The Art of Strategy Activation

One of the benefits of being a consultant is that you see many clients try to do something similar over and over again. You develop a sense of what works and what doesn’t. You build mental patterns and algorithms that guide the advice you provide.

As a strategy consultant, I’ve seen a lot of strategy developed and lots of companies work to implement it. And it’s never easy. The old adages that execution is hard and that culture eats strategy for breakfast reflect that difficulty.

But while the difficulties are real, they are not insurmountable.? And while there are many things that can go wrong, they should not be excuses for failing to lead.

In this issue of Luck Hacker, I’m going to assume you’ve built a great strategy and focus on the problem of overcoming the gap between strategic planning and strategy execution.

A younger and less experienced me would tell you to communicate, communicate, communicate.? And you will probably still hear that advice frequently.

The more experienced me has come to believe that trying to “execute” strategy is a flawed notion to start with. It implies that we know what we want people to do, and they just need to do it. In the abstract world of C-suite strategy, that may seem to make sense, but organizations are not machines; they are more like complex enactive systems filled with people dealing with the messy realities of life and making it up as they go.

Rather than trying to force execution, we should help strategy unfold in good directions by creating the conditions that catalyze a social movement infused with strategy.

Creating a movement takes much more than communication; it requires activation.?

Strategy needs to be jump-started with energy and action.? It needs a burst of activation energy to overcome inertia and catalyze a living strategic movement.

Three Principles for Strategy Activation

When it comes to activating strategy, I’ve found three ideas that help:

• Everybody has a different starting point.
• Local leadership has more influence than central leadership.
• Actions speak louder than words.?

Everybody has a different starting point:? Your employees are the market for your strategy.? Some will be eager and early adopters wondering what took you so long to get your act together.? At the other extreme, some will be active resistors who think your strategy is bad for them and maybe bad for the business. In between, you will find the bulk of your employees. Most of these will tell you they’re on board, but their actions will not align with their words. They will be largely passive for one reason or another. They’re playing the waiting game.? They want to see what happens before they commit.

To effectively communicate with people, you need to reach them where they are, not where you are.? Your communication needs to be segmented and designed to match the needs of your audience.

Local leadership has more influence than central leadership. Human beings have strong tribal instincts as a result of evolutionary, psychological, and social factors. This instinct towards group formation and loyalty plays a crucial role in our survival and development as a species.

These local groups will each have their own leadership that sets the norms that we follow. These norms set the standard for local behavior. Like actors in a play, we adopt behaviors consistent with our perceived roles within these social systems.

This is the real leadership group in your company.? They have the power to make or break your strategy.? Help them see how their goals are connected to your goals. Make them your allies. Recruit them to your cause.

Actions speak louder than words:? I’m not sure who said what gets measured gets managed, but it’s just not true.? Lots of things that get measured never get managed.? The things that get managed are things our leaders pay attention to.

Our actions communicate in a way that words never can.?

As human beings, we routinely say one thing and do another. And this is so common that our fellow humans play the game with us. We know that what really matters will get expressed through action not words.

Make action the way you communicate. Surgically identify key behaviors that need to change. Pilot your strategy.? Let people see the new behaviors in action.? Let the results speak for you.

Activating Strategy

Integrating these principles in a way that makes sense for your context can help you catalyze a social movement that brings your strategy to life. Here are a couple of examples that should help you see what I mean:

1. ?A large manufacturing company recognized that the strength of their reseller network was critical to their success, but their historic practices of nationwide dealer improvement programs did not move the needle. They needed to localize the improvement programs to make them specific to the local context. They piloted this new strategy under the moniker of “Localization” in one of their regions. The point person for dealer relations was upgraded from a new hire to a seasoned executive. The executive was resourced and empowered to design custom programs for the dealers where improvement would make the most difference. This pilot created a highly visible showcase for what the new strategy looked like, how it would work, and the benefits it delivered.? It didn’t take long before the other 10 regional managers were asking to be next in line. In the end, rather than having to force the strategy on people, the employees pulled the strategy into effect.
2. ?A mid-sized equipment manufacturer wanted to restructure their go-to-market strategy from highly transactional to large annual program accounts. Rather than trying to broadly roll out the strategy, they identified the region where it would have the most impact.? They set up a sales PMO for that region, restructured the sales and sales support organization, replaced sales commissions with team-based bonuses, built up client development and account acquisition processes, and revamped KPIs and the overall sales management process. In essence, they made the strategy work on a small scale. They showed the rest of the organization what was possible and how to do it. They made success something that others wanted to replicate. At this point, strategy execution became helping people do what they already wanted to do.

Making it Work

Remember that your strategy is an abstraction that needs to be translated into real-life action.

It’s your starting point. And the possibilities for making it work are endless.

But don’t do it on your own. Enlist those local leaders in your cause.

Ask them to help you figure out how to pilot your strategy.

Connect to them. Listen to their reality. Curate their recommendations.

Help them activate the strategy and bring it to life. When their actions speak for the strategy, your people might be ready to listen.

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Source: https://www.alexnesbitt.com/articles/the-art-of-strategy-activation/