Worksheet · Strategy Health Check
List and cost what the centre does
The businesses pay for the centre. Few groups have asked them what they would buy. This sheet lists everything the centre does, costs it and puts the list in front of the businesses. It builds the Competent step of the check:
The centre has a written list of what it does for the businesses (appointing and challenging their leaders, linking them, shared services, deals) with its total cost, and the businesses have seen it.
Step 1. List and cost
Use four headings:
- Leaders: appointing, challenging and developing the heads of each business.
- Links: shared customers, shared buying, moving skills between businesses.
- Shared services: finance, payroll, IT, legal, procurement.
- Deals: acquisitions, disposals, financing.
| Centre activity | Heading | Cost a year | FTE | Businesses that use it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| e.g. Group procurement | Links | $1.4m | 7 | All four |
| Total centre cost |
Step 2. Ask the businesses
Send the list with its costs to each business head. Ask one question per line: would you pay this much for it?
| Centre activity | Business A | Business B | Business C | Business D | Keep, change or close |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Step 3. Act on the answers
Close or outsource what no business would pay for. Record what changed.
| Activity | Decision | Saving or cost | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
Done when: the written list, with the centre's total cost, exists and every business head has seen it and marked it.
Adapted from our own frameworks overview (PJP, 2015).
From the Strategy Health Check. Your report links the sheet for each of its moves.