Skill transformed budget-driven planning into dynamic organisational capability via the Open Strategising Method, eliminating silos and converting insights into decisive growth.
User Story
From Silo-Based Stagnation to a Unified, High-Performance Culture
+5%
growth while competitors declined
75
professionals actively engaged in strategising
13
certified in Open Strategising
3
years working with the method
In a challenging period, while most competitors shrank by 10%, we grew revenue by 5%, transformed our organisation, and maintained profitability. Open Strategising played a key role in our success.
The Starting Point: Evolving Beyond Traditional Planning
As Skill underwent a period of rapid expansion - scaling from 200MSEK to 800 MSEK - the organisation encountered the natural complexities that follow such significant growth. To manage this scale, the company adopted more specialised structures; however, this inadvertently led to increased vertical silos. While departments remained highly focused, a lack of cross-functional transparency made it challenging to align priorities and resources effectively.
During this period, the strategy process was closely tied to the annual budget cycle, often resulting in extensive documentation and traditional business plans. While comprehensive, these plans occasionally lacked the unified narrative required to guide daily operations, leading to a gap between strategic intent and practical realisation.
Although the need for service diversification was well-recognised, the existing framework was not fully optimised to turn those ambitions into action. By autumn 2023, these structural challenges - combined with a shifting market - underscored the importance of a more agile and integrated approach to governance and profitability.
The Systematic Solution: Open Strategising
To navigate the path forward, Skill initiated an internal shift towards a more open approach to strategy. This move was designed to bridge the gap between high-level theory and the operational reality of the customer journey, ensuring that strategy became a living part of daily business.
Board Alignment and Insight: A pivotal moment in this transition was deepening the Board of Directors' engagement with the new methodology. As the Board gained a more profound understanding of the model, it enabled a seamless integration between governance and execution. This alignment ensured that the Board’s annual cycle was perfectly synchronised with the company’s strategic pulse, fostering a unified direction from the top down.
Collaborative Engagement: The process was intentionally inclusive, drawing on the collective intelligence of the organisation. Skill engaged 120 employees to work through analytical frameworks and synthesise external market trends. By moving from "communicating" strategy to co-creating it, the company ensured that the resulting goals were grounded in the expertise of those closest to the market.
Value Co-creation with Partners: Finally, Skill extended its strategic horizons by involving key customers and critical suppliers. By synchronising future roadmaps with these external partners, strategy evolved from an internal document into a shared competitive advantage that strengthens the entire value chain.
The Result: The Power of a Unified Team
By Q1 2026, the shift to a systematic and open strategy framework and process had delivered immediate results. The entire organisation now operates with a clear "North Star," which has significantly reduced internal friction.
Financial & Operational Excellence: Skill exceeded its financial expectations for the first quarter under the new regime, proving that focus and clarity drive performance.
Leadership Transformation: For the CEO, the systematic framework provided the security to move from micromanagement to a delegatory leadership style. With a clear strategic frame, the team was empowered to act independently.