3 Steps to Effective Strategy Implementation

Does your organization have a strategic plan? If so, who implements it?

One of the biggest problems with plans of any kind, and strategic plans are no exception, is failure to implement well. From new year resolutions to complex strategic plans, failure to execute makes the time and effort spent planning, a waste of time.

Strategic thinkers are able to take the strategic plan and operationalise it (ie implement it) in their own role. Strategic thinkers who lead a team are able to explain the plan as it relates to their team and set objectives or goals that implement the plan.

There are three key aspects to strategic plan implementation:

1. Understanding how your role contributes
This is sometimes referred to as ‘line of sight’ . It requires you to see how what you do in your role contributes to the organisation as a whole, and to the achievement of strategic goals. For roles that are core to the business activity, this is usually quite easy to see. For roles that support core activity, the line of sight may be less clear, and people in those roles may need assistance to understand how they contribute. It is important that teams discuss this so that everyone understands. If people do not understand how they contribute day-to-day to the organisation’s success, it is very difficult for them to take an interest in how to implement strategic goals.

An example of line of sight was highlighted for me recently when working with a client in professional services. For this firm to be successful, the partners must maximize their ‘chargeable hours’, ie the time they spend on work for clients for which clients pay the firm, and be available to spend time with key clients. They had indentified that they were spending too much time on management tasks that were essential, but significantly reducing the time they had available for clients each month. So we sat down together and described all the tasks that the partners were currently doing themselves, that could be done by someone else with the right skills. These tasks and activities form a role that would support the partners and the business – an office or practice manager role. We have now drafted a job description that explains the responsibilities and also the attributes of the ideal candidate and are going to market to find someone to fill this role. It will be critical that the person appointed to the role understands the key ways in which they contribute to organizational success and strategies – the core of it being the release of partner time to do client work. If the person appointed to the role does not understand that, simply seeing their role as a cluster of activities, they are likely to prioritise their work ineffectively and be less likely to take the role to the level of leadership and independence that the partners need from them.

How does your role, and the roles of your team, contribute to the organization as a whole, and to the strategic direction? What is the greatest positive impact you and your team can have?

2. Flow down from strategic goals to your goals
The most effective way to ‘operationalise’ strategic goals, in my experience, is to ‘flow’ each strategic goal down through the organization, recording contributing goals for each role. Here’s a simplistic example of how that might work. Let’s say a strategic goal is to increase market share of a particular product by 10%. Each division of the organization must then determine what it’s contribution is to that goal. Let’s say the Marketing division determine that they must conduct 3 pieces of customer research and conduct a corresponding advertising campaign to support sales. Sales Division must sell another 25% of product. Customer Services now expect 40% more queries based on this activity and need to improve response times by 15% and customer satisfaction by 5%. And administration estimate they will increase support work 15% as a result. These goals become part of each division’s operational plan and the manager’s performance objectives.

Now each division needs to break down their goal into the teams – which teams will handle how much of this activity and in what way? So let’s take marketing – if they have two research teams they could either give all three pieces of research to one team, depending on how they specialize and other work commitments, or split it between the two. These goals then become part of the team manager/leader’s performance goals. The same happens for all other goals.
Within each team, they need to then decide which team members are doing what, how and by when. The individual goals form part of their performance goals for that period.
By flowing the organizational goals through divisions and teams to individuals, people become accountable for making the strategy happen through normal performance management processes. This way implementation is not left to chance.
How many of the objectives in your performance goals relate to organizational strategy, values or longer term goals?

3. Take Action
Once everyone understands how their role contributes to the organizational strategy, and have clear individual goals that flow from strategic goals, then taking action is the key to implementation. People must think about and act on their goals. Managers must monitor progress. Only by doing what is required to make the necessary changes will the organization benefit from the strategic planning process. And by making the necessary changes you are more likely to be viewed as strategic.

What have you changed this week to implement organizational strategy, values or goals?

Organizations that regularly review and update strategy, and then ensure implementation, are much less likely to need knee-jerk reactions to changes in their operating environment, because they will be prepared. Avoiding knee-jerk reactions also means preparing and responding to impending change in a planned and measured way, that aligns more with the philosophy of continual improvement rather than occasional massive change. Occasional massive change tends to brings with it disruption and reduced employee engagement, neither of which are conducive to high productivity or strategic thinking.

Being willing and able to implement strategic goals contributes to being recognized as strategic, and that is likely to enhance your career and business opportunities.