and cultural transformation to prepare the enterprise for the future environment.

Rockwood’s Approach

After helping to establish a coalition of leaders and agreeing on and documenting a vision and strategy for the future enterprise, Rockwood supported the client to implement the strategy. Rockwood helped to design and implement a clear governance mechanism for rapid and cross-enterprise decision making, support senior leadership and working groups to achieve strategic objectives and instantiate a new culture that supports the future vision.   

 Rockwood executed the following approach:  

•  Facilitated alignment on the future vision and strategy in order to establish a clear, feasible roadmap to ensure success.  

• Designed and documented a governance structure that ensured accountability, rapid decision making, risk mitigation, and agile communication outside of formal meetings.  

• Advised and supported the client to establish a dedicated Program Management Office to ensure the charter's successful implementation and adoption. 

• Designed and facilitated governance meetings at the strategic and operational levels.

• Coached and trained leadership on methods to effectively lead enterprise transformation.

• Developed metrics to track throughout the transformation.

• Produced a communications plan and communication products to increase understanding and buy-in across the enterprise.

Results

These efforts opened lines of communication between the leaders across the enterprise to ensure their effectiveness and helped balance the needs of individual stakeholders with the overarching needs of the organization. The client was able to make significant progress on several high-level initiatives, as well as progress on initiatives within the individual governance bodies functioning within the Air Force organization.