Our method
Strategic Synergy Integration (SSI)
Strategy breaks in the gaps between belief, design and people.
Most strategies do not fail in the plan. They fail where what leaders believe, how the organisation is built and what its people are equipped to do no longer line up. Strategic Synergy Integration is the method Carthena uses to find that gap before a strategy is set, and to keep it closed once the work begins. It sits behind every one of our four practices.
Why one lens is not enough
A finance review sees the numbers, an HR review sees the people and a strategy review sees the plan. Each can be right on its own terms and still miss the cause. The most costly failures sit between those views: a purpose the operating model was never designed to deliver, or a structure that asks for skills the organisation does not have. SSI examines all three at once and tests the connections between them.
Three domains, tested together
1. Beliefthe conviction layer
What does the organisation believe, and do its decisions show it?
Purpose, market conviction, value proposition and the principles behind decisions. Most organisations hold two sets of beliefs: the ones they state and the ones that show under pressure. The distance between the two is the most reliable early sign that a strategy will not hold.
2. Architecturethe design layer
Is the organisation built to deliver what it believes?
Structure, processes, systems, governance and the commercial model, which together turn intent into delivery. This is where execution most often breaks, even in organisations with a clear purpose and capable people.
3. Capabilitythe execution layer
Do its people have the skills, roles and incentives to do the work?
Talent, culture, leadership, reward and performance management. Training and hiring pay back only when they are tied to what the organisation believes and how it is built.
Belief directs Architecture. Architecture enables Capability. What people learn in delivery informs Belief. When any one of these links weakens, performance falls, however strong each domain looks on its own.
Nine areas, one picture
Each domain is tested on three dimensions. Intent asks what we are aiming for, design asks how it is built and governance asks how it is run. Together they give nine areas.
Belief
Purpose and market conviction
Why the organisation exists, and what it believes about its market that competitors do not.
Value proposition and positioning
Whether the promise to customers is written down, distinctive and used to make commercial decisions.
Decisions consistent with purpose
Whether real decisions, above all the hard trade-offs, follow the stated purpose.
Architecture
Process and service objectives
Whether process and service targets come from the strategy and are set from the customer's side.
Structure, processes and systems
Whether the structure, workflows and technology serve the strategy or force it to work around them.
Measures and feedback loops
Whether the right measures reach the right people, and whether failures are traced to their cause.
Capability
Talent and culture priorities
Whether the talent plan and the culture the organisation wants come from the business strategy.
Roles, reward and organisation
Whether roles, reward and reporting lines encourage the behaviour the strategy needs.
Performance and development
Whether performance management, development and retention keep critical capabilities in place.
How we read the evidence
- 01
Leaders and staff answer the same questions
Each executive completes a confidential assessment of 36 statements, which takes about 50 minutes. Staff answer a shorter, anonymous survey in about ten minutes.
- 02
We read patterns, never averages
Two organisations with the same overall score can need opposite remedies. We compare the nine areas with each other, and compare leaders' views with staff views. An average would hide exactly the difference we are looking for.
- 03
We look across the organisation, not only down it
Staff also tell us whether they get what they need from other businesses and functions. Where an organisation's businesses see it differently, that difference is a finding in its own right.
- 04
We name one gap
The diagnosis ends in a single named gap: the domain and the area where the organisation is furthest apart. That gap anchors the strategy work that follows.
Only Carthena sees individual responses. No group of fewer than five staff is ever reported, and all data is held under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023. Privacy policy
From diagnosis to results
- 01
Diagnosewhere is the break?
The diagnostic, structured interviews and a review of the organisation's own documents. The result is the named gap and the evidence behind it, presented to the leadership team in the session itself.
- 02
Definewhat must change?
The named gap becomes the strategy agenda: the ambition, the priorities and the order in which the domains are addressed.
- 03
Deliverhow do we build it?
Work runs in all three domains together, so a new strategy is matched by the structure and the capability to carry it. The affected areas are reassessed at agreed points.
- 04
Sustainhow do we keep it?
Periodic reassessment, and handover of the method to the client's own team, so the organisation can find its next gap without us.
One method, four practices
- Transformation Advisory
The named gap sets the transformation agenda and the order of the work.
- Economic Intelligence
Market and policy evidence tests what the organisation believes about its market.
- Organisational Capability Building
Structures, roles and training are designed against the gap, not in isolation.
- Capital and Transactions
Due diligence and integration plans test whether two organisations' beliefs, designs and people will fit.
Questions
What is Strategic Synergy Integration?
It is Carthena Advisory's method for diagnosing why a strategy is not being delivered. It tests three domains together: what the organisation believes, how it is built and what its people can do. It names the one gap where they are furthest apart.
How is SSI different from a balanced scorecard or an employee survey?
A scorecard tracks performance against a strategy it assumes is right, and an engagement survey measures how staff feel. SSI tests whether the strategy, the organisation built to deliver it and the people asked to deliver it line up. It reads the differences between leaders and staff rather than averaging them away.
How much time does the diagnostic ask of our people?
Executives spend about 50 minutes on a confidential assessment, and staff about ten minutes on an anonymous survey. Interviews and a review of documents follow.
When do we see the findings?
In the leadership session itself, where the findings are presented in full alongside the named gap. Feedback is not circulated beforehand, so the leadership team meets the evidence together.
Who sees individual answers?
Only Carthena. The organisation receives combined results, no staff group of fewer than five is reported, and all data is held under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.