We embed with your team to turn your strategy into the work that delivers it,
keeping the right people, structures, and priorities moving together.
Execution
A great plan deserves
great execution.
Our Capabilities
Where we can help.
Our execution work spans eight areas, each one focused on a different part of what it takes to turn your strategy into results.
Click a capability to explore.
Execution
Strategic Initiative Leadership
Your most critical initiatives are not a side-of-desk job.
The initiatives that are most critical to your business touch nearly every part of it. That kind of complexity requires someone who is fully immersed in the work, not just overseeing it. We provide the senior leadership capacity needed to own the initiative, maintain momentum, and make sure the right decisions are getting made at the right time.
Common Challenges
- A critical initiative is losing momentum, with no clear reason why.
- Important work falls second to whatever is most urgent at the moment.
- We lack the internal leadership capacity or expertise to drive our biggest initiatives forward.
M&A Integration Support
The success of a deal depends on the success of the integration.
Integration is where value is won or lost, and many organizations miscalculate when it should begin and underestimate what it really requires. We help organizations design the integration approach far in advance of deal close, stand up the right management structure, and manage the people, process, and technology work that determines whether the two organizations come together the way they were supposed to.
Common Challenges
- No structure or leadership in place to manage the integration once the deal closes.
- No IMO, governance structure, or standard process for running the integration across the business.
- Day-to-day operations are eating the resources we need to run the integration.
Enterprise PMO & Portfolio Management
The best PMOs drive business outcomes, not projects.
We help organizations design and strengthen PMO and portfolio management functions that do more than track status and enforce process. That means improving how initiatives get prioritized and resourced, giving leadership the visibility it needs to make good decisions, and building the discipline to ensure the organization’s most important investments deliver the outcomes they were meant to.
Common Challenges
- Limited capacity to make progress on every initiative.
- Resources invested in programs and projects aren't leading to the outcomes expected.
- The PMO isn't delivering the value it was built for.
Operations & Process Improvement
Every inefficient process has a business cost.
Operational problems are often hiding in plain sight. They show up as workarounds, repeated mistakes, and work that takes longer than it should. We help organizations find where the friction is coming from, redesign the processes causing it, and build the discipline to operate more effectively going forward.
Common Challenges
- Inefficient processes with no capacity to step back and fix them.
- Rapid growth that operations haven't kept up with.
- Operational problems are hurting customers and performance, but haven't been a priority to fix.
Business Operating Model Design
An good operating model turns your strategy into how work gets done.
We help organizations design operating models that support their strategy, their customers, and their long-term health as a business. That means getting clear on how work flows and where decisions get made. It also means identifying the structures, processes, and technology the organization needs to operate the way it’s supposed to.
Common Challenges
- The organization has grown, but the way it operates hasn't kept up with where it's trying to go.
- Leadership knows how they want to work but doesn't have the structure or processes to support it.
- The way the organization operates no longer serves customers as effectively as it needs to.
Initiative Recovery & Stabilization
Recovery isn't restarting the plan, but figuring out why it broke.
When an initiative is in trouble, the reasons are not always obvious from the inside. We step in to diagnose the real problem, fix what’s broken, and get the initiative moving again.
Common Challenges
- An initiative is off track, and the organization doesn't know how to get it back on course.
- There's been heavy investment in a project that isn't delivering what it was supposed to.
- A deadline is approaching, and the work isn't where it needs to be.
Program & Project Delivery
Most delivery problems come down to ownership, not effort.
Delivery problems often come down to the same few things: Unclear ownership, thin planning, and no one senior enough to drive the work forward. We help organizations deliver programs and projects with the structure, discipline, and the senior attention it takes to finish what they start.
Common Challenges
- Programs and projects consistently run over scope, schedule, and budget.
- Limited capacity or expertise to deliver the work plan.
- Projects struggle to cross the finish line and deliver their intended outcomes.
Product Management
Produce management is building the right thing, the right way.
Many product management challenges come from unclear prioritization, a roadmap disconnected from what customers need, and not enough internal capability to close the gap. We help organizations bring structure to how products get prioritized and delivered and build the capability they need to move their ideas forward.
Common Challenges
- Limited capacity or capability to bring products to market effectively.
- No clear way to deliver customer value, and uncertainty about whether a product model is right.
- Unable to make meaningful progress on the product roadmap.
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We’ve been talking about our strategy for three years. The Gunter Group helped us to stop talking and start deciding. Within six months we had a direction the whole leadership team actually believed in–and could explain.”– Chief Strategy Officer Regional Healthcare System
Results that reflect the work behind them.
95%
of employees don't understand their company's strategy.
85%
of leadership teams spend less than one hour per month on strategy.
45%
of executives say organizations fail to track strategy execution.
Our impact and perspectives
Execution Insights
Resource
Building a strategic PMO
Read more
Resource
M&A integration, capture the value behind the deal
Read more
Podcast
Process optimization starts with leadership.
Read more
Our Experts
Meet the people leading this work.
Our execution engagements are led by practitioners with real experience driving complex initiatives forward. They understand the pressures, know what good execution looks like, and stay invested in the outcome until the work is done.
Jim Calko
Principal,
Execution Practice Leader
Jim has led some of The Gunter Group’s largest retail and footwear engagements, including multi-year programs for global sportswear brands across digital, ad tech, content planning, and contact center transformation. He understands how fast retail moves and how quickly disciplined execution becomes the difference between a launch that lands and one that doesn’t. Retail clients rely on him when the business pressure won’t wait.
Jenna Train
Principal,
People Practice Leader
Jenna has spent much of her career inside the retail industry, from Nike and Columbia Sportswear to global engagements with Walmart, The Home Depot, and Sobeys.
She knows how retail organizations make decisions and where change typically gets stuck between corporate and the field. Her work helps retail leaders build the structures and capabilities that hold up after the program ends.
Work With Us
Ready to bring your strategy to life?
The right strategy is specific to you. Tell us where you are and what you are trying to accomplish. We'll tell you how we can help get you there.