How do you execute your strategy across different levels?

The purpose of the organization describes a higher value, an intention to make the world a better place, to elevate the human condition. This provides your people with a guiding direction, it helps investors to make strategic rather than purely financial decisions, it attracts and retains the loyalty of devoted customers, employees and partners. Translate purpose to your contemporary objectives. “We intend to achieve the premiere market position in X, earning a reputation of Y, by Z target date.” To pursue your objective and promote your purpose, strategy poses two questions: where will we choose to compete, and how will we seek to win.

Start with the end in mind, and that includes the end outcome, the end “users”, and the end “stakeholders”. Most importantly, definition of strategy must start with execution in mind - and with those who are going to help you execute the strategy involved. People will not care about your strategy - unless they know you care about how it affects them. -The end outcome: what would the ideal new reality with this new strategy look like? -The end “users” and end “stakeholders”: how might this affect your clients, your business partners and your front line team members? What are some potential incentives and drawbacks that will affect each of their adoption?

Strategy is a holistic approach to driving direction for an organization. This means understanding the people, technology, processes, macro conditions, competitive landscape, etc. But none of that matters as much as understanding your target customers (ideal customer persona's), their needs, and their pain points. Only then can you choose what needs to be built and where to focus time ans resources.

Think across people, patrons, products, practices and partners. What does strategy mean for all these stakeholders and who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed. Drive this through effective communication and systems in place.

You need to consider all stakeholders in your strategy and how this will affect them. It should spell out clearly what you are setting out to do and what the expected goal is. Communicating it clearly is key so that everyone can understand and be clear about what is expected of them.

One area we often miss in communicating strategy is exactly how our teams will interpret what is being communicated. Different people, teams, and modes of communication will dictate how you tactfully communicate change. The message needs to be aimed at the proper audience and communicated with the utmost care and authentic genuine interest. Strategizing how it will be interpreted ahead of change will help you prepare for the inevitable miscommunication or gossip mill that might ensue. Always invite people to give opinions to show that you understand their concerns.

For each group, follow the 20/80 rule: -20% on the core strategy (What, Why, How) -80% on 1) How their voices have been incorporated into the strategy: 2) How they are going to be specifically impacted by the strategy; 3) What support and incentives systems are being put in place to help them execute the strategy.

The most critical step for communication is getting buy in from stakeholders and the teams themselves. Effective communication isn't done through different channels eg blogs, social media as mentioned above. Effective communication requires aligning the leadership and organization as a whole then breaking into smaller teams or 1:1 coaching to discuss strategic changes and Tactically, how they'll be implemented. Each team must take ownership to execute against the communicated strategy. Otherwise the strategy is just noise.

Leadership is influence. Your communication should influence others to join you in the effort- if it does not, then your communication needs to change.

Also keep in mind that, as leaders, we get super excited about strategy and vision, but by the time that vision reaches all levels of the organization, it is often in the form of another project on someone's to-do list. Would you rather... ?? Implement a client portal? OR ?? Improve the client experience by creating self-service options for the top five support issues? Find ways to incorporate your "WHY" with a sprinkle of inspiration. Your team will be more engaged if they feel they are contributing to something bigger.

The word “cascade” implies a top-down style which may or may not apply to your particular organization. If you have been proactive in engaging all your end “users” and “stakeholders” in your “Definition” and “Communication”, then “Cascading” should feel more like a two-way feedback loop of “based on what you all shared, here’s what we collectively come up with - now let’s break them down into smaller achievable goals for everyone.”

It's important for each team and individual to understand how to Tactically execute the communicated strategy. SMART goals only work when there is aligned focus on the outcomes needed - - short, medium, and long term. Of more importance is that people take on ownership and responsibility for effective execution. Don't TELL people what to do. SHOW them an art of the possible future state and give them the autonomy to run.

Beyond "roles and responsibilities, resources and budgets, and timelines and milestones," it's important to understand and take into consideration the current processes, norms, priorities, challenges, incentives (e.g., commissions, performance reviews, recognition, bonuses, etc.) that exist at the different levels of an organization. Ignoring these aspects can prevent the success/adoption of the strategy or add significant friction. Typically, it's important to know about these aspects before creating the strategy, too, particularly in complex organizations.

Beware of the bubble: - the top executives know what is going on - the rest of the firm exists in the bubble - thinking they are delivering the mission and living the vision - be transparent about your progress against the strategy - make sure managers at all levels deliver a consistent message

By the time it comes down to execution, each team member should have been empowered to act as the CEO of their own OKRs under the same core strategy. The most important task of the leader then is simply to ensure and enforce the right support and incentive/penalty system to inspire alignment among outcomes, behaviors and the strategy.

The strategy should be delivered as a series of processes: - focus on how to do things - improve the process quarter-by-quarter - document results to share successes - demonstrate success at company meetings The outcomes will follow if you keep improving the process.

Provide guidelines on what success looks like. Continuously coach and give feedback. Be involved in the teams' success so they don't feel like they're sailing a shit into the abyss. Communication and transparency are key. Cross functionally praise success and recognize failures as opportunities for growth.

Above all - drive transparency and accountability of: -Progress on OKRs -Incentive alignment (rewards and recognitions) -Lessons learned and mitigations

Oftentimes you won't have KPIs or quantifiable metrics to constantly measure success of a strategy. It truly depends on what goals are to be achieved. If they cannot be measured, then qualitative impact needs to be recorded and assessed. There are often organizational impacts that drive positive change but aren't recorded quantifiably. When that's the case recognize where you were VS where you are. AND if you do have quantifiable metrics... Let the teams know what the expectations are and what they are measured against. All too often teams feel they performed extremely well but then leadership is distraught with that team... Because the perceptions of success metrics were different but never communicated.

If you fall short of targets: - revisit the process - where can it be improved - who is responsible - when will they deliver - how will this be reported Repeat this process regularly.

Improve each process step-by-step. 1% gains add up over time. Remember to review what worked well on top of what disappointed, as every process will be improved with: - new knowledge - new technology - competition