Strategy Workshop Facilitator for Executive Teams | Ben Rouse

Good strategy means you don't have to sense check every decision your organisation makes. Most leadership teams have a strategy on paper. Few have one in practice. I run the workshops that close the gap, and help teams keep it closed.

What is strategic dissonance?

Strategic dissonance is the gap between the decisions your strategy would produce and the decisions your organisation is actually making. It isn't disagreement, and it isn't resistance. It's what happens when capable people work from different readings of the same strategy, each doing what they believe is right.

Where the evidence sits

Research led by Donald Sull at MIT Sloan found that only 28% of the executives and middle managers responsible for executing strategy could name three of their company's top priorities. Understanding drops sharply in the first layer below the C-suite.

How We Resolve It

Phase 1: Diagnose the gap Before the session I talk to your team individually. Short calls, sometimes a short diagnostic, and always a conversation with you about what you actually need rather than what you first asked for. Those two things usually differ. A brief that arrives as team building often turns out to be strategic dissonance underneath.

Phase 2: Build the decision rules One or two days with the leadership team. People write before they speak, so the loudest voice doesn't set the agenda. Options get evaluated anonymously before they get debated. You leave having decided things, including the things the team has been avoiding deciding.

Phase 3: Put them into the daily work A strategy has to be taught, not sent. We plan how your leaders will teach it, what stops as a result, and the rhythm that checks whether daily decisions actually reflect it. I usually set the team up to run their own follow-up session, then come back to see whether it held.

Services

Agree the strategy your team will actually use (Strategy session, one or two days) — The core of the work. Pre-calls, individual conversations, design, delivery and follow-up all included.
Get the layer below the exec team making the same calls (Cascade sessions, added when you need them) — Translate what leadership agreed into language and priorities middle managers can act on.
Test a big bet before you commit to it (Design sprint, four days) — Framing on Monday, tested prototype by Thursday.

Inside the room

People write before they speak. Every session starts with individual silent writing, so the first idea in the room is not automatically the most senior one.

Options get evaluated before they get debated. Workstreams, bets and priorities are scored anonymously against agreed criteria, then the discussion starts from the disagreement rather than from a presentation.

We usually begin by describing failure. Asking a leadership team how they would guarantee the worst possible outcome from the next two days surfaces the unstated expectations faster than asking what success looks like.

Objectives are set by the people who will own them. Teams write their own measures and present them for challenge, because a measure someone else wrote is a measure nobody defends.

What it costs

A one-day session is £2,500 plus VAT. Two days is £4,000 plus VAT. Both include the pre-calls, the individual conversations with your team, session design, delivery, materials and the follow-up. Cascade sessions and larger programmes are scoped and quoted separately.

Testimonials

"Ben ran an incredibly effective workshop for our team. He created the space, structure, and energy we needed to get aligned, have honest conversations, and move forward with clarity."

"Transitioning from a vision to a live event is a challenge, but Ben's leadership made it look effortless."

"Ben prepared really thoroughly so we felt that he understood our organisation and our aims."

Book a Call

Ready to resolve strategic dissonance? Start a conversation

Contact: info@evolvingdesign.co