Simplifying and Aligning Strategy for SMART Photonics
SMART Photonics, a pioneering scale-up in the photonics industry, faced the challenge of articulating its purpose and strategy with clarity and cohesion. As the company grew, its vision and strategic direction became fragmented, leading to misalignment across teams and confusion about its core objectives. SMART Photonics needed a unifying narrative to bring clarity to its purpose and streamline its strategy to ensure consistent messaging and execution.
Objectives
Define a Compelling Story: Establish why SMART Photonics exists and craft a clear and inspiring purpose to guide the organisation.
Simplify and Align Language: Create a consistent, streamlined vocabulary that could resonate across all levels of the business.
Refine Strategy: Simplify the company’s strategic priorities and develop a plan to bring the strategy to life across the organisation.
Approach
Creating the New Story:
Through workshops, deep conversations, and analysis, I distilled the essence of SMART Photonics’ mission and purpose. The new story highlighted why SMART Photonics exists, emphasising its ambition to lead in creating a new photonics industry. This narrative served as a rallying point for the organisation, connecting its technical goals with a broader, more inspiring vision.
Streamlining Language:
I conducted a thorough review of the language used across teams, documentation, and leadership communications. By identifying inconsistencies and jargon, I developed a simplified and unified vocabulary that reflected the company’s mission and values. This step ensured that everyone from engineers to executives could speak the same language when discussing strategy, goals, and purpose.
Refining and Activating Strategy:
I reviewed SMART Photonics’ existing strategic plans and identified areas of complexity and misalignment. The new strategy was streamlined into a concise framework that outlined clear priorities, guiding principles, and actionable steps. Importantly, I created a plan to activate the strategy across the business, ensuring it was not just a document but a lived experience that informed decision-making and team behaviour.
Outcomes
A Unified Purpose: The new story provided SMART Photonics with a clear “why,” inspiring employees and stakeholders and aligning them behind a shared vision.
Aligned Communication: Simplified language ensured consistency in messaging across teams, reducing misunderstandings and increasing alignment.
Practical Strategic Execution: A streamlined strategy and activation plan equipped SMART Photonics with the tools to bring its vision to life, making the strategy actionable and impactful at every level of the business.
Insights
This project highlighted the importance of clarity and simplicity in scaling organisations. By focusing on alignment—both in language and strategy—SMART Photonics was able to strengthen its foundation and position itself to lead in the emerging photonics industry.
