Service
Strategy red team challenge
Most boards see a strategy for the first time when it is presented for sign-off. We engage the board directly in provocation and independent thinking, from a panel of diverse experts assembled for the purpose.
01
The problem
By the time a strategy reaches the table, there is little time for challenge. The questions that matter arrive as a decision rather than as a discussion.
It is also rare for a board to be exposed to multiple interactions with diverse external experts while a strategy is being formed. Outside views tend to arrive once, at the end, in a form that is hard to argue with.
02
How a challenge runs
- Identify the strategic themes the decision turns on.
- Convene external experts on each theme, chosen for independent thinking and diverse perspectives.
- Circulate a short provocation as a pre-read, so the session starts from evidence rather than a presentation.
- Facilitate the debate: challenge the emerging strategy, and establish what has to be true for it to work and the early signs that would change the decision.
03
A worked example: Unite Group (LSE: UTG)
The work began by naming the strategic themes the emerging strategy turned on:
- The Future of Living
- The Future of Higher Education
- The Future of Work
For each theme a 90-minute panel of external experts was convened, deliberately chosen for independent thinking and diverse perspectives. A short provocation document went out as a pre-read, and the session was then facilitated as a debate.
The panels challenged and informed the emerging strategy. Just as important, they engaged the board and exposed it to a wealth of external input in an efficient way.
04
An illustrative question
An acquisition depends on cost savings. What evidence supports them, and at what point would the price stop making sense?
An illustration, not an account of client work.