70% of strategies fail to deliver because they fail to move from paper to people.
As a result, every Monday through Friday in an organization looks something like this:
Note that this is happening in a climate that is generally considered challenging, all the time, everywhere.
Competition Won’t Kill You, Lack of Alignment Will
Most people can’t recall the strategy of the organization they work for. Even the executives and managers responsible for strategy struggle, with one study reporting that only 28% of them could list three strategic priorities.
To make matters worse, most top teams fail to agree among themselves on company-wide priorities. For the typical organization, just over half of senior executives converge on the same list of strategic objectives (same MIT study as above). This is not a measure of whether the team members were committed to achieving strategic priorities; it’s a measure of whether they agreed on what they were.
Crappy Communication (there is no other way to say it):
Just because you say it, does not mean you are heard or understood and a video wall at the entrance and posters on an elevator is not internal communication
Wads of money are spent on brand advertising while announcements of a corporate strategy are a ticked-off to-do with a nod to effort. Just like ad campaigns, you want to influence behavior. Make sure your internal comms efforts are up to the task.
Find your audience, the ones that will influence the rest.
Luke Warm Commitment:
If the leadership is aligned and communication is well executed, then what? Business units and teams need a kickstart and ongoing support in knowing what’s next. Strategies are approved but poorly communicated and even more poorly integrated. This makes the translation of strategy into specific action all but impossible or at best painful.
People don’t know what they need to do, when they need to do it, or what resources will be required to deliver the performance.
Each key function needs support from senior management in answering the question, ‘how can our department’, business units or function play a role in delivering on the vision of management.
No Traction and Visible Results:
Proof points and specific success cases need to get off the ground. Successful strategy execution is most visible in the successful execution of projects.