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Guiding principles

Framework-setting — the rules of the game

Guiding principles that determine the room to manoeuvre. Where Strategy says where we are going, this worksheet says how we behave along the way.

What it contains​

Principles per domain — generic, customers, processes, people and IT — each segment with its own panel holding its principles. A principle has a reason and says what stops, starts and continues (Stop, Start, Continue). Each principle is linked to the strategic themes it contributes to.

What you do yourself​

You draw up the principles or sharpen the AI draft, and link them to the relevant themes. Principles stay editable: they are living agreements, not tablets of stone.

What AI does​

The buttons Extract, Generate, Propose links and Add principle are in the header of the segment's panel.

  • Principles per segment: extract from the dossier or generate based on the strategy (mission, vision, ambition and themes) and the dossier.
  • Implications per principle — stop, start, continue: extract and generate; each line can be improved separately. A proposed line first appears as a proposal on the card and is only in the principle after Accept.
  • Link to the strategic themes: a proposal per principle for which themes it contributes to.

Every proposal stands as a proposal, with its origin, until you accept it.

Principles and themes​

Each principle card shows the names of the strategic themes the principle belongs to. With Change you tick those themes on or off, and with Propose links AI makes a proposal; accepting only adds links. On this worksheet too, the Strategic framework button opens the side panel with the framework.

What it delivers​

A principle framework that later serves as a test when assessing improvement actions.

The worksheet report shows everything on this worksheet, empty fields included, without judgement, in these chapters: what this report is for · principles (can be switched on or off per segment) · connection with the strategy · documents consulted. Each principle appears once, with its themes together. The management summary and the findings with advice are two other documents of this worksheet; see Reporting.

The Guiding principles One-pager is the fourth: one A4 as a business text — what we stand for (the principles with their reason), what that changes (stop, start, continue, per domain) and what it rests on (the strategic themes, by name) — without counts.

Principles is framework-setting: a compact structure holding the principles themselves, in place of the four tabs of the operational worksheets. The operational worksheets test their improvement actions against it.