Strategy execution

The company, a global leader in port operations, decided to focus on on transforming its business post-growth to enhance operational efficiency. Since 2017, this transformation has significantly improved margins.

Key initiatives included:

• Strategy execution office (PMO) established: Recruitment and onboarding of team to adjust and execute a global strategic programs and projects.
• Standardised execution: Design and launch common project model and 20+ tools/templates for better planning, business case, reporting and change management
• Clear governance: Implementation portfolio governance structure with clear decision mandates, R&R, meeting flows and criteria for change control and reporting.
• Transparency in project portfolio: Design, build, test and launch of tailormade project portfolio platform to automate data capture, analysis and reporting in near real-time.
• Decision-making and prioritisation of the project portfolio: Prioritisation of projects based on clear criteria, using insights from a Power App/BI platform (e.g., 17 of 67 projects paused).
• Community of project managers for knowledge sharing: Establishment of a community of program, project professionals and platform/forum to share best-practices.

The company launched an ambitious strategy to double revenue and innovation project capacity within three years. Achieving this goal required a transformation in resource management, project prioritisation and execution.

Key initiatives included:

• Efficient, data-driven resource management: Improved resource allocation through PI Planning-inspired quarterly process supported by detailed analyses based on bottom-up estimated of resource demand and supply across projects and departments.
• Improved project portfolio management and prioritisation: Streamlined reporting provided management with better oversight, enabling targeted support and transparent prioritisation of the projects in the portfolio.
• Improved budgeting: Improved budgeting process for precise business cases, project control and better capitalisation of development costs.
• Improved project collaboration: Adopted agile practices and digital collaboration tools to boost collaboration across global R&D sites, critical for maintaining productivity during the pandemic.

Following a new strategy in products and services, a global building materials supplier needed an agile strategy and execution model to implement their new products and services strategy effectively. 

Key initiatives included:

• Strong decision-making: A new and agile strategy model with a governance cycle, managed by a strategy execution office to support efficient decision-making.
• Common language: Development of a common language and standardized tools for portfolio and project management, clarifying roles and expectations for leaders and initiative owners.
• Transparency in execution: Introduction of portfolio and project-level dashboards to track progress and decisions clearly and consistently.
• Cascading approach: An aligned and agreed approach to cascade the new strategy from top management to developers, making the new direction relevant at all levels.
• Change communication: A targeted communication plan to engage leaders and employees, ensuring clarity on the strategy and expectations.

The company needed to accelerate compliance project execution to safeguard its license to operate. To achieve this, they partnered with Implement to establish a portfolio office and a cross-functional team of SMEs, project managers and technical consultants. 

Over six months, Implement aligned ways of working, optimised resource use and ensured effective project execution. 

Key initiatives included:

• Accelerated project execution: A collaborative, workshop-based approach reduced lead times, completing 20 projects in four months with decentralised decision-making.
• Streamlined ways of working: Shared tools, templates and methods increased project scope from 28% to 62% in four months in the existing portfolio.
• Optimal utilisation of scarce SME resources: Freeing up SMEs from project management tasks boosted efficiency, helping ensure the company’s license to operate.