Empowering Teams: The key to successful strategy execution

Should there be only one strategy for a company?? Andrea Belk Olson, writing in the Harvard Business Review contends that “strategy is a team activity, whereby multiple groups contribute to its success”.? Indeed, high-level strategy statements can have many ways of being implemented. Allowing teams to outline what the organization’s strategy means for the team and how they can put it action, provides for a more relevant framework to act upon, opens opportunities for change and innovation and allows for better inter-team collaboration and coordination.

In what I consider to be the five stages of goal setting, Strategy (our game plan) comes after establishing Mission (why we exist), identifying Values (what we believe in) and creating Vision (what we want to be) with the outcomes of strategy being managed and measured through OKRs and/or KPIs.? For a team to be a high-performance team, it therefore needs to ensure that its own game plan is fully aligned with the company’s overall strategy. This clarity can be achieved by clearly defining the outcome(s) the team needs to achieve, its remit and its strengths in executing the strategy.

For a team leader, this implies that they need to have a full understanding of the organization’s strategy to be able to clearly communicate it to team members, helping to answer the question as to why the team exists (its purpose). This understanding and clear communication are essential for the team to ensure that the team’s strategic goals align with organizational objectives and enables each team member to link their role to the achievement of organisational goals.

What are the actions, therefore, needed for a team leader to ensure the proper execution of the organisation’s strategy? The following are key:

1.????? Facilitate with the team the development of the team’s strategy statement which is succinct (ideally in not more than thirty words) and clearly sets out in a simple way what needs to be achieved and its alignment with organization’s goals.

2.????? Consistently communicate with team members to ensure that they all have the same understanding and interpretation of the strategy statement and understand their role and expected contribution.

3.????? Ensure that there is a clear understanding of each member’s role and responsibilities.? Here, constructing a RACI (responsibility, accountability, consulted, informed) matrix for the team supports greater empowerment and faster decision-making.

4.????? Create clear and objective measures to ensure that the team is on track in its execution and achievement of overall organizational goals. In general, the purpose of the team is for its outcomes to contribute to the organization’s overall goals. For example, using a system of OKRs would establish what the team needs to achieve, by when, and interdependencies with the work of other teams.

5.????? Team learning is crucial for the team to better understand how it can be more efficient and effective.? Team leaders should use team learning sessions to also foster a strategic mindset among team members and to reflect on how their actions are aligned with the overall strategy. ?Providing the space for critical thinking and innovation helps to involve team members in the team’s strategy setting and review process, giving room for empowerment and greater commitment.

6.????? Team leaders need to be adept at navigating trade-offs and facilitating the prioritization of actions and allocation of resources to support the achievement of goals. One of the teams I was asked to coach was very enthusiastic in undertaking projects proposed by different team members which, though aligned with overall strategy, were when taken together, beyond the capacity of the team to execute effectively. The team leader was coached to support them in facilitating a process to prioritize the various projects: this was no mean feat considering that such projects were team member’s “babies” which were all crying for attention.

7.????? Finally, and at the expense of stating the obvious, team leaders need to ensure that the team has the necessary capabilities to execute the strategy. This involves not only ensuring that the team has real support from the organization (time, information, equipment, etc) but also its development through training, development programmes, coaching and greater interpersonal awareness.

According to Professor Robert Kaplan, up to 90% of organizations struggle with successful strategy execution. However, a PwC study revealed that companies dedicating more time and effort to strategy execution are three times more likely to achieve above-average growth and twice as likely to attain above-average profits compared to those that do not. Ensuring that organizations foster a strategic mindset, which allows for teams to be aligned and empowered, increases the probability of strategies being successfully executed.

"The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Peter Drucker

Our TeamXLTM programme is designed to support teams up their game quickly, whether they are in the process of being set up or as part of their continuous development. Achieving strategic alignment falls within the deliverables of the TeamXLTM programme. We use psychometric and behavioural assessments (DiSC and Belbin) for the team to achieve greater awareness of one another’s strengths which are first explored on a one-to-one basis with the individual team members.? This lays the foundation for a full-day Belbin Workshop facilitated by a Belbin accredited facilitator during which the team is taken through a process to establish its mission, values and vision that underpins work to clarify roles (including behaviour team roles) and norms of behaviour. Crafting the team’s game plan or strategy is a further intervention and focuses on ensuring alignment with the organization’s overall strategy and how the team measures the effectiveness of its strategy implementation (including alignment with that of the organization).

Adopting a structured approach to team strategy alignment enhances the team’s performance and its probability to succeed. As Peter Drucker is attributed to have said, “the best way to predict the future is to create it”. ?