Sidebar | A Matter of Execution

If the 80/20 rule applies anywhere, it applies to strategic planning

During the initial stage of strategic planning, 80 percent of your effort should go to strategic thinking, while 20 percent should go to documentation, says Calvin Fu, project adviser at CRC Melbourne. After that, 20 percent should go to thinking/documentation, while 80 percent goes to implementation/execution.

Planning can be considered a standard process/methodology that can be mirrored from frameworks and philosophy developed by the International Institute of Business Analysis, or even the Project Management Institute, Fu says. However, execution is highly dynamic and differs from case-to-case, country-to-country, and program-to-program.

“Many have assumed that execution is standard across locales and programs, [and so] have overlooked execution parametrics, and over-concentrated on wonderful plans,” Fu says. “There is a lack of measurement techniques in understanding the ‘X-factor’ fundamentals and experience of the implementation manager, such as degree of knowledge, agility towards culture paradigms, and innovativeness in collaboration of such elements.”

In Fu’s experience while plans may be seemingly perfect and clear, execution is highly critical, and at many times determines the levels of success.

“Execution is the attitude/aptitude of the manager; it’s also the culture/behavioural fundamentals of the organization, for even with less than perfect planning, we are still able to change as we make progress. But how much have we considered executions strategies in our plans?” Fu asks.

Fu identifies six areas likely to frustrate execution:

Culture Leaders influence the culture of their organization in much the way children mimic parental behaviour, Fu says. Strategy fundamentals must include culture considerations such as attitude/agility toward change factors, and map out potential cultural contributors to success. “Considerations include: Do we have a culture where people have low desire for risk and change? Do we have a culture where people are not receptive to or open to entrepreneurial behaviours and actions? Or, are we faced with a culture where people have always been exposed to continuous transformation and reshaping activities?” he says.

Influence Winning buy-in/consensus is just the start, Fu says. If key leaders are unable to participate in the influence component, there will be a missing motivational/engagement factor felt by the others.

“The change manager/consultant can tenaciously be facilitating change, but if immediate managers are not able to produce influentially aligned behaviours, there will be a lack of precise and discrete support toward the change manager. Just like a teacher trying to impart values to a child when the same values are not shared in the home environments, impacts are not fully maximized and felt.”

Spread Strategic implementations are complex and do not just involve a particular group or section of the organization. For example, a simple change in credit systems and goals not only affects the finance department, but also requires immense involvement from the sales team, collections team, operations team, purchasing/sourcing team, and also the leadership team. It’s pointless if the sales team closes deals that affect credit stability, just as it is pointless if the credit team creates impossible credit policies that misalign with sales practices. Thus, it’s seldom that change only affects one group or person.

Simplicity Since strategic spread increases complexity, simplicity is a critical criteria of a good strategic plan. Plans must not only be marketable to all walks of the organization but be presented in a language capable of being understood by all.

Narrowness Should plans include distant horizons, or just current needs? “It’s inevitable that managers tend to become transactionally-focused due to depth of responsibilities,” Fu says, “but transformation focuses are just as important. After all, practices today are not the same as ten years back. Plans need to include some amount of horizon innovativeness, and address not just needs of today but also needs of tomorrow. Change is continuous and organizations need to maintain competitive edge.”

Personality “What we seek is value above objectives,” Fu says. “As such, the task fit of the strategy facilitator is critical. I believe that you are either an entrepreneur or you’re not. Work out a profile critical to successful strategic execution, choose the right person and achieve value.”

— S BUSHELL