As a leader in the agriculture lending industry, our client had reached a strategic inflection point. The CEO told the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and Board of Directors, “We don’t know how to do strategy so we need to organize a strategy practice for the enterprise.” Leveraging our StratX™ framework, Pepper Foster implemented a collaborative strategy development solution that aligned the ELT and Board around a new corporate vision, strategic priorities, themes, plans, budget, and execution governance model.
Business Outcomes
In the first nine months, Pepper Foster’s StratX™ implementation plan delivered the following outcomes:
- Executive Leadership Team Alignment: Using Pepper Foster’s StratX™ framework as its guide, the ELT established a new corporate vision statement, an annual strategic investment budget, and coherent strategic priorities for the enterprise.
- Named Strategic Themes: Community Development, Customer Experience, Digital Finance Innovation
- Ongoing Strategy and Business Case Governance: Executive Leadership Team members meet quarterly to evaluate strategies and strategic investment business cases.
- Semi-annual Strategic Planning Process (Board & ELT): Board members referred to the Strategic Planning workshop as the best in which they have participated. They praised the process by saying, “This is excellent and light years ahead of of what we have done in the past.”
Challenges – Problem Statement
As a leader in the agriculture lending industry, our client had reached a strategic inflection point. The CEO told the Executive Leadership Team and Board of Directors, “We don’t know how to do strategy so we need to organize a strategy practice for the enterprise.” As evidence, the CEO called out the following challenges:
- Corporate vision was outdated and no longer inspired the team
- Approach to strategy was to “announce strategic imperatives and check back on progress in six months”
- No investment budget dedicated to strategic imperatives
Solution Approach
Pepper Foster implemented a collaborative strategy development solution that united the Executive Leadership Team and Board of Directors:
- Roll out a comprehensive, nimble, and sustainable strategy practice organized around Pepper Foster’s StratX™ Framework1
- Establish a new corporate vision statement
- Develop and prioritize strategies that address gaps in the corporate operating model and realize opportunities for growth
- Evaluate and fund investments that best advance strategic priorities and create tangible business outcomes