Hanken & SSE Executive Education offers help in executing the strategy
Hanken & SSE Executive Education transforms academic research and business insight into practical impact, igniting the renewal of people and organisations. The company is owned by Hanken and Stockholm school of economics and has been ranked number one in its field in Northern Europe by the Financial Times.
As the pace of disruption accelerates, it is increasingly important to have clarity of intent – i.e. to know where the organisation is going, explains Marc Hinnenberg, CEO of Hanken & SSE Executive Education.
“A clear strategy and a purposeful vision are of utmost importance to get the whole organisation on board for strategic renewal. You cannot engage people if they don’t know where they are going.”
One company that has put strategic capabilities in the frontline and worked with Hanken & SSE to help execute their strategy is Wärtsilä. The company has a vision of a 100 percent renewable future and to fulfil this vision, Wärtsilä aims to help its customers decarbonise their operations.
“If your employees do not understand your strategy, it’s just a piece of paper. Therefore, we wanted to focus on the implementation phase,” says Kai Kamila, Lead Human Resources Business Partner, Wärtsilä Energy.
With the help of Hanken & SSE Executive Education, a series of workshops were carried out to engage people throughout the organisation across nine different regions worldwide.
“A major aim of the workshops was to break down what the strategy means for each and everyone’s individual role. We were also able to pinpoint which competences we lack in the organisation in order to fulfil our strategy,” Kamila explains. He is convinced that the project was fruitful, not least because the results were tangible.
“We piloted our sales roles and we can see the benefits in good deals. Also the eagerness for other roles to identify the strategic competences for the future has been enormous. This is proof that we are on the right track.”
What tips does Kamila have for other organisations considering embarking on such a journey?
“First of all, the management team needs to be engaged and own the implementation. You also need a dedicated person who is passionate about the strategic competence project and wants to lead it. You cannot outsource the project, but of course it is wise to partner with consultants to run the pilots and learn.”
