Case Study

The challenge

A large IT services organization committed to an ambitious financial growth target. As they headed into their corporate strategic planning cycle, they realized they needed to have a different type of conversation compared to the typical strategic planning conversation that focused on operational metrics. Prior planning processes had produced strategies that were adequate, but would not achieve their new ambitions.

The approach

Rather than having their typical strategic planning conversations, Patrick designed an alternative approach rooted in systems thinking. He built a causal model of the business — essentially a diagnostic map of their business as an interconnected system. The model captured major functional domains such as Talent Acquisition and Development, Product Development, Business Development, Delivery and Operations, and Financial Management, and then mapped the interdependencies, feedback loops, and time delays between them.

The goal was to surface structural dynamics that were enabling or constraining growth, rather than treating symptoms in isolation. The systems model became the centerpiece of the executive session, giving the leadership team a shared understanding of their business, a common language to discuss bottlenecks and opportunities, and a concrete visual artifact to reason from, rather than a slide deck of assertions.

Patrick co-facilitated the initial workshop with the executive leadership team, then helped cascade similar workshops at the business unit level, so that each unit could continue the conversation in their own context, identifying the unique constraints and dynamics affecting their specific market. He personally facilitated two of the business unit sessions.

The outcome

By working through the interdependencies together, the team identified root causes of persistent challenges, resource constraints, and ineffective business practices. The model revealed that many of the constraints were structural, embedded in how the business was designed, rather than executional. The workshop led to the articulation of a business strategy that is still in active use today.

The cascade design was intentional: by bringing the same methodology to each business unit rather than handing down a finished strategy, the approach built ownership at every level — which is why it held.

The facilitation methodology developed for this engagement, including the systems model, facilitation tools, and cascading communications approaches, and has been replicated in other contexts for teams for the past several years, including corporate services teams and clients.