Page 76 - HBR Leader's Handbook: Make an Impact, Inspire Your Organization, and Get to the Next Level

66 HBR Leader’s Handbook

innovative client service approaches that were being experimented with in
different corners of the firm’s global network; Tamara Lundgren apply- ing
new approaches to mortgage securitization in Europe based on tech-
nologies she had utilized in the United States to create more innovative
products earlier in her career for Deutsche Bank; Stan McChrystal literally
borrowing some of the network organization’s playbook from his enemy to
create the more nimble, information-sharing culture of Allied Special Op-
erations in Iraq. At PBS, with Kerger coaching her, Rotenberg expanded
her horizons by engaging other colleagues who, with her, developed the
idea of a combined broadcast and digital service, with crossover content
and interactive learning games linked to the broadcast programming.

Narrowing the possibilities
The PBS strategy team fleshed out its final strategic choices through more
discussion and problem solving between the broadcast and digital units of
the organization, and its ongoing research with member stations, too—al-
lowing all stakeholders to learn from one another and understand the costs
and benefits of a dedicated, multiplatform channel. The team was able to
finalize decisions based on some fact-based projections of audience size
and a lot of carefully collected and analyzed feedback from—and specific
commitments made by—local stations in the network.
As you start to develop different options for your strategy—by explor-
ing different combinations of where and how to compete—you’ll need to
identify certain filters for making your final bets. One set of filters should
be Porter’s five essential tests of a good strategy (see the box “Five tests for
your strategy”). Beyond those, a few other usual suspects should also be
part of your investigations: standard cost, benefit, risk considerations; the
likelihood that your organization can deliver on the value proposition; how
much flexibility you have to fall back on or change direction if the new
strategy doesn’t work out; whether a particular option will also provide
learning to more generally improve future performance; and, of course,
how well the strategy fits with your vision for the group, as well as the strat-
egy and vision of your organization overall.