Strategy without execution is just hallucination.
I once stated at a company town hall that “Vision without execution is just hallucination” and I believe the same rings true about strategy. A good strategy, unless it’s executed properly, remains only a good strategy. Execution is where everything comes together, or goes completely off the rails.
Strategy is Easy. Execution is hard.
I read an article titled “Strategy is EASY. Execution is HARD” by retail and technology strategist, Avi Mizrahi. Oh how true that statement is.
A recent survey of more than 400 global CEOs found that executional excellence was the number one challenge facing corporate leaders in Asia, Europe, and the United States, heading a list of some 80 issues, and studies have found that two-thirds to three-quarters of large organizations struggle to implement their strategies.
Books and articles on strategy outnumber those on execution by an order of magnitude. If you search the books section on Amazon.com for “execution” you get about 12,600 results, for “strategy” you get about 230,000.
Throughout my career, I have had countless people tell me how strategic they are; how they want to do more strategic things at work; and how their greatest skill is strategy. In fact, as Mizrahi points out, according to LinkedIn, “strategic” is one of the most over used words in profiles. “Execution” doesn’t even make the LinkedIn list of buzzwords.
Execution is hard, but smart leaders and successful companies do it, and do it well — it’s what sets the winners apart from the losers.
Strategy execution is a leader’s responsibility
Above all else, as corporate leaders, we need to take responsibility for strategy execution. We can’t “set it and forget it.” The ability to get individuals and teams of people focused on the right outcomes to achieve your corporate goals is flat out hard. Not every leader has the ability to do it, not on their own anyway. Leading strategy execution requires setting yourself up for success in these five ways that Mizrahi and I agree on.
1. Make accountability a core principle
Accountability is a cultural attribute and is not something that is achieved overnight. It must be a deep part of the DNA of the company and committed to by the leadership team and the entire organization. We’ve embedded accountability into our guiding principles at Leonardo. Accountability is embedded into the five principles that guide our everyday decisions and the way we approach our work.
2. Design strategy with execution in mind
It is interesting how organizations typically create strategic plans from a top-down approach. It is often secretive, involves external consultants and, when complete, is pushed down through the organization. It’s pretty clear why this approach is a recipe for failure.
We should really be involving and soliciting teams of people on the front lines and taking the time to experience what employees are describing. Transparency, cross-team collaboration and bottom-up activities can only help achieve strategy execution excellence.
3. Stick to simplicity, clarity and focus
I love this quote “Sometimes the more you try to do, the less you will accomplish.” I too believe we overcomplicate strategy development. A strategy does not require a dozen goals and a multi-year implementation plan in order to be great.
Sticking to one to three big goals is adequate for a 12-month period. It is key, however, that the goals you want to achieve will bring the biggest impact to your business and the objectives are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Sensitive). Framing your goals and objectives in this way will improve understanding and commitment within the organization.
4. Start looking at lead measures
We are generally pretty good at measuring what has happened — monthly or quarterly sales results, conversion rates, Net Promoter Score (NPS) — they have already happened and are pretty easy to report on. But, what about the plans and actions that are needed in order to yield these results? Why aren’t we measuring the number of:
- calls a rep made in order to make a sale,
- customers that have activated their accounts,
- downloads of a white paper?
These are all measures that lead to a result, and they’re often overlooked. When I started using lead measures, I noticed a significant change in employee performance.
5. Measure progress with simple metrics
We hear it all the time “what gets measured gets done.” Making things easy to measure and track progress is important. People are visual and we like to physically see progress, so find a simple way to help your team visualize their progress. My teams use a traffic light theme, including red, yellow and green traffic lights to indicate status.
Don’t throw strategic planning out the window
I’m not telling you to forget about strategic planning. It is important. It provides the roadmap to what needs to be done and why. However, from my experience, having a clear and measurable path to executing the strategy is the difference between success and failure.
For years, I have been using a strategic planning process called GOSPA. The acronym stands for Goals, Objectives, Strategies, Plans and Actions. Using the GOSPA process improves communication, control, morale, measurement and performance through a set of simple, easy to implement steps. Key to the process is clarity around the definition of words (this, in my opinion, is the failure of many management processes).
Goals
A goal is something we aim to achieve, an end result. For example, quality service, market leadership, number one sales person, or employer of choice. Our goals are our motivations.
Objectives
An objective is a deliverable, it is measurable and within a timeframe. For example, $23 million in sales by year-end, ten sales meetings held per month, or 90% staff utilization per month.
Strategies
Strategies are how we are going to achieve our goals, these are what we should do. For example, implement a quality review process, add extra product functionality, or increase product marketing in a particular vertical. Strategies support objectives.
Plans
Plans are specific elements of the strategy. They are what we are going to do in the short-term (next 30 days) to move the strategy forward. For example, select a marketing agency by the end of October or complete the product specification by the end of October. Plans support Strategies.
Actions
Actions are day-to-day activities and are specific details of a plan. For example, connect with Bill at ABC Marketing Services. Actions support Plans.
Mizrahi cites a similar framework within the slide deck in the article — his terminology is Goals, Outcomes, Strategies, Actions and Tasks[1] and in reading his examples, they are essentially the same elements as GOSPA. The point being, you need a planning framework that links the goals all the way through to the activities that employees are going to be executing on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly basis.
So, there you have — it it’s not simply having a good idea that separates marketplace winners from losers — it’s possessing the ability to execute. Or, as I have said before “Strategy without execution is just hallucination”.
[1] https://medium.com/@AviMizrahi_TO/strategy-is-easy-execution-is-hard-these-5-steps-will-improve-your-results-39d2a3ae8e72#.6s683c1le
