A strategic cascade is nothing more than a model used to describe various aspects of your business. By ensuring all the cascade elements work towards a common purpose, the power of an organization can be unleashed. If cascade elements are missing or in conflict, the efficiency of an organization is reduced and it will not deliver to its maximum potential.
Sharper Counsel, LLC uses a six element cascade for describing a business. These six elements are MISSION, OBJECTIVES, STRATEGY, STRUCTURE, PROCESSES, and METRICS. If a business does a good job of describing each of these cascade elements and brings them into alignment with each other, then high performance can be achieved.
The basic theory behind this cascade is simple: MISSION should drive OBJECTIVES which drives STRATEGY which drives STRUCTURE which drives PROCESSES which drives METRICS. There is an inherent hierarchy in the cascade elements which should be observed. For instance, a particular business metric probably should not drive the mission of the business and the way a business is currently organized should not drive next year’s strategy.
Many businesses have been built and are running without a formal articulation of all six cascade elements. In some cases the various cascade elements were co-developed over time and are operating in some form or fashion. It can be quite beneficial from a performance perspective to review strategic cascade elements and look for anomalies.
Here are some useful Strategic Cascade questions from a performance perspective:
- Are Objectives for the organization documented and aligned with the Mission of the business?
- Is the Strategy to pursue Objectives clear and has it been communicated to the team?
- Is the business Structure defined to address the Strategy or has it evolved into being?
- Do business Processes exist to coordinate activity across teams towards accomplishing Objectives?
- Are Metrics defined and used to measure progress towards Objectives and aligned across the teams that are involved?
Strategic Cascades help a business understand and describe various elements that tie together to meet customer needs. Through articulating the elements and more importantly, by bringing them into coordination and alignment, a business can achieve higher performance levels. Business Objectives can be achieved faster and easier through clearer accountabilities, faster decisions, better business operations and more satisfied employees.
Sharper Counsel LLC is an executive short term assignment company dedicated to the improvement of high potential businesses.
In short, we do BUSINESS TUNEUPS.
We provide management consulting to accomplish business and organization assessments. We specialize in business development and business process management and are one of the up and coming consulting firms in San Diego. Our team is always eager to help you improve your business, so…
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