Why organizations and teams get stuck
In “The Power of Strategic Fit,” authors Rigby and First state “too many leaders … use simplistic ‘spreadsheet strategies’ to set financial goals as their target,” but neglect to “address the essential elements of strategy” and create synergy (“alignment”) among them.
The authors identify seven factors that “must remain aligned under ever-changing and unpredictable conditions to deliver superior performance”:
- The mental model
- Purpose and ambitions
- Stakeholder value creation
- Macro forces
- Markets and products
- Competitive advantages
- The operating model
Indeed, we have seen time and time again examples of the challenges that arise from the misalignment of these elements. And we’ve also observed that this misalignment is often what causes organizations and teams to stall.
On the one hand, the company had been delivering impressive financial results for nearly two years… On the other hand, the company’s five-year stock price appreciation was below the S&P 500 average... Employees were burned out. Innovation was sluggish, and the release dates for next-generation products kept slipping. Collaboration among operating units was lacking.
Darrel Rigby and Zach First, “The Power of Strategic Fit,” Harvard Business Review, March-April 2025
Strategic facilitation in action to create alignment and momentum
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One of the fastest ways to create alignment and start moving forward involves using human-centered strategic facilitation, which focuses on bringing all the right voices to the table to make confident decisions. Once you have alignment, “strategic fit,” as the authors describe, is easier to achieve – because you have broken down “organizational silos and increase[ed] teamwork to get everyone working toward mutually beneficial goals.”
We recently had the pleasure of partnering with the leadership team at Sky Lakes Medical Center, based in south-central Oregon, to drive alignment around their new five-year strategic plan. This community-owned hospital with 17 clinic locations, 13 specialties, and a cancer treatment center, recently embarked on Project 2030, which included a redesign of their primary care model.
During our work together, we applied human-centered strategic facilitation techniques to help the Sky Lakes team:
- Gather broad perspectives about the barriers to growth (macro forces, markets and products)
- Align on the most pressing problem/challenge(s) to solve (stakeholder value creation)
- Apply the principles of design thinking to co-create solutions (mental model, competitive advantages)
- Develop a roadmap, timeline, and governance and communication plan (operating model)
"Working with Fathom Consulting has been crucial in helping us align our strategic vision to better meet the growing needs of our community. Their thoughtful approach to human-centric facilitation allowed our team to engage in open, creative discussions, which led to breakthrough ideas on how we could successfully redesign our primary care delivery.
Fathom’s expertise in navigating tough decisions with empathy and neutrality has been key to ensuring that our strategy not only addresses the unique challenges of rural healthcare but also lays the foundation for a sustainable, scalable model that can be adapted across our organization. Their partnership has truly reshaped how we think about alignment and collaboration, enabling us to create a cohesive and unified strategy that drives us forward with clarity and purpose in our mission to deliver exceptional and timely care.”
Camden Bocchi, Manager, Strategy and Innovation, Sky Lakes Medical Center
Seeing quick results
Like many of our clients, we saw the impact of this work immediately with the Sky Lakes team. Our work helped foster connections among team members from across the organization, creating the alignment and “fit” across strategy elements. The act of bringing the Sky Lakes team together to solve a problem opened new lines of communication and deepened understanding of others’ responsibilities and perspectives.
And it doesn’t need to take weeks or months. Strategic facilitation can be used to generate momentum and get you moving forward quickly in just a few sessions. We help our clients get unstuck by:
- Exploring root causes and building awareness around blind spots
- Gaining clarity and alignment on the highest priority problem to be solved
- Brainstorming new ideas and solutions
- Breaking through silos and build bridges internally and externally
- Making complex, strategic, and long-lasting decisions
We’d love to connect and hear what’s preventing your team from finding your best strategic fit. Send us a note at business@consultfathom.com.
