Decision · Executive leadership team of a SaaS company · 75 min

Strategic Bets: Blue Ocean Portfolio

This highly convergent method forces the executive team to make painful trade-offs. By systematically identifying what standard industry features to eliminate and what new value to create, the team defines a highly differentiated 5-year portfolio. The process concludes with a rigorous consent-based voting mechanism to lock in organizational commitment to a few massive strategic bets.

What participants gain

  • Identify industry standards that drain resources without adding competitive value
  • Define a differentiated market position that avoids feature-parity wars
  • Execute painful strategic trade-offs collectively
  • Achieve deep executive alignment through consent-based decision protocols

Materials needed

  • Large printed ERRC (Eliminate, Reduce, Raise, Create) grid
  • Blue and Red voting tokens (3 of each per person)
  • Action prioritization matrix (Impact vs Effort) on A0 paper
  • Masking tape for grid lines
  • Strategic bet commitment sheets

How to run Strategic Bets: Blue Ocean Portfolio, step by step

  1. Review the themes extracted from the speculative scenarios exercise.
  2. Introduce the Blue Ocean ERRC framework and the necessity of strategic trade-offs.
  3. Instruct individuals to silently write 3 things the company must ELIMINATE to free up resources.
  4. Group and discuss the eliminations, seeking consent to stop these initiatives.
  5. Repeat the silent generation and grouping process for REDUCE, RAISE, and CREATE categories.
  6. Transfer the most critical CREATE and RAISE items to the Prioritization Matrix.
  7. Distribute 3 Blue tokens (High Priority) and 3 Red tokens (Veto/Risk) to each executive.
  8. Conduct a silent voting round where participants place tokens on the matrix items.
  9. Facilitate a Sociocracy-style consent round on the top 4 items, resolving any reasoned objections.

Facilitator tips

  • Do not let them skip the ELIMINATE step; strategy is as much about what you stop doing.
  • When someone objects during the consent round, ask 'Is this safe enough to try?' rather than 'Do you agree?'.
  • Maintain a calm, grounded physical presence, as trade-off discussions often elevate stress levels.
  • If the board is too clustered in 'High Impact/Low Effort', challenge their assumptions on technical debt.
  • Ensure the CEO speaks last during the consent rounds to avoid anchoring the team's opinions.

Common challenges

  • Inability to kill pet projects - Use the 'Eliminate' framework to depersonalize the process, focusing on market value rather than internal effort.
  • Everything is rated 'High Priority' - Introduce artificial scarcity by physically limiting the number of items allowed in the top quadrant.
  • Consensus paralysis - Strictly enforce the rule that only a 'reasoned objection' (a risk that harms the company) can block a decision.
  • CEO overriding the group - Pre-align with the CEO to act as a listener and tie-breaker, not the first speaker.

Running it virtually

Use a digital whiteboard with locked grid backgrounds. Utilize the platform's anonymous voting feature for the token placement, and use a digital 'talking stick' protocol in the video conference for the consent rounds.

Expected results

A finalized, prioritized portfolio of 3-5 massive strategic bets for the next 5 years, accompanied by a clear list of initiatives the company will explicitly stop doing.

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