The difference between Strategic Development and Execution
I don’t know about you but how often to we spend time thinking about how important a strong business strategy is and what goes in it, rather than actually executing that strategy. We will engage external advisors, we will craft the most challenging and engaging future focused strategies and spend countless hours thinking, developing and presenting our masterpiece.
But in comparison how much time do we spent, converting it into practical and relatable behaviours that actual people working in the business can understand. More importantly know exactly what they can personally do to influence the successful execution of the strategy. So much research points to how often strategic plans fail and often it is due to the lack of ownership from the very people responsible for executing it!
I think actually we need to look to things like “Design Thinking” and “Agile” to land on what should be an ever changing strategic focus based around iteration and business ownership of the stuff that actually happens, rather than ambitious outcomes that may or may not be achieved.
Start the work rather than think about it and watch as the strategic plan unfolds in execution rather than thought! Of course don’t get me wrong we need to have a clear view of where we want to be, but how we get there can be a very iterative process based around doing rather than thinking.
What do you think?