Jumping Through Hoops

I thought I had 'died and gone to heaven!' There sitting in my in-box were two articles on Strategy and Strategy Execution that were a good read and which I now share with you.

The first was an article from The Sunday Times dated March 23, 2008 by Andrew Stone entitled 'Keep sight of your vision' and the second was from the Toledo Free Press dated March 22, 2008 written by Eric Kurjan entitled 'Jump-start your plan of strategy.'

Stone highlights a number pertinent points that should be followed when formulating a strategic vision - a few of which are:

• Have a clear vision around which the whole business (i.e., every department) is designed
• The vision should be able to be communicated simply to everyone (employees and suppliers)
• Have a strong group of people around you to help you achieve your strategy (vision)
• Have an understanding of what the vision means for every level of the business
• Revisit the vision often
• Remain true to your vision.

Stone points to a recent survey that found that nine out of ten companies said that they had a strategic vision, but that fewer than half of them had managed to turn that into success. There is a big gap between the vision statement and the execution; and as Stone notes, success in business is 25% strategy but 75% execution. According to Stone, businesses that do best are those with clear aims and objectives; that let everyone know what they are supposed to be doing and that have dashboards that track progress through key performance indicators.

The second article by Kurjan is also interesting and again provides some valuable insight into strategy planning and strategy execution. I did chuckle though when Kurjan recalled a time when he was presenting to a group of CEOs and he happened to ask one CEO what he had done with the strategic plan that had been developed after a great deal of effort and bound into a notebook - to which the CEO replied "I put it on my bookshelf next to 2007, 2006 and 2005 notebooks." Kurjan then asked the CEO "Did you use any of those notebooks to lead the company - to set direction, measure results, and focus team member's activities?" The CEO response - "I meant to, we just got too busy."

Again, Kurjan quotes from a 2007 survey by the American Management Association that found that 'only 3% of executives said that their companies are successful at executing strategy.' Notebooks aside - why am I not surprised!

Two articles that offer some sound advice and through the surveys quoted, point to the dire state of strategy execution in companies today. Both are well worth a read. Enjoy.

ian