There are many examples where creating a facilitation function similar to OSM have helped many organization achieve their goals:
What can companies do to change this state of affairs? The experience of the Chrysler Group implemented its own office for strategic management to help accelerate the consistent implementation and communication of its strategic plans across its all operating units and all 90000employees after the issues it faced early 2000s (by 2000, the company was staring at a projected deficit of more than $5 billion for the coming year. OSM helped turnaround the organization around into the successful growth path.
The U.S. Army’s as part of a nationwide modernization, cost optimization and Army performance acceleration introduced also through an Office of Strategy Management in much the same way as the previous case. A central project team at the Pentagon headquarters, under the leadership of the Army chief of staff, developed Strategic Readiness System (SRS). The project team also selected the software to be used for established systems that would be regularly populated with valid, timely data. In the next phase, the team helped to cascade plans to 13 major subcommands and subsequently to more than 300 subsidiary commands throughout the world. The centralized project team provided training, consulting, software, and online support for the dispersed project teams.
The Army’s project team, like its counterpart at Chrysler, soon took on more than the traditional roles of scorecard custodian and consultant. It established a team of consultants, coaches, and took ownership of a strategy communication program. A unit with responsibility for the implementation of strategy becomes a convenient focal point for ideas that percolate up through the organization. The OSM/PMO is a facilitating organization, not a dictating one.
There is a trend to make the creation of an OSM an early and integral part of their strategic initiatives. Canadian Blood Services, the main provider of blood services in Canada with an annual budget of Can$900 million, more than 4,000 employees, and 17,000 volunteers, is an excellent example of an organization that created an OSM at the beginning of its journey to becoming more strategy focused. The CEO’s task was to create the strategy, have an OSM focus on implementing it throughout the organization, so he could free time to deal with key external issues that face his organization and most importantly use OSM/PMO to keep him informed especially about current news (especially bad ones) with valid information.
Canon Inc. and Citibank Poland are also effective communication to employees about strategy, targets, and initiatives is vital if employees are to contribute to the strategy. Canon U.S.A. actively promotes understanding of the company’s strategy in all business units and support functions. Strategy communication, and uses PMO/OSM function to communicate effectively that strategy to employees. In either situation, the OSM/PMO leads in crafting strategy messages delivered by the CEO, because one of the most effective communication channels is having each employee hear about strategy directly from the CEO.
The leadership team at Citi knows that strategic goals must change as the marketplace changes. Global economic issues and swings in the competitive landscape can alter the company’s business drivers, creating a cascade of change, large and small, across the portfolio.
As priorities shift, the OSM/PMO can be a powerful ally in helping executives decides which projects to launch, accelerate, delay or shut down. “That’s why it is so important for the PMO to be at as high a level as possible and to have senior-level sponsors,” When such a change occurs, resources dedicated to other projects may need to be reallocated. If a regulatory project requires IT expertise, for example, an internal IT project might be shelved so its team members can support the new initiative. “The PMO works with the business to figure out how we can make room for that regulatory project with minimal impact to the organization, “The key for the PMO is to look at the organization’s strategy and values, and set metrics to support that. Says: Senior Vice President, Citi Warsaw, Poland”.
Here are some examples the following basic strategic PMO tasks:
- Create and manage the scorecard.
- Align the organization.
- Review strategy.
- Develop strategy.
- Communicate strategy.
- Manage strategic initiatives.
- Integrate strategic priorities with other support functions.
- Planning and Budgeting.
- Human Resource Alignment.
- Knowledge Management.
It’s simplest to place the Office of Strategy Management on a par with functions that report directly to the CEO. the office serves, in effect, as the CEO’s chief of staff.
The OSM may be an important functional unit, but it doesn’t have to be large. It can start with a mix of external experts with key executive members of the organization, however the goal should be to enable transferring the knowledge to the internal staff of the organization in the long run with the help of those external consultants/executive coaches.
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Sources: Inspired by:
Harvard Business Review by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton
PMI- Impact of PMOs on strategy Implementations
