A business model is the way a company goes to market. Business model and strategy are not synonymous. The business model is how strategy is operationalized to deliver a service or product to a customer.

In the business world, leaders are called upon to anticipate and address the continually changing environment for the benefit of their stakeholders. Those who do not heed the call to lead change as an ongoing process may jeopardize their business’s future. Every business operating model has a finite shelf-life. Over time, as the operating environment changes, the business model loses effectiveness. There are three categories of change that indicate this is the time to assess an operating model refresh: Changing Demand, Changing Supply, and Changing Customer Engagement Approaches.

We work with financial services organizations that need to adjust to a rapidly changing environment - organizations in transition, companies revisiting their future state definition, groups underperforming expectations, and firms working through integration (merger, acquisition).

Every leader has a choice: proactively initiate pre-emptive change or react to change-inducing events. Change management is reactive, cued by movement in a business’s operating environment. Movement can be external (customer expectations, alternative offerings, new competitors, economic factors) or internal to the company (employee expectations, owners/shareholders expectations, changing operational efficiency or effectiveness). Change leadership is proactive. Leaders and their teams continually monitor motion in the operating environment within and outside the organization, observing cues and clues that help anticipate their need to evolve. We guide leaders in intentionally practicing change leadership.

There are five fundamental factors needed to overcome inertia that stifles change programs – a clear future state vision, engagement, communication, actualization, and reinforcement. Our view is that every venture begins with a vision of what success looks like – what an organization wants to demonstrate. From there, engagement with key stakeholders – employees, partners, owners – gives the change endeavor traction and sustainability. Frequent, regular communication with stakeholders about where the organization is going, progress and accomplishments toward the vision creates transparency. Actualization is bringing specific results to life and highlighting progress to the organization. Reinforcement means frequent re-articulation of the vision, the roadmap to fulfil it and progress. We help develop a clear change management plan, co-owned by leaders and their teams, to bring the future state vision to life.

Effective strategic management begins with answering the question: What does success look like for our business? The answer to this question defines the company’s future state vision. Vision informs priorities. Priorities distill into activities. We work side-by-side with clients to define their future state, design an actionable roadmap and help you deliver on the roadmap, and guide leaders in navigating effective change.

Stability in a fast-moving environment is achieved through anchoring to the guiding future state vision. As the operating environment changes, sustaining a focus on what the company does (mission), why they do it (purpose), and how they fulfill their mission (strategy) leads to greater organizational stability. With a clear future state vision, organizations can find comfort in uncertainty and stability in progress.

Vision is a state of being that an organization expects to create. As your partner, we will help you identify your organization’s core competencies through the pragmatic process of defining and designing your vision. Core competencies put a fine point on the organization’s vision and provide clarity about day-to-day activities. 

Strategy is a framework for decision making and performing activities toward a specific state of being. Process design comes from a granular deconstruction of activities into manageable, repeatable steps. SACG helps assure that processes align with strategy and vision to elevate organizational effectiveness and enhance results.