Strategy Development and Execution

By Mike Loughrin, CEO of Transformance Advisors

Strategy Failure Runs Rampant

Research indicates most organizations fail at strategy execution. One recent study, from Bridges Consultancy noted positive news in how 52% of those surveyed reported they were successful at strategy execution. Of course, that leaves 48% in the also ran category.

Peeling back the onion, the failure at strategy execution is often linked to issues with identifying what needs to be done, communicating this throughout the organization, and leading the change via sound project management practices.

Beyond the pain of failure, you can add the well worn notion that “a mediocre strategy well executed is better than a great strategy poorly executed”.

Don’t simply hope for a good roll of the dice when it comes to effective strategy execution. You can dramatically improve your chances of success by following a systematic approach which leverages four key elements:

Three to five strategic initiatives
Everyone engaged and aligned
Leadership for each initiative
Refinements and course corrections

Let’s look closer at each of these four key elements.

1. Three to Five Strategic Initiatives

You cannot be effective with a weak foundation. You must start with three to five strategic initiatives which are the top priorities for achieving the vision of your organization.

Specifically, your executive leadership team needs to craft a strategy using a rigorous process which includes:

Stakeholder Input: This would include owners, executives, employees, customers, suppliers, and the communities where you operate. You can use surveys or meetings to collect feedback on how things are going and what could be a goal for the future. A “Line of Sight” survey is one great way to understand how well current strategy execution is going.
SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis: An objective assessment of your organization in terms of internal and external factors. Your leadership team needs to debate and rank the factors in these four categories.
Value Stream Assessment: The evaluation of your critical business processes and how you deliver value to your customers and other stakeholders. Your leadership team needs to have an open discussion on how well your processes meet customer expectations and how cost effective they are at delivering results.
Planning Retreat: A time for your executive team to debate and discuss the critical inputs; refine the vision, mission, and values for your organization; and then identify the three to five strategic initiatives required to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

This first element in effective strategy execution is critical. If you do not have a great strategy in terms of three to five well formulated strategic initiatives, then you have no chance at implementation.

For those without a foundation in place, you need your leadership team to step up and make the hard decisions about where your organization is going and how it will get there.

2. Everyone Engaged and Aligned

For those with a solid foundation and a good to great strategy, the next key element is to get everyone engaged with the vision, mission, and values and ready to help with the strategic initiatives. This involves:

Engage the Team: Taking the output from the executive planning retreat and communicating to everyone in a manner which generates excitement and commitment. Each strategic initiative needs to be clearly articulated, including the introduction of the executive sponsor responsible for ensuring success.
Implement the Stop List: Some initiatives will be new, while others will reflect programs and projects already in process. The big opportunity, for many organizations, is to evaluate current projects which do not align with the new initiatives and wind down these unaligned projects quickly. This will free up resources and send a message that the new strategy is the only game in town.
Measurement Workshops: Performance measurements need to be reviewed and aligned with driving behaviors which will take you where you want to go. The vision should have been developed in terms of a balanced scorecard and this will provide an excellent format for the review and adjustment of other performance measurements.

This second element in effective strategy execution gets everyone engaged and aligned. It is a powerful aspect which should not be underestimated. If you have three to five solid strategic initiatives which have not been communicated or you have not implemented the stop list, then your chances of success are minimal.

For those without an engaged team, you need to step back and accomplish the three items outlined above. The sooner, the better.

3. Leadership for Each Initiative

After everyone is engaged and aligned, the next key element is to take a disciplined approach to managing each strategic initiative. This disciplined approach includes:

Initiative Workshops: Each initiative begins with the executive sponsor directing the development of the business case and securing the resources in terms of people and other expenses required to succeed. There should be a formal launch meeting where the team is brought together to review the business case and develop a list of projects which will be required. An initiative is not one huge project which takes months or years to complete, It needs to be a combination of projects which run 60 to 90 days and deliver frequent incremental results.
Improvement Projects: All improvement projects need to be directly linked to and sponsored by one or more of the strategic initiatives. The scope for each project should be clearly defined and the project team should be organized for success. While the executive sponsor does not need to be intimately involved, they do need to support each project team and must be able to provide guidance and clear roadblocks.
Individual Plans: Most value added work comes from individuals working as part of a team. It is critical the action items for each project are assigned to the right individual and these people have the time, talent, tools, and desire to accomplish the task at hand. This includes actions such as pulling together a small group to brainstorm for solutions and implementing an improvement.

This third element is the workhorse when it comes to effective strategy execution. It as an absolute imperative for each strategic initiative to have a fully engaged executive sponsor. This does not mean the executive sponsor is in every project team meeting or they need to approve every decision. It does mean they are committed to success and have prioritized their workload accordingly.

For those without executive leadership for each strategic initiative, you need to step back and revisit your priorities. The best practice is to assign each strategic initiative to an executive sponsor without any individual having more than one.

4. Refinements and Course Corrections

Turning initiatives into projects with action items will get you going with a great start. Then, something changes and you need to react. You must have processes in place for the routine assessment of your progress and the ability to make course corrections to meet new challenges and new opportunities.

Performance Review Meetings: The balanced scorecard of performance measurements should be reviewed monthly. Those areas with poor performance require root cause analysis and development of action items to correct the root cause.
Quarterly Individual Plans: The action items and projects related to each strategic initiative should all be tied to individuals along with a quarterly review process. Success should be celebrated while issues with meeting deadlines will need root cause analysis. It is very common for people to over commit when creating their quarterly plan. They may be assigned too many projects and have too many action items. The quarterly review cycle is a great tool to ensure balance and maintain focus on what is important.
Quarterly Initiative Reviews: The status of all strategic initiatives should be reviewed once a quarter. There should be significant progress in terms of completed projects and new projects. This also provides an opportunity to adjust resources or react to changing conditions. Some propose you must be more flexible and make daily or hourly course corrections to your strategy. This seems excessive. While a major event could lead to the need for immediate change, most organizations would benefit from keeping a focus on their vision and letting people execute the action plans everyone believes in.

This fourth element could be the silver bullet in terms of effective strategy execution. A disciplined approach to routine reviews which allow for refinements and course corrections is absolutely essential.

For those without a system in place, you need to set up the structure outlined above and establish routines which promote the accomplishment of action items, projects, and strategic initiatives.

Summary – Strategy Development and Execution

Leveraging the four key elements of effective strategy execution will dramatically improve your chances of success.

We began with the depressing situation where 95% of employees are not engaged and most strategies fail.

The imperative for all organizations is to take a systematic approach to strategy execution which involves:

Three to five well defined strategic initiatives
Everyone engaged and aligned with the vision and initiatives
Executive leadership for each initiative
Refinements and course corrections along the way

Mike Loughrin

Mike Loughrin is the CEO and Founder of Transformance Advisors. He also teaches for Louisiana State University Shreveport and is on the board of directors for the Association for Supply Chain Management Northern Colorado.

Mike brings exceptional experience in industry, consulting services, and education. Mike has helped organizations such as Levi Strauss, Warner Home Video, Lexmark, and Sweetheart Cup.

Keeping a commitment to a balanced life, Mike loves downhill skiing, bicycle rides, and hiking in the mountains. See one of his trails of the month at: Little Switzerland.