Our client is a leading South African law firm, with the goal of serving their clients across sub-Saharan Africa, with a variety of legal services (including New Law / Alternative Legal Services), delivered to multiple sectors. The firm follows a systematic and frequent strategic planning process, regularly assessing its position in the marketplace; their clients’ changing needs; their internal capabilities; and their ability to grow revenue and profitability over the next three to five years. With a clear strategy in place, the challenge was how to ensure that the strategy is implemented, across the organisation, consistently, over a three-year period.

Working closely with the senior leadership team and the firm’s central project office, we divided the strategy into five core workstreams, with each workstream having one accountable senior leader and clearly defined objectives and key results (OKRs) for each of the three years of the implementation. Further, we defined and scoped what projects, initiatives, and ‘business as usual’ work would be needed, again, to ensure that the strategy would be delivered. We undertook a comprehensive prioritisation exercise, rating and ranking projects against agreed to criteria that set the priorities for the project office to deliver. Lastly, we conducted regular implementation risk and project progress assessments to ensure that the implementation stayed on track

The definition of the five workstreams, with one accountable senior leader for each workstream, allowed the firm to drive the strategy implementation, across the organisation, from senior to junior levels, and across their various office locations. In addition, having clear OKRs for each respective year of the implementation, helped the firm to track progress, see where things may have been falling behind, or needed adjustments. This was especially true as competitors made significant moves in key markets. Having an unambiguous list of project priorities was also key, as it ensured that the project delivery teams were focused on what was most important.