Through out my 30 years in business, either on the consulting or on the client side, or in small or even large businesses, how STRATEGY EXECUTION is handled has been one of the top causes of failure. Notice that I did not say "strategy failure".
Ironically, or maybe I should say understandably, the blame is almost always placed on the strategy, where in most cases, the strategy is sound. So we have 3 issues here, a.) what can go wrong with execution, b.) why is the strategy usually the blame and c.) how to assure good strategy execution?
What can, and almost always goes wrong with execution is that while all of the focus is on building perceived value (PV) in the customer market, generating simultaneous PV among the company's employees and its investors (bank, private and/or shareholders) is completely neglected. The results include;
- Internal tension between support groups, particularly between Sales and Operations.
- Disconnects on what the strategy is between executive management, middle management and staff.
- Confusion in the market over the company's evolving position, including a disconnect between its promises and, level of responsiveness by support resources.
- A decline in profitability.
- Misalignment between how investors or the board, view the company's direction and that of senior management.
These are only a few examples of the myriad of issues that can arise when execution does not have a plan of its own and, IT IS NOT IMPLEMENTED ACROSS ALL 3 TARGET AUDIENCES! I use the term "target audience" because of the importance of understanding that once we develop, through a meticulous plan of execution, perceived value among all 3 groups, everyone is on the same page. What results are enthusiastic and unsolicited levels of internal problem solving, planing and management of operational efficiencies, customer support and sales-enabling financial oversight. And the effort of all support functions become synergistic. This occurs when (a) everyone clearly understands the strategy and (b) they have translated their own perceptions of the strategy's value to their personal wealth, the wealth of their company and/or their investment in the company.
Once, through proper execution, PV is intentionally developed among the company's investors, management teams, employees and customer markets, something almost magical occurs; efficiencies increase, costs decline, profit goes up, quality goes up, responsiveness increases and the value of your product or service rises. This translates to the movement of your product or services' value, closer to the "price ceiling" in the market place. Simply put, the market will pay more for your product.
This unified synergy is seldom experienced by companies who's strategies have been blamed as the reason for failure. And why not blame strategy? Because the profound effect of (integrated) PV across customers, staff and investors is simply not understood, and rarely experienced! It is easier to blame the strategy when in fact, without effective (connected) execution, a good strategy never had a chance.
So, to assure good strategy execution, a company must factor into the post strategy development timeline, an execution plan that includes not only staff or department readiness, but how to generate a realistic level of perceived value, and what behavior this PV is expected to generate! Not much different than sales and market tactics that target specific customer and market-wide behaviors, a similar plan and tactics executions are required to knit together, a strategy execution engine that will optimize success.
Have you experienced a winning execution plan that led to strategy success? Please share your story or thoughts!
I also want to give credit for the conceptual application of (PV) Perceived Value to Dr. Elliot Schreiber, past Professor of Marketing and Strategy at the LeBow College of Business at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Schreiber was also the past Chair of the Schreiber-Bart Group, a strategy execution consulting company.
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