Cost reduction workshop for leadership teams

Cost reduction workshop: savings your teams find, own and deliver

Our cost reduction workshop creates room to invest without damaging what drives growth. Leadership sets a clear savings target and the guardrails. Cross-functional teams then find, size and commit to the savings, so the numbers show up in the P&L and stay there.

Hamburg-based, on site wherever your team meetsOne or two senior partners, as your team needsLeadership team plus selected people from all levels

What your team leaves with

A target with guardrailsHow much must be saved, by when, and what stays untouched
A cost picture everybody sharesSpend by function, process and driver, seen by the whole team
A sized pipeline of savingsRated on impact, ease and risk, with the side effects named
Owners, milestones and OKRsEvery saving tracked until it shows in the numbers

How it works

How the cost reduction workshop works

Three phases: a short preparation, two days in the room and 90 days of guided delivery. The plan is a proposal – in the briefing we adapt it to your situation and agree how you will measure success after the cost reduction workshop.

Phase 1 · Prepare

Target, baseline and guardrails

A prep session with the CEO and CFO: savings target, timeframe and the costs that protect growth. Finance prepares a simple baseline by cost pool.

Phase 2 · Workshop

Two days that end in commitments

The leadership team aligns on target and guardrails. Selected people from all functions and levels find the savings where the costs actually arise.

Phase 3 · Deliver

90 days until it shows in the numbers

Savings owners work against milestones and OKRs. A monthly steering meeting tracks the pipeline and removes blockers; the quarterly review closes the loop.

In the room

Two days in the cost reduction workshop

Day one creates a shared view of the costs and a long list of ideas. Day two turns the best ideas into savings with owners. Good costs stay protected throughout.

DAY 1
Target, cost picture and ideasLeadership team and cross-functional teams
Target and guardrails
The CEO and CFO explain the target and why it matters. The team agrees which costs drive growth and are off limits.
Cost picture
Cost pools and their drivers, built as a gallery. Where does money go, and what does it buy for customers?
Fresh look at every pool
For each cost pool the teams ask: would we start this today? Can it be simpler, shared, renegotiated or stopped?
Long list of ideas
Brainwriting in mixed groups. People from operations, sales and finance see different levers than leadership alone.
DAY 2
Sized savings, owners and OKRsLeadership team decides, teams commit
Size and rate
Savings potential, one-off costs, ease and risk for every idea. An impact-effort matrix makes the choice visible.
Pre-mortem
What could make this saving fail, or hurt customers and growth? Countermeasures are agreed before anyone starts.
Decide and commit
Leadership decides on the pipeline. Every saving gets an owner, milestones and a Key Result that finance can track.
Communicate
One message for the wider organisation: what changes, why, and how people can contribute.

Is this the right format?

When a cost reduction workshop pays off

  • Margins are under pressure and the board expects a credible savings plan.
  • Earlier savings rounds cut evenly everywhere and hurt the wrong things.
  • You want to free budget for growth, AI or transformation projects.
  • Savings ideas exist, but nobody owns them and they do not reach the P&L.

Related formats

Growth strategy workshop

Invest the freed budget well: a growth ambition, 3–5 growth initiatives and OKRs. The growth strategy workshop →

Strategy workshop

Two days from a shared picture of today to company priorities and OKRs. The two-day strategy workshop →

Leadership workshop

One day on alignment, decision rights and a steering rhythm. The one-day leadership workshop →

Who you work with

Two senior partners: strategy and execution in one team

Oliver leads efficiency and change initiatives with analytical clarity; Joern designs the process that brings people from every level into the work. Your team finds the savings, which is why it also delivers them.

Oliver Pasdzior, partner at Stryke Consulting

Oliver Pasdzior

Partner · Strategy, growth and transformation

Over 15 years in corporate development and strategy execution, formerly an executive at major corporations. Leads growth, efficiency and change initiatives with analytical clarity and a pragmatic feel for the people side.

Joern Steinz, partner at Stryke Consulting

Joern Steinz

Partner · Facilitation, execution and OKRs

Facilitating leadership teams since 2014, more than 60 OKR engagements and over 1.000 workshops. Formerly a consultant at Accenture and in corporate development at XING. MBA, EADA Business School Barcelona.

Strategy workshops and offsites for the leadership teams of

Domino’s PizzaESAHarvey NormanHERO SoftwareSagaStevanato GroupTildeZertus Group

Further clients

AllianzBayerBrown-FormanDHLeBayLufthansaMcKinseySiemensVolkswagen

Questions

Questions about the cost reduction workshop

What is a cost reduction workshop?

A cost reduction workshop is a facilitated session in which leadership sets a savings target and guardrails, and cross-functional teams find, size and commit to savings. With us it takes two days, framed by a short preparation and 90 days of guided delivery with owners, milestones and OKRs.

How much can we save?

We do not promise a figure before we have seen your numbers. Leadership sets the target in the preparation phase; the cost reduction workshop builds a sized pipeline of savings to reach it, with one-off costs and risks made visible.

Is this about job cuts?

It is about every cost pool – processes, suppliers, projects, structures. Headcount can be one lever, and if it is, leadership decides it openly. The workshop makes sure good costs that drive growth stay protected.

Who should take part?

The leadership team and selected people from different functions, levels and locations. They know where costs arise and which savings will work in practice – and they help carry the change.

What happens after the two days?

Savings owners start right away. On request we facilitate the monthly steering, track the pipeline with you and run the quarterly review until the savings show in the numbers.

Where does the workshop take place?

At a venue of your choice. We are based in Hamburg and come to wherever your team meets, in English or German.

Next step

Let’s plan your cost reduction workshop

In 30 minutes we find out whether the format fits your situation, who should be in the room, and which dates work.

Write to us

hello@stryke-consulting.com · 0049 175 566 4329 · Hamburg