Strategy Is Easy. Execution Is Everything

Strategy is easy. Execution is not.

We know the drill – executive teams bunker down for a week and produce a strategy that will lead the organization forward to unheard of heights for the next year or three. Come the end of year review, so many elements have not been implemented or accomplished.

Most organisations can produce a strategy deck. Far fewer can turn it into changed behaviour, different decisions, and measurable results.

This is part of the reason why many studies point to only between 30% and 40% of organisations are able to fully implement their strategies. Many organisations often struggle to bridge strategy and day-to-day implementation.

The conclusion is that most strategies fail to deliver not because they are bad or poor strategies but because they are simply not executed. Shaun Barnes, Group Head: Remuneration and Diagnostic Services at 21st Century, shares insight into what can be done to avoid this high percentage:

1)      Don’t write a strategy with 20 objectives. Too many executive teams fall into this trap. While the process of strategy formulation occurs, the fear increases that anything left out of the strategy will signal poor management. The opposite is true. Effective strategy implementation requires trade-offs and prioritisation.

Organisations should limit themselves to 3-5 “must-wins”.  If everything is a priority, nothing is. If the leadership approves a long shopping list of strategic objectives, it becomes impossible to measure, manage, and fund them properly.

The second must-do is that each objective must be clearly defined and written. Don’t use vague goals like “be the best employer” without defining what will change (e.g., retention in scarce roles, time-to-productivity). This links to the old adage of “you can’t manage what you can’t measure”.

If this isn’t done, when the time comes for the cascading of goals throughout the organisation, this will become vague and undoable.

2)      Don’t assume “alignment” happens. A strategy always has to be converted into plain work. A strategy deck doesn’t tell people what to do differently each week. Each objective must be converted into clear and concise into measures, initiatives and operating changes (what we’ll stop/start doing routinely).

Templates to allocate, plan and measure should be simple and understandable. Shared ownership should be avoided as this usually means nobody owns it. Lack of clear sponsorship and ownership is a known execution killer.

3)      Don’t confuse activity with progress. Many initiatives look frantic and busy and produce reams of paperwork but still fail. Each objective should have outcome measures (which are lagging) such as revenue, retention, client satisfaction etc., as well as leading indicators such as behaviours and inputs required. This requires careful thought as to what inputs an objective requires to achieve the set goal.

Don’t let initiatives run for months without evidence the needle is moving. If leading indicators don’t improve, change the approach early.

A further consideration on this theme is the opposite: to not let inaction affect execution. Don’t run strategy reviews quarterly only. Cadence in business terms is defined as how often a regularly scheduled thing happens. One of the biggest practical differences between good planners and good executors is cadence. The establishment of a monthly strategy execution forum with a standard scorecard (one page), traffic light status (red/amber/green status) and a noting of decisions made is far more effective than a convoluted project plan that is monitored quarterly.

4)       Avoid the temptation to slip back into trying to do everything. Resources need to be matched to priorities. Execution fails when strategy is not backed by real resource shifts. It is important to run a capacity check (especially for critical skills). If required, budgets and talent need to be reallocated to achieve objectives.

This might include having to stop or delay certain workstreams. Have the confidence to make the trade-offs and implement these, instead of still trying to achieve objectives while trying to keep everything else going can be the difference between execution and failure. Don’t approve initiatives without people who can actually deliver them. An important consideration is also not to expect “after-hours execution.” That’s a recipe for burnout and poor quality.

5)      Don’t announce change and hope for buy-in. Execution is behaviour change at scale. That requires change management, not just communication. This requires building a change plan around barriers and wins, identifying bottlenecks and barriers and removing them as well as ensuring early or short-term wins to generate momentum and buy-in.

This includes ensuring leaders have decision rights, dashboards, routines; managers have coaching guides, toolkits and training and employees have clear expectations and simple processes. Don’t underestimate middle management. If managers aren’t equipped, strategy dies in the middle.

6)      Don’t let performance management drift away from strategy, wire it in. If strategy is not reflected in goals, incentives, and consequences, it becomes optional. There must be alignment between performance goals and objectives. Scorecards and goals should include a small set of strategic outcomes.

By the same token, don’t put too many KPIs in everyone’s scorecard. People will game the system or ignore it. Also avoid the trap of only rewarding individual performance if the strategy requires cross-functional delivery.

7)      Have strategic governance for implementation but don’t let the governance become the implementation. Cross-functional work breaks down because decisions are unclear. Steering or other committees can provide proper governance but don’t let proper governance consume all the time required for actual execution and implementation. Don’t let committees become a substitute for decisions.

It must be remembered that execution is a leadership habit, not just a document. As mentioned, strategy failure is often blamed on the strategy itself, but execution-focused work reminds us that strategies frequently fail because the organisation can’t or doesn’t execute them—due to realism gaps, unclear priorities, and lack of follow-through.

Rather execute properly and join the 30-40%.

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