“A target does not change the capacity of a system. If you want faster delivery, you must change the system’s capacity using Kanban, not just demand it.”
— W. Edwards Deming
“Some people imagine that Toyota has put on a smart new set of clothes, the kanban system, so they go out and purchase the same outfit and try it on. They quickly discover that they are too fat to wear it!”
— Shigeo Shingo
Executive Summary
Most corporate strategy initiatives fail not because of poor intent, but because they are delivered as annual “magic shows”—hyped executive offsites that result in buzzwords on wall posters rather than sustained, measurable action. Strategy is neither a vision statement nor an arbitrary financial target; it is a coherent framework for making decisions under conditions of uncertainty and resource constraints.
Actionable Organisational Strategy is an intensive 3-day leadership course that reframes Kanban from an operational team tool into an organisational operating system. A workshop created by Matt Croker, combining years of experience working in multiple industries. By synthesising Richard Rumelt’s strategic kernel, W. Edwards Deming’s systemic management principles, and Dan Vacanti’s quantitative flow metrics, this course equips business leaders to design, execute, and continuously adapt business strategy at scale.
Course Aims & Philosophy
This course is built on three central pillars designed to achieve systemic alignment and eliminate the strategic execution gap:
| Strategic Pillar | Focus Area | Core Operational Mechanism |
| 1. Systemic Mindset | End-to-End Value Stream | Visualising full workflow, dismantling organisational silos, and aligning behind constancy of purpose (Deming & Kanban). |
| 2. Commitment to Execution | Capacity Allocation & Pull | Defining the Commitment Point, enforcing explicit Portfolio WIP limits, and managing capacity over arbitrary push targets (Vacanti & Goldratt). |
| 3. Continuous Adaptation | Variation & Feedback Loops | Managing process variation, distinguishing signal from noise, and running strategic initiatives as experiments (Shewhart & Deming). |
Target Audience
This course is designed for high-impact decision-makers seeking to close the gap between high-level strategy and daily operations:
- C-Suite Executives & Founders seeking a repeatable operating system to scale strategic throughput.
- VPs, Directors, & Portfolio Managers responsible for resource allocation, strategy deployment, and cross-departmental alignment.
- Organisational Transformation Leaders & Strategists looking for evidence-based alternatives to traditional Management by Objectives (MBOs).
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Diagnose Universal & Contextual Diseases: Identify Deming’s 5 core systemic pathologies and discover their organisation’s specific contextual diseases that stifle flow.
- Operationalise Rumelt’s Strategy Kernel: Formulate crisp diagnoses, guiding policies, and coherent actions mapped directly onto Portfolio Kanban boards.
- Master Quantitative Flow & Variation: Integrate Shewhart, Deming, and Vacanti to distinguish signal from noise, manage process variation, and build predictable flow capabilities without overadjusting systems.
- Ditch Arbitrary Quotas: Replace MBOs and Goodhart’s Law traps with Little’s Law, Cycle Time analytics, and baseline Throughput.
- Govern Capacity & Eliminate Handoffs: Leverage explicit WIP limits, manage the Commitment Point, and transform cross-departmental handoffs into collaborative dialogue.
