Nmblr Focus Step 2: Identify the Distinctive Capabilities
Purpose: This step exists to make “how we’ll win” credible. Strategic imperatives only work if they’re backed by at least one distinctive capability — something you have (or can build) that competitors don’t, or have less of. This is where you make your capability assumptions visible, before you invest around them.
Facilitator guidance
- For each strategic imperative, invite the team to create choice by brainstorming the capabilities that would make winning plausible.
- As the facilitator help the team discuss and debate the choices created and then make the choice.
- Then get the team to align around the choice: land at least one distinctive capability per imperative.
- If the team struggles to name a distinctive capability, treat it as a signal: either the imperative needs to change, or the organisation needs to commit to building something new.
- Keep the emphasis on what will help the therapy win in the real world, not just in a narrative.
A useful question for the team to end this step: What would a competitor struggle to copy quickly — and are we truly willing to lean into that?