FTM Business Template - Health Check Strategy

HealthCheck Strategy
Business Template
What is a HealthCheck? When should you use it?

The Strategy HealthCheck template provides a Make the use of HealthChecks part of your annual
structured method for assessing the current status review of the critical areas of your business.
of the Strategy area of your business based on However, ensure that your improvement actions are
industry best practices. planned and monitored on a more regular
(quarterly) basis. Note that for some teams, the
Why is it relevant? HealthCheck will also form part of an external audit
As industries become more competitive survival is or compliance process driven by customers or
about doing more with less whilst still delivering industry regulators.
against customer expectations at a level that
exceeds the competition. To achieve this you need How should you implement it?
to: 1) understand what ‘best practice’ looks like, and Plan the HealthCheck carefully and ensure that you
2) understand your current performance – ideally get the right people involved early in the process.
against the competition. Gather information through face-to-face interviews
where possible, although electronic checklists can
Who needs to be involved? enable you to involve a larger group. Gather
The HealthCheck is completed by all those that are evidence of performance as you go. Then
responsible for performance in this particular area of consolidate the various views and look for areas of
the business, but ensure you seek the views of all inconsistency across different stakeholders, and
those involved – even if you do not agree with them. assess areas of concern. Finally, develop a clear
Stakeholders may mainly be internal to the business, action plan with ownership and timings for getting to
but ensure that you get an external perspective green or for improving the score on an individual
involving the views of key customers and suppliers. item.
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This is a case example based on a fictitious company called TVT – all the data is displayed for demonstration
purposes only. For a detailed explanation of what each cell is used for please refer to the Virtual Consultant on the
following pages.
ID Category Evaluation criteria
1 Leadership Score Status
A Strategic Priority Strategy is a strategic priority within the business, and the senior 2 Green
management team shows active and visible commitment.
B Strategy A member of the Executive team has responsibility for the effective and 3 Green
Executive efficient introduction of strategy across the business.
C Manager Strategy KPIs are cascaded down through the organization so that all 2 Amber
cascade managers have strategy as part of their annual objectives.
2 Strategic Focus Score Status
A Clear extent & The organization understands how important strategy is, and the extent 4 Green
direction and direction of strategy has been defined and agreed.
B Customer Focus Strategy activities go beyond New Product Development (NPD), and 4 Green
embraces: new markets, process re-engineering, supply chain redesign
and business transformation.
C Integrated The business has a sustainable approach to strategy across ALL functions 5 Green
approach (beyond marketing) and teams, driven by the future needs of customer
musts and wants.
3 Internal Challenge Score Status
A Central database New ideas arising from operations are captured and fed into a central 4 Amber
decision making forum for review (by the Strategy Board).
B Time & budget There is sufficient time and budget allocated to the internal generation of 3 Amber
new ideas within formal workshops and during day-to-day activities.
C Breakthrough Internal teams constantly seek ways of improving what they do and how 4 Green
they do it, and achieving a breakthrough change in performance levels.
4 External Challenge Score Status
A Market & Changes and discontinuities in the external environment and customer 4 Green
Customer Trends musts and wants are used to stimulate ideas for dramatic improvement
in internal performance.
B Competitor Major customers and competitors are understood, and their relative 4 Green
Analysis strengths and weaknesses identified – providing a rich source of new
ideas that improve competitive performance.
C Scanning There is a systematic approach to scanning the external and competitive 5 Green
environments and circulation of key insights, opportunities and threats
internally across the business.
5 Strategic Choice Score Status
A End-to-End The business has an effective an efficient ‘end to end’ strategy process 1 Red
process (from idea to implementation) that is understood by all teams.
A Aligned with Strategy projects are clearly aligned to strategic priorities in terms of high 2 Amber
goals growth and high emphasis products and markets.
C Effective There is an effective screening and prioritisation process for ideas and 2 Amber
prioritisation strategies based on more than gut feel or who shouts the loudest.
6 Implementation Process Score Status
A Best practice Best practice strategy techniques have been defined and adopted across 3 Amber
the business, and there is a Gating process where go / no go decisions are
made and communicated.
B Resources & Sufficient resources and budget are allocated to strategy projects to 2 Amber
budgets maximise the probability of success – implementation activities are not
thrown on top of the day-job.
C Issues & risk Issues and risks are proactively identified, assessed and mitigated before 3 Amber
management they become crises.
7 Support Systems Score Status
A Full visibility & The Senior Management Team has full visibility and control of the 1 Red
control Strategy Process anywhere, anytime.
B Common tool set The system enables the consistent use of best practice techniques across 1 Red
the whole business including remote teams.
C Learning culture IT systems enable a continuous learning culture and effective Knowledge 2 Red
Management.
8 Strategy Champions Score Status
A Formal Roles The role of the Strategy Champion (whether full or part time) has been 4 Green
defined and exists in all critical functions.
B Owned at all The Strategy Process is owned at all levels (through Strategy Champions, 5 Green
levels Chief Strategy Officer, Project or Programme Manager).
C Right skills Staff and management involved in strategy have the right skills – e.g. 5 Green
creativity, process expertise, project and risk management experience.
9 Culture Score Status
A Supportive There is a culture and system that supports continuous strategy and 4 Green
culture improvement.
B Acceptance of Whilst successes are celebrated, failures are also accepted as a possible 4 Green
failure outcome of truly innovative activities.
C Performance There is a reward and recognition system (not necessarily financially 5 Green
System based) that encourages people to identify and put forward new ideas.
10 Performance Management Score Status
A Agreed Key Each strategy project has clear and agreed Key Performance Indicators 4 Green
Performance (KPIs) and Return on Strategy Investment (RoI) targets.
Indicators
B Clear review A review process for monitoring progress exists where key stakeholders 5 Green
process will meet to review the strategy portfolio as a whole.
C Learning Insights and lessons learned are capture and fed into future teams in 3 Amber
order to maximise strategy effectiveness and avoid repeat mistakes.
Audit Summary
For each element of the checklist add up the scores of the 3 related questions and divide by 3 – this will give you an
average score for that specific element. See example below.
Element Score 0 1 2 3 4 5 Improvement Actions
Leadership 2.3 Need to ensure an effective cascade of

strategic KPIs down throughout all teams
Strategic Focus 4.3
Internal Challenge 3.7 Need to review the effectiveness of the new

ideas database
External Challenge 4.3
Strategic Choice 1.7 Need to gain buy-in to the framework used

for strategy option evaluation
Implementation Process 2.7 Need to redesign the end-to-end strategy

process focusing on implementing change
Support Systems 1.3 Need to invest in new web-technologies to

support visibility of strategy
Strategy Champions 4.7
Culture 4.3
Performance Management 3.9 Need to formalise the process for capturing

and disseminating insights
In the TVT example above, the managers conducting the Audit have identified that the weakest link is that of the
Support Systems used (average score 1.3). The plan would therefore be to focus attention on and improve this
area within the business first until it was no longer the weakest link. Once the senior management team has
increased confidence that the Platform (in this example) has improved, the next stage would be to focus on the
Strategic Choice (1.7) and Leadership (2.3) areas.
Virtual ConsultantTM
The Virtual ConsultantTM provides a step-by-step guide to completing this business template. It is worded as a
series of questions designed to make you stop and think about this topic in a challenging and creative way – as if a
business coach or consultant was sitting next to you.
HealthCheck
Use the following checklist to assess the current state of your team: Consider each criterion in turn and use the
following scoring system to identify current performance:
0 – Not done or defined within the business: unaware of its importance to strategy management
1 – Aware of area but little or no work done in the business
2 – Recognised as an area of importance. Some work done in this area
3 – Area clearly defined and work done in the area in terms of strategy management
4 – Consistent use of best practice tools and techniques in this area across the business
5 – Area is recognised as being ‘best in class’ and could be a reference area for best practice
Then reflect on the lowest scores and identify those areas that are critical to success and flag then as status ‘Red’
requiring immediate attention. Then identify those areas that you are concerned about, and flag those as status
‘Amber’ implying areas of risk that need to be monitored closely.
In your strategy framework the whole strategy process is only as good as each individual element. If one ‘link in the
chain’ is weak then the strategy process within the company will not operate to optimum efficiency and there is an
increased risk of failure. The action plan therefore should be to focus attention and resources on the elements of
greatest weakness first, and then to move the whole framework to a level of excellence. This approach optimises
the use of resources and sets up a process of continuous improvement.
Use the following blank template to address an issue or opportunity within your business or team
Form 1: Detailed Audit

ID Category Evaluation criteria
1 Leadership Score Status
A Strategic Priority Strategy is a strategic priority within the business, and the senior
management team shows active and visible commitment.
B Strategy A member of the Executive team has responsibility for the effective and
Executive efficient introduction of strategy across the business.
C Manager Strategy KPIs are cascaded down through the organization so that all
cascade managers have strategy as part of their annual objectives.
2 Strategic Focus Score Status
A Clear extent & The organization understands how important strategy is, and the extent
direction and direction of strategy has been defined and agreed.
B Customer Focus Strategy activities go beyond New Product Development (NPD), and
embraces: new markets, process re-engineering, supply chain redesign
and business transformation.
C Integrated The business has a sustainable approach to strategy across ALL functions
approach (beyond marketing) and teams, driven by the future needs of customer
musts and wants.
3 Internal Challenge Score Status
A Central database New ideas arising from operations are captured and fed into a central
decision making forum for review (by the Strategy Board).
B Time & budget There is sufficient time and budget allocated to the internal generation of
new ideas within formal workshops and during day-to-day activities.
C Breakthrough Internal teams constantly seek ways of improving what they do and how
they do it, and achieving a breakthrough change in performance levels.
4 External Challenge Score Status
A Market & Changes and discontinuities in the external environment and customer
Customer Trends musts and wants are used to stimulate ideas for dramatic improvement
in internal performance.
B Competitor Major customers and competitors are understood, and their relative
Analysis strengths and weaknesses identified – providing a rich source of new
ideas that improve competitive performance.
C Scanning There is a systematic approach to scanning the external and competitive
environments and circulation of key insights, opportunities and threats
internally across the business.
5 Strategic Choice Score Status
A End-to-End The business has an effective an efficient ‘end to end’ strategy process
process (from idea to implementation) that is understood by all teams.
A Aligned with Strategy projects are clearly aligned to strategic priorities in terms of high
goals growth and high emphasis products and markets.
C Effective There is an effective screening and prioritisation process for ideas and
prioritisation strategies based on more than gut feel or who shouts the loudest.
6 Implementation Process Score Status
A Best practice Best practice strategy techniques have been defined and adopted across
the business, and there is a Gating process where go / no go decisions are
made and communicated.
B Resources & Sufficient resources and budget are allocated to strategy projects to
budgets maximise the probability of success – implementation activities are not
thrown on top of the day-job.
C Issues & risk Issues and risks are proactively identified, assessed and mitigated before
management they become crises.
7 Support Systems Score Status
A Full visibility & The Senior Management Team has full visibility and control of the
control Strategy Process anywhere, anytime.
B Common tool set The system enables the consistent use of best practice techniques across
the whole business including remote teams.
C Learning culture IT systems enable a continuous learning culture and effective Knowledge
Management.
8 Strategy Champions Score Status
A Formal Roles The role of the Strategy Champion (whether full or part time) has been
defined and exists in all critical functions.
B Owned at all The Strategy Process is owned at all levels (through Strategy Champions,
levels Chief Strategy Officer, Project or Programme Manager).
C Right skills Staff and management involved in strategy have the right skills – e.g.
creativity, process expertise, project and risk management experience.
9 Culture Score Status
A Supportive There is a culture and system that supports continuous strategy and
culture improvement.
B Acceptance of Whilst successes are celebrated, failures are also accepted as a possible
failure outcome of truly innovative activities.
C Performance There is a reward and recognition system (not necessarily financially

System based) that encourages people to identify and put forward new ideas.
10 Performance Management Score Status
A Agreed Key Each strategy project has clear and agreed Key Performance Indicators
Performance (KPIs) and Return on Strategy Investment (RoI) targets.
Indicators
B Clear review A review process for monitoring progress exists where key stakeholders
process will meet to review the strategy portfolio as a whole.
C Learning Insights and lessons learned are capture and fed into future teams in
order to maximise strategy effectiveness and avoid repeat mistakes.
Form 2: Audit Summary

Element Score 0 1 2 3 4 5 Improvement Actions
Leadership
Strategic Focus
Internal Challenge
External Challenge
Strategic Choice
Implementation Process
Support Systems
Strategy Champions
Culture
Performance
Management

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HealthCheck Strategy

What is a HealthCheck? When should you use it?

ID Category Evaluation criteria

1 Leadership Score Status

2 Strategic Focus Score Status

3 Internal Challenge Score Status

5 Strategic Choice Score Status

6 Implementation Process Score Status

7 Support Systems Score Status

8 Strategy Champions Score Status

9 Culture Score Status

10 Performance Management Score Status

Element Score 0 1 2 3 4 5 Improvement Actions

Leadership 2.3 Need to ensure an effective cascade of

Strategic Focus 4.3

Internal Challenge 3.7 Need to review the effectiveness of the new

External Challenge 4.3

Strategic Choice 1.7 Need to gain buy-in to the framework used

Implementation Process 2.7 Need to redesign the end-to-end strategy

Support Systems 1.3 Need to invest in new web-technologies to

Strategy Champions 4.7

Performance Management 3.9 Need to formalise the process for capturing

Form 1: Detailed Audit

1 Leadership Score Status

2 Strategic Focus Score Status

3 Internal Challenge Score Status

4 External Challenge Score Status

5 Strategic Choice Score Status

6 Implementation Process Score Status

7 Support Systems Score Status

8 Strategy Champions Score Status

C Performance There is a reward and recognition system (not necessarily financially

10 Performance Management Score Status

Form 2: Audit Summary

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