S5E2: Participative Strategy Development - with Niels Rasmussen from +RASMUSSEN

In today’s podcast, we talk with Niels Rasmussen about outcome-based thinking and participative strategy development - a method of involving a large part of the organization coming together and creating and implementing the strategy - that’s gaining more and more ground. This method comes to address rising problems that result in over 70% of all strategies not coming to fruition, problems fuelled by demographic changes, the pace of changes and the need for enterprise transformation. We also talk about why it is so challenging to move toward participative strategy development and what it takes to make it happen. One is culture and the second one is our lack of belief in a true ownership culture.  We touch on how the OKR framework is a key factor to getting participative strategy development off the ground.  Lastly, we discuss briefly about the 12 steps required to execute a shift towards participative strategy development, which will appear in an article co-authored by Niels in spring 2023. Niels Rasmussen is founder and Managing Partner at +RASMUSSEN, a consultancy and executive training academy focusing on helping senior leaders and business owners grow their business and their leadership capabilities in areas such as Vision, Strategy, Structure, Role & Responsibility Development and Implementation. Niels has more than 25 years of top management and consulting experience in Germany, Australia, Denmark and USA (Managing Director Hewitt Associates in Germany & Europe CEO, Equity Partner KPMG), as well as diplomatic experience - serving as Commercial Affairs Officer with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.  Passionately Danish, he’s engaged to serve as Copenhagen Goodwill Ambassador - following his 2014 appointment by HRH Prince Joachim of Denmark. Lastly, loving all things Danish - from a distinctive culture centered on lack of hierarchies and easy communication at all levels - as well as anything design-related (including Organizational Design), he’s trying to bring this approach in the consultancy he founded: + RASMUSSEN. At +RASMUSSEN he leads a team of talented people who drive meaningful transformation work at global Fortune 500’s (Allianz, Daimler, Merck, Valeo, Continental) as well as public and semi-public organisations such as GasNetz Hamburg, the city of Freiburg and pronova. Where to find Niels: LinkedIn +Rasmussen consultancy Where to find Johannes: LinkedIn Resources mentioned on the show: - McKinsey - Roger Martin is a writer, strategy advisor and in 2017 was named the #1 management thinker in the world. He is also former Dean and Institute Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto in Canada. - The Journal of Enterprise Transformation - out of print. Books - The 4 Hour Work Week - Designing Your New Work Life - Chip War This Podcast is a product by Workpath.