Mastering Strategy Execution

Succesful strategy execution or strategy implementation is essential for the success of any organization. The successful implementation of strong and robust strategies gives any organization a significant competitive edge. However, most organizations fail at strategy execution. Strategy execution is highly complex and hard. The strategic management literature has traditionally focused on strategy formulation when the real challenge lies in strategy execution.

#7 in How do we create a High Performance Culture?

Top Performing Companies Make Strategy Live

Research has shown that Strategy Execution is the top priority for CEOs.

So how do we make a strategy really come to life and have a realistic chance of success?

Which Types of Goals Are Worth Measuring, And Which Aren't?

Goals ain't goals. There's not really a single and definitive application of this word. And one messy consequence of this is that when we go to measure our goals, we can end up with very trivial and useless measures.

Here are four basic types of goals: actions, milestones, targets and results. I've seen all four used in strategic and business plans. And the amount of frustration people have with the meaningfulness of their performance measures is directly related to which type of goal they are setting.

Leading Performance Without a Title

Modern-day wisdom says that nothing changes without leadership from the top. And that's the excuse many give for not pursuing the changes they know are desperately needed. Performance measurement is one of these changes that is desperately needed, but rarely driven from the top.

Despite this modern-day wisdom, there is overwhelming evidence in support of the idea that anyone can be a leader, no matter their title or position or education or connections.

Let's hold this to be true. Let's explore what it might take to lead a performance measurement culture from deep within the bowels of your organisation, where right now you might be suffocating and stumbling around in the dark, waiting for the senior leadership team to open the doors and switch on the lights.

Managing risks and controlling costs, it’s a question of culture.

Risk, according to one dictionary definition, is

“The possibility of suffering harm or loss”.

Failing to manage risk hits the bottom line; contrary to widely held opinion there is no conflict between managing safety and quality and maintaining profitability. Relying on regulation, supervision and box ticking is extremely expensive and is not wholly effective; it is the decisions that people take “at the coal face” that affect results, and corporate culture and management behaviours influence those decisions. As Aristotle succinctly observed in 300BC,

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”

How to Help People Measure Results, Not Activity

Measure Up reader, Kenneth, works in a hospital and has this measurement challenge: "Different people want to follow up on different things. The nurses, for example, think it is crucial to follow up on how many phone calls they answer. I reckon it is because they want evidence to show management how they spend their time at work. But I do not think this is a critical KPI or success factor for our hospital. How do I draw the line? Do I need to draw the line? How can you get all people to accept this? The bigger question here might be: Who should have access to KPIs?"

Let's start with an answer to Kenneth's last question: Everyone should have access to KPIs. Everyone needs feedback on how well their efforts and collaborations are getting the intended results, and contributing to the hospital's strategic direction.

How to link Reward to your Business Goals

A new benefits strategy can revolutionise the way that your employees are managed, encouraged and incentivised. Yet many companies fail to recognise that if you get your Reward System right then Employees become much more focused on their own performance. If staff know what they need to do to achieve business goals and, crucially, how they can improve their own package by being more productive – you’ve cracked it.

The constant change that surrounds most industry sectors these days requires that you regularly review your business goals and it makes sense to review the Reward Systems at the same time. I can’t go into all the ins and outs of the process in this short blog (you will have to hire me for that) but I will give you a few things to consider

How to implement your strategy....

By Stuart Ross - High Growth

After completing a strategy process, a lot of managing directors I work with are tempted to breathe a sigh of relief. However, if you think going through the process of discussing strategy and creating a plan means it will magically be implemented, think again. Only 10% of companies implement their strategy successfully.

A few years ago, Fortune Magazine published a surprising statistic that stated only 10% of employees understand their company’s strategy. If employees don’t understand their company’s strategy, how can they possibly be expected to implement it? Strategy implementation requires its own effort and plan of action. The following three steps will help you start this process:

Innovation is Meaningless!

  

Recent research by a large multinational organisation concluded that the word ‘innovation’ has become so overused that it no longer has any useful meaning for their customers. Indeed, it is positively damaging because the perception is that ‘innovation’ is rather boring incremental stuff. Imagination is no longer part of the organisational psyche.

This aligns very well with my own experience and a number of you will have heard me banging on about how ‘labels’, such as ‘vision’ and ‘mission’ are very powerful when applied as they were intended.

#6 in How do we create a High Performance Culture?

Avoiding the Strategy Gap

High performing organisations tend to have one thing in common – they have a strategy, but more importantly they know how to execute that strategy.

Knowing what to do does not necessarily on its own lead to success. Having a strategy without the ability to implement it, to make it a reality, is also all too common. I call this the Strategy Gap. The result is unfulfilled expectations and all too often a falling out around the Board Room table! So what can be done to “mind the gap”?