The Secrets to Successful Strategy Execution May Not Be What You Think

As the CEO or Member of the Executive Team, Your Strategy Execution Success Is Directly Connected to the Level of Employee Engagement

I was sharing the secrets to successful strategy execution over coffee with a Vice-President friend of mine recently.  He was sharing his frustrations with his team’s execution of their strategy.  He was confident the strategy itself was correct with where they wanted to take the company.  The issue was, “everyone gets busy with daily tasks and issues and does not spend time working on the strategy”.  This is more common an issue than most may think.

A recent survey found 70%+ of strategy executions FAILED to achieve a “Very Successful Rating” from their leader.  Furthermore, 61% of executives said their “strategy is disconnected from daily execution”.  Do either of these issues sound familiar in your company?

Based on 25+ years of personal experience coupled with our research of some of the best companies in the world, we have identified the key elements of highly successful strategy executions year over year.   I am in the process of co-authoring a guide titled, Rocket Your Strategy Execution Results: The Comprehensive Guide to Strategy Development & Execution For Your Company where we share the details that I am introducing to you to today.

We have incorporated these elements within our proven and proprietary system re-enforced by a structured coaching and mentoring approach that yields outstanding results.  We refer to this as our Strategy Engagement Execution^TM Methodology (SEE^TM). Our Time-Phased Strategy Engagement Execution^TM approach is a powerful vehicle to help you drive better results through a methodology to increase focus and accountability.

The 4 elements common in high strategy execution success are: point of impact engagement, clear ownership and empowerment, metric driven action plans, and comprehensive problem solving.

Point of impact engagement

Point of impact engagement cascades each of your strategic initiatives down to the lowest level in the organization that experiences the greatest impact.  This point of impact leader (also known as accountable metric owner) then engages his team to drive the strategic initiative.

When this occurs you maximize the ownership of the solution while optimizing the deliverable.  You should expect this optimal result as it correlates to the understanding that the people doing the job know the nuances and when engaged will help your leader implement the strategy.

Clear ownership and empowerment,

Clear ownership and empowerment intertwines with the first element.  Clearly defining ownership/accountability and empowering the accountable metric owner provides focus for each of your initiatives.  Successfully integrating this element requires that senior leadership is fully on-board with supporting the delegation of the strategic initiatives and supportive of empowering the accountable metric owner.

We have found that success in this area sometimes requires helping your senior leaders shift their thinking and approach to foster the desired empowerment environment and in some cases, breaking their bad habits that get in the way of empowering your lower level leaders.

Metric driven action plans

Action plans are core to your execution success.  What makes these action plans hum is adding a correlation between each action in the plan and impact to the metric tied to the strategic initiative.

Many organizations struggle with this the first year due to the new approach.  When this happens you should expect your senior leadership, and especially your finance team, to spend more time coaching and mentoring your action plan owners.  Once the action plans are complete and connected to their metric movements, then we are ready for our regular updates and the integration of the last element common in high strategy execution.

Comprehensive problem solving

This last element facilitates your action plan owner’s critical thinking and problem solving skills.  When the action plans do not move the metrics as planned or the timeline shifts, it requires the Accountable Metric Owner to determine the root cause and define corrective actions to get the results back on plan.

The important aspect of this element is to focus on evolving the thinking, which will then develop better proactive decision making to avoid the misses in the future.  Also, when your strategy execution is integrated into daily activities you should expect to see both quick problem solving occurring in addition to the comprehensive problem solving where needed.

Conclusion

In this blog I shared the summary of our research, our personal experiences, and personal interactions.  We describe the critical few attributes common in successful strategy execution programs.

After studying and understanding the methods great companies use, we created an integrated methodology that incorporates the best of the best.  We combined these attributes with Win Enterprises’ decades of experience to define what we call Win’s Strategy Engagement Execution^TM (SEE^TM) methodology. I invite you to download our resources to help you on your journey.

My goal is to help you elevate your strategy execution within your company, which will accelerate your journey to higher sales and better profits. I want you to be in the top 30% who enjoy a super successful strategy execution and the results that go with it!

About the Author: David Tweedt

David Tweedt is President of Win Enterprises, LLC. He helps visionary business leaders create a sustainable performance focused organization focused on profit growth. Win’s proven strategy and execution process integrates the inner game (Science of Success) with cutting edge business transformation strategies with a goal of doubling your profits.

Industry-Leading Guarantee:  Our commitment to you:  When you follow our recommendations, your annual Return on Investment will be greater than 100% your investment with us or we’ll keep working with you until it is.

David is also contributing author of the National Best Selling Book – Elite Business Systems: Insider Strategies of Industry Leading Consultants & International Best Selling Book – Lightening Growth: Success Strategies for Today’s Leaders.

If you are not achieving the results you want, then contact David to learn more about how he and his team can help you maximize your results. Learn more at www.CompleteBusinessTransformation.com Contact David: Support@CompleteBusinessTransformation.com