Developing and implementing strategy for benefits realisation

Background. The failure of initiatives to adequately plan and deliver benefits is a perceived problem in the healthcare sector. Problems of strategy formation and successful innovation are widely discussed in the literature. The concept of benefits realisation offers a possible key to better planning, but before this can be achieved strategic innovation is necessary to integrate the benefits realisation process itself into the corporate planning process. Research question. How can successful strategic innovation be introduced into NHS trusts? Methodology. A prescriptive model of strategy has been developed, employing a phenomenological analysis which draws on: [1] one of the authors' twelve years experience of working in strategy formation and implementation; [2] the results of three years action research, developing the BeReal benefits realisation model. The strategy model is evaluated in the light of existing literature on organizational strategy and planning. It is intended that the model will be subsequently tested in an action research case study. Findings. Much of the literature stresses the emergent nature of strategy and the consequent difficulties that this presents for the development of formal planning models. The model seeks to integrate planning and implementation into an orderly learning process in which broad policy objectives are increasingly refined in the light of stakeholder and corporate needs. Three integrated planning 'levels' are identified: strategic; portfolio and project. Essential inputs are identified in each level, including: regulatory direction, community consultation and corporate planning; organizational capability, knowledge realisation and resource capacity; programme alignment, stakeholder alignment and structured project benefits. Conclusion. The model identifies essential inputs to the planning process which, if not properly managed, can result in organizational disruption or stakeholder dissatisfaction. It offers a structured procedure for integrating these. Finally, it demonstrates how the notion of benefits realisation and the BeReal process itself, fit into a coherent strategy development and implementation process.