Laerdal Medical exists to help save lives. By 2030, the organization has committed to helping save one million more lives every year, a goal that demands focus, alignment, and disciplined execution across a global operation.

As Laerdal scaled, it became clear that ambition alone was not enough. Strategy needed to work differently, less as a planning exercise and more as a system that could run the mission day to day.

The Challenge: Navigating Strategy Fragmentation

Laerdal’s mission was clear, but its strategy processes struggled to keep pace with the scale of that mission.

The organization relied on established methodologies such as OKR and Hoshin Kanri, supported by a diverse mix of tools—from an internally built system called 'Project Link' to Excel spreadsheets and various presentation decks. Over time, these layers accumulated without fully aligning.

With strategy distributed across different formats, maintaining a cohesive view of the corporate direction was a challenge. The result was a corporate plan with a growing number of objectives, at times reaching 29. Priorities became diluted, and translating executive intent into coordinated action across teams proved complex.

Without a single source of truth, leadership had to spend valuable time reconciling data from different systems. As a result, executive discussions often centered on aligning views rather than making decisions, creating a barrier to consistent execution.

Laerdal needed to consolidate and operationalize its strategy. The answer was not another framework. The organization needed a system that could replace fragmented planning with clear priorities and unified action.

The Solution: One Source of Truth for Strategy

Laerdal rebuilt its corporate strategy inside Cascade with a clear focus on discipline and execution.

Objectives were reduced from 29 to 17 and organized into defined focus areas that reflected real strategic choices. Narrowing the number of focus areas and ensuring that these were comprehensive and exhausted made them relevant for the whole org, not just leadership. 

Long-term goals for 2025 to 2027 were established to anchor execution beyond annual planning cycles. These strategic themes were translated into annual objectives, measurable KPIs, and clear ownership across the organization.

“Cascade is helping us turn strategy from a complex exercise into something we could actually manage,” shared Christie Cotgrove, Corporate Development and Performance Manager at Laerdal. “For the first time we are having all our objectives and KPIs connected to our long-term goals and visible across departments.”

To drive transparency, the leadership team began introducing live reporting for key meetings. By using real-time information directly from the platform, they moved away from static updates, ensuring discussions were based on the latest data.

The Results: A More Transparent View of Performance

The transition from disconnected tools to Cascade has enabled Laerdal to embrace a Strategy-Led Performance approach. This means strategy is no longer just a static document or living in fragmented tools, but a centralized system where progress is actively tracked against the plan.

For Laerdal, the days of siloed operations are coming to an end as the organization adopts this new operating rhythm. Teams across the organization update progress directly in the platform, giving leadership immediate visibility into performance gaps and trade-offs.

What is working—and what isn’t—is now visible and actionable. Leadership can see the actual progress of initiatives, allowing them to decide on next steps and make adjustments where needed.

Transparency is driving a cultural shift from ambiguity to ownership. Leaders are accountable for specific objectives and KPIs, and progress is reviewed through shared data rather than interpretation. Reporting is moving from a burden to a strategic asset, enabling faster decisions and stronger alignment across the business.

Impact: Building a Foundation for Disciplined Execution

By operationalizing its strategy in Cascade, Laerdal is moving from a fragmented strategy to a single source of truth that enables more disciplined execution.

Having successfully rolled out Cascade to leadership and functional teams, Laerdal is continuing its top-down adoption approach. The next phase for 2026 involves expanding adoption to wider teams, specifically within the Product teams, ensuring every area of the business is aligned with the central strategy.

With the one million lives goal as its anchor, Laerdal now runs strategy as a shared, measurable commitment across teams and sites. What was once a fragmented set of priorities is now a coherent strategy that enables better decision-making through transparency, clarity, and visibility.