The Devil's in the details

I used to get really excited when I hear that someone, a company or a Government agency hired a management consulting firm to formulate their strategy .

I was like "wow", these guys are figuring out something. They are planning this right. They're making their future and building something with a process. Taking the time for deep thoughts and 360 review of customers, markets and trends.

But all the sudden, with my subconscious that was influenced by the many years of conducting consulting, audits and assessments with the image of piles and piles of papers representing a well articulated and thought of reports, I get back my allergy just by thinking of how much dust was accumulated on those inks.

My firm belief on Strategy came from my resentment on the people I interact with almost on a daily basis. I see people focus on day to day operations. It is extremely important but it doesn't give you the leverage to sit back for a minute and think about the future or how to glue things together inside and outside the organization.

But then, I started formulating some profiles on people I usually interact with, people who are visionaries, the ones who are smart or pretend to be, who like to sit high on the ladder thinking that the World can be changed with glossy, colorful and number crunching documents/presentations. On the other hand you have those people who like to see things done, they have to touch it, feel it and see real results not just talks.

Enter Execution.

So if we all know it is important to Plan and Strategize. and we know we need to Do and Act. why we keep saying Strategies fail, consultants are ripping us off and by the time we approve our strategy, we only figure out that the world has already changed again.

There is a chasm between these two groups. They seldom communicate. They do talk actually but unfortunately, it is a one way channel. Either the ones on the highs of the ladder give instructions and orders or the ones below shout with problems and issues.

So when a strategy is performed for the right reasons, we need to ensure we have a system to support it. With due respect, a strategy is only a piece of paper until it is executed. It needs life through people taking those initiatives and implementing it.

Those details are the devil. I see a lot of the strategists getting no interest in those details. They believe their job ends with the smart part but getting their hands dirty isn't their job. They take the glamour but refuse the responsibilities.

Resistance, change management and transformation efforts come as a package and here you need a system to support your initiatives. Feedback, follow-ups are easy and simple tools and yet with great results. Tell me about ROIs. With simple tools and clear accountability, you can easily execute your strategies.