Consulting firms love to speak the language of strategy: market share, operating models, digital transformation. These frameworks are valuable, but they can easily become sterile when disconnected from the reality of people. At Konectica, we believe the real magic —what we like to call alchemy— happens when strategy and people are deliberately blended.
A strategy that looks perfect on slides but is rejected by the workforce is no strategy at all. Conversely, people-centred initiatives without a strategic backbone turn into well-meaning but directionless activities. True transformation requires the fusion of both dimensions.
We saw this vividly in a Latin American energy company that approached us with a clear demand: help them redesign their operating model to handle growth. They had worked with a global firm before, which produced an elegant plan with all the right frameworks. But six months later, almost nothing had changed. Why? Because the plan ignored the invisible rules of the company —the informal networks, the pride of technical teams, the distrust between departments.
When we entered, we didn’t start with a new operating model. We started with conversations. We mapped not only processes but also tensions, motivations, and fears. Then we designed strategic interventions together with the people who would live them. The “alchemy” happened when a new structure wasn’t just imposed, but co-created. The plan was still rigorous, but it had fingerprints from the teams who had to make it work.
Three months later, the company wasn’t just “implementing a new model.” They were owning it. And because people owned it, they improved it, adapted it, and defended it when obstacles appeared. Strategy had come alive.
This is the essence of Konectica’s approach. We are not in the business of producing immaculate decks. We are in the business of designing strategies that breathe, because they are infused with human energy. That’s what we mean by alchemy: turning frameworks into living systems by combining them with the messy, powerful, unpredictable dimension of people.
👉 The question leaders should ask is not “Do we have the right strategy?” but: “Have we created the alchemy between strategy and people that will make this strategy real?”