Value Design32% of the exam
Sponsors, support and change in internal dynamics
How internal dynamics shape a strategy designer's recommendation: what to align each group on, how to brief executive sponsors, why a vision needs both top-down and bottom-up support, how to engage skeptics through their own goals, and Kotter's eight steps for leading change.
Given a customer scenario, evaluate how the internal dynamics of the organization might impact your recommendation on the right approach to solving the challenge statement.
~7 min read · 18 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Match each group (leadership, extended team, project team, influencers) to the topics it should be aligned on, and tailor alignment to each leader.
- Brief executive sponsors with short, listening-heavy check-ins and transparent share-backs.
- Diagnose a vision that has only top-down or only bottom-up support, and recommend the missing half.
- Treat alignment as continuous: reshape the vision when new information lands, and rescan the ecosystem when work backslides.
- Engage skeptics and detractors through their own goals and concerns, and remove structural obstacles such as incentives.
- Key terms: alignment (making sure the people in the system are ready and willing to help the project succeed); top-down support (formal: budget, resources, permission); bottom-up support (grassroots inspiration and ownership); detractor (someone unsupportive of an idea); guiding coalition (Kotter's cross-department team able and willing to drive change).
Key facts
Influencers are aligned on
- Detail
- Strategic vision and its value only
Leadership is aligned on
- Detail
- Outcomes, values and goals; constraints; approach sometimes; vision
Sponsor briefings
- Detail
- Short regular check-ins; agenda ahead; listen more than present
After each sponsor meeting
- Detail
- Share back insights, decisions and next steps
Top-down support unlocks
- Detail
- Budget, resources, explicit permission
Backsliding signal
- Detail
- "Two steps forward and one step back": rescan the ecosystem
Stance colors
- Detail
- Red hesitant, yellow neutral, green supporter
Coalition phases
- Detail
- Discovery, integration, partnership
Kotter's first two steps
- Detail
- Sense of urgency; powerful guiding coalition
Step 6
- Detail
- Short-term wins, celebrated and publicized
Sources for this section (4)
- Why does "Culture eats strategy for breakfast" describe alignment?
- When should an executive sponsor be invited into the work, beyond check-ins?
- Which Salesforce process does Kotter's final step cite for aligning vision with objectives?
- When a coalition's discovery phase finds nobody excited enough to join, what does that suggest?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
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