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Clear strategy. Aligned stakeholders. Coherent execution.

Without all three, even the best ideas fail.

Lance Advisory helps organizations to identify and resolve the human coordination and decision-making breakdowns that silently undermine both strategy and execution.

Organizations can only perform at their best when the following conditions are met:

  • priorities are clear

  • the plan is robust

  • ownership is explicit

  • teams are equipped to deliver. When any link in that chain is weak, execution suffers, even with capable people and good intent.​

These are the hidden bottlenecks that make the difference between organizations that consistently achieve stellar results, and those that suffer from drag and stagnation.
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We've all been there...

  • Stakeholder gridlock

  • Getting stuck reacting to external events

  • Everything's top priority

  • Scope creep

  • Misaligned KPIs and incentives

  • Stalled initiatives

  • Reinventing the wheel

  • Disconnected / inconsistent execution

Each of these breakdowns stem from the same thing: a disconnect between an ideal strategy and the way that humans actually function.

The good news is that there's a pattern- it tends to be the same critical linking points that come loose, resulting in these issues.

And by strengthening those key links, much of the above can avoided - keeping your organization on-track and outperforming.

The Critical Links from Vision to Execution

On the journey from Vision and Execution there are a few critical links where things tend to break down...

1. The link between Vision and Strategy fails without focus.

Vision

Breakdowns: 

  • Unarticulated vision

  • ​Too many competing priorities

  • Focus on urgency and "putting out fires"
     

Solution: Focus and prioritization amid change and uncertainty

2. The link from Strategy to Alignment breaks when the strategy's not working in practice

Strategy

Breakdowns: Plans that are rigid, generic "boiler-plate" , or don't factor in reality

Solution: A  robust, and well-informed strategy flexible enough to cope with change

Stakeholder Alignment

3. The link from Alignment to Execution breaks without shared understanding and incentives

Breakdowns: 

  • Different understandings of what "good" looks like

  • Thinking in siloes and inefficient coordination

  • Mis-aligned KPIs

  • Unproductive competition and turf- wars

 

Critical inputs:​

  • A shared understanding of the situation, tasks and objectives

  • Well-defined responsibilities, commitment and accountability

  • Robust governance structures
     

Execution

SuccessfulOutcome

Breakdowns: 

  • Top-down pressure without  adequate resource or instruction

 

​Critical Inputs:

  • Sufficient resourcing

  • Adequate training

  • Support on the job

4. The link from Execution to Outcome fails without adequate support or training

Specialized in supporting those 4 critical links, Lance Advisory helps your organization stay on track and harmonized to sustain focus and deliver success.

Along the entire journey, the same guiding principles include:

  • Minimum intervention for maximum impact

  • Constructive pressure, to enforce focus and prioritization

  • Reduced ambiguity 

  • Clear accountability and ownership

  • Every decision is linked to concrete next steps

What We Offer

Clarity

Alignment

Action

Executive Prioritization

Strategy Definition & Consulting

 Workshop Facilitation

Coaching
On the Job

Clarity & Vision at the Top

A reliable Path Forward

Alignment toward Action

Support in Execution

Clear and continuous focus at the top amid a complex and rapidly-changing context.

See clearly, spot opportunities, act decisively.

Independent, structured thinking on the hardest choices facing the business, to create plans that survive reality.

 

Cut through complexity, focus on what matters, move with speed and precision.

Unlock alignment, insight, and momentum through expertly designed sessions.

Surface what matters, stress-test ideas, drive shared ownership of the path forward.

Step in where it matters most.

 

Sharpen thinking, upskill teams and individuals, restore momentum.

Bridging the gap between Strategy Consulting, Executive Development & Organizational Behavior, we work with your most critical resource - your people - to get things done.

Classic Use Cases & Challenges We Help Resolve

Executive Prioritization

Competing Visions, Goals or Objectives

Challenges in Prioritization

Scope Creep

Getting Stuck in Firefighting Mode

Strategy Definition & Consulting

Tailored, Robust Plans of Action

Coping With Change and Disruption

Innovation
Strategy

Product/Service & Portfolio Strategy

Stakeholder Alignment 

Stakeholder Gridlock

Misaligned KPIs:

Central-Regional Tug-of-War

Reinventing the Wheel

Support in Execution

Stalled
Initiatives

Intent Lost in Execution

Skills/Training Gaps in Execution

Leveraging New Tech in Execution

Our Process: How we help bring clarity, coherence, efficiency and impact to your organization

Fundamentally,
who are you?

1

Where are you now?

2

What MUST happen next?

3

What's your Strategy?

4

• What is your business and what does it fundamentally represent? • What is core and critical to your continued success? • What are your organization's Vision and Mission? ...and how will you know when you're fulfilling them?

• What seem to be your biggest opportunities and risks? • What keeps you up at night? • What does your organization need to master to succeed? • Do you feel you're currently able to prioritize the right things?... and what are the right things?

• What is the ONE thing you need to deliver on in the next year for the business to succeed? • Are your current focus, resourcing and organization set up to support that? If not, what's getting in the way?

• What's your current plan of action? • Does it adequately account for the reality of your current situation? • Are the necessary stakeholders aligned to that approach? • Is sufficient flexibility built into the plan to cope with unforeseen circumstances?

What does deployment look like?

5

How to ensure brilliant execution?

6

How to evaluate periodically?

7

8

What to do next?

• Will you conduct small tests in phases or roll-out all at once? • Who needs to be involved, and what are their roles? • How should stakeholders be organized, incentivized and coordinated? • How will you determine whether you're on the right track? • How often should you re-evaluate and adjust? • How will you know when you're done?

• Who's responsible for delivery and what's their maturity level in this domain? • What support might they need along the way, and who will provide it? • How can you capture and share-out learnings and best practices to maximize their impact?

• Scoping: What's fixed vs up for debate? • How often? • Who decides? • By what metric? • Until when?

• Where are you in your master list of priorities? • What has your organization learned until now and how should guide what you do next? • What criteria can you use to stay disciplined and focused on the right things?

Where we fit in

Who We Are Not:

  • a large, legacy Strategy Consulting firm like McKinsey or BCG.

  • a typical Transformation, Implementation, Technology or Operating Model consultancy that relies on long-running projects and huge programs to recoup profits.

  • focused exclusively on Organizational Psychology, Coaching, Team-building or HR best practices (though we do make use of the body of knowledge from these fields.

Who We Are:

  • Specialized in the link between the Strategic and Behavioral elements of getting things done- creating solutions for organizations based on how people really operate

  • Strategy-first, with a laser focus on helping firms better articulate and realize the Vision and Core Objectives they're after

  • Stakeholder- and Human-centric

  • Structured & Results-driven

How We Work

Our Approach

  • People first- we are there first and foremost to support the human stakeholders to achieve the results they're pursuing.

  • Light-weight and high-ROI, we prioritize a light but impactful touch; small teams, low-profile, minimum disruption for maximum impact.

  • Highly-targeted, focusing only on what truly needs to change to achieve the desired outcomes

  • Leveraging in-house talent and resource as a first choice, to build on what's working, then supplementing with tools and best practices​

Some of the tools we employ...

  • Visioning tools

  • Issue trees and strategy maps

  • Stakeholder networks & systems mapping

  • Customized and proprietary assessments

  • Design Thinking & Stakeholder Facilitation Workshops

  • Executive Coaching

  • Ad-hoc Training & Support

...among others

The Benefits of our Approach

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Light-weight & cost-efficient

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Concrete ROI- and results-focused

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Less-disruptive, focused on the minimal number of required changes to achieve results

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We leverage existing institutional knowledge, building on what works, rather than trying to over-ride it

How to Get Started

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We will set up a meeting to discuss your goals and objectives in detail, and propose next steps.

Call us or schedule an introduction using the form below

ABOUT LANCE ADVISORY

Formed based on the observation that legacy Strategy Consulting firms often failed to adequately account for the critical human stakeholder layer of organizations, Lance Advisory is a specialist firm that integrates corporate strategy, organizational analysis, and advanced professional coaching to support organizations, and above all, their people, in moving smoothly from ideation to implementation to results.

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We are based in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, but offer our services across the EU and US both in person and remotely.

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