Strategy Deployment & Execution – Where Strategy Unravels Part 1

Great strategy, executed flawlessly results in superior performance. We all know that. What can be forgotten is how important strategy deployment & execution are to achieving results.

Translating the company vision to strategy and then to a scorecard is an important first step to deployment. The most successful companies engage their leadership team actively in developing the strategy and translating it into a scorecard. Translating strategy into a Scorecard is the first step in deployment. It affords the leadership a much better understanding of the multi-facets of the business and allows them to make it theirs. Scorecards should not only contain objective financial KPI (key performance indicators) but leading process KPI’s and measures associated with important transformative initiatives/projects.  Each KPI and initiative must have an owner and be stated in a SMART objective fashion. 

What dooms Strategy Deployment and Execution at this step?

Little or No Leadership Involvement

A Scorecard that appears from behind closed doors or worse yet from a know it all leader undermines trust and places little value on the experiences and insights of the leadership team, those who incidentally are likely closer to the business.

Too Many Initiatives:

A Scorecard that is simply a list of every known initiative demonstrates two things. First, this suggests that all initiatives have equal impact on the business. Secondly, it demonstrates that leaders are unwilling or unable to make choices. An important facet of strategy is making choices. Resources and/or time are always in short supply. Look at your company initiatives. If you have 10 or more for the year, seriously re-evaluate. It is far better to focus, get things done and add more if you get lucky!

Overloaded:

Review the initiatives by owner. Research shows (for example, The 4 Disciplines of Execution) that three priorities and preferably less is the maximum that can be handled at one time. Just like a juggler, when this number is exceeded, beanbags will drop out of the air.

A well designed, vetted Scorecard is an excellent place to start with Strategy Development & Execution. What comes next? ....watch for part 2.