Why Strategy Implementation Must Precede Strategy Execution

Last week I wrote a post that detailed why I think strategy implementation and strategy execution are not the same things. To me, the key difference is that implementation is all about capability (are we structured to succeed?) and execution is all about the activity (what do we need to do to succeed?). This week I want to dive into the implementation pool a little deeper.

Tell me if this sounds familiar.

You’re the CEO of a solidly successful trade association or not-for-profit organization. Revenues are strong, your bottom line is positive, reserves are adequate and you've built a well balanced and professional staff. The needs of the industry, professionals or charity you represent are evolving and you and your Board of Directors have worked with an outside consultant to develop a new strategic plan. It identifies goals and objectives for the organization which are designed to address these changing needs. Pretty standard stuff, right? What’s next?

Get to work executing the plan of course. But wait, is your well balanced and professional staff equipped with the right skill sets to take on the new programs? Is your existing FTE count large enough to handle the new work without minimizing or even dropping some existing programs? Does your current operating budget have enough slack to build and support new programs or are you willing to tap into those reserves?

It has been my experience the answers to these questions are often some form of “not really, but we’ll find a way” or “ we have good people, they’ll adapt” or “we’ll all just have to work harder until the dust settles”. Anybody think these are good ideas? Remember, you embarked on the development of a NEW strategic plan because you recognized that changes were already happening externally. If they weren’t you probably didn’t need a NEW strategic plan. It should be obvious that if an organization is going to develop new overriding goals and objectives that the question “Should we at least consider what changes we need to make INTERNALLY?” needs to be asked and answered?

Organizations need to assess their capability to succeed before forging ahead to the execution stage. If you have great people on your staff who are ill-equipped to accomplish the new goals your strategy are you setting them up to be successful? If you’ve defined 4 new key programs that need to be launched to accomplish the goals where will the human resources come from to do that? If you have defined programs that require a new investment of $250,000 but you don’t have that money in your expense budget, how will those programs ever get built and launched?

Imagine you’re the coach of a soccer team. When you’re on defense, the goal is to stop the other team from scoring. You have the best goalie in the league on your team who leads the league in goals against and anchors a great defense. However, when your team is in control of the ball, the objective changes. As the coach, do you tell that great goalie to run upfield and try to score? Of course not, it’s not her skill set. It can be the same when an organization changes its goals. You have great talent - for what you used to do. Is that talent suited for the new tasks?

I’m not suggesting that wholesale personnel changes are in order when a new strategic plan is developed. I am suggesting that during the implementation step you need to be sure that current skill sets align with the new goals. Maybe you can train existing staff, maybe you can move people around the organization, putting them in roles where they have the best chance to succeed or maybe you need to make some changes. Just don’t assume your great linebacker will be a great running back.

What about the budget needs the new goals will require? Does the new strategic plan anticipate added revenues that will fund the new programs? Even if it does, that sometimes doesn’t happen right away. This is a perfect opportunity to assess ALL of your existing programs and consider sunsetting some that are no longer relevant to the new strategic plan. This typically frees up both expense dollars and manpower but is often the hardest thing for mission-driven organizations to do. Be brave, take action and be transparent to both your staff and members about why these programs are ending.

These critical elements of the strategy implementation, if considered and addressed up front will increase your odds of a successful strategy execution greatly.

I welcome your comments and feel free to share!

Strategy Implementation versus Strategy Execution

In the previous post I drew a distinction between implementing and executing a strategy. I'm sure some of you use these terms interchangeably in relation to that thing you do after the strategic plan is published. Heck, I'm sure I've used them interchangeably in the past.

However, during the course of developing Association Acuity, I did a lot of reading and thinking about strategy and that next step, you know, the challenging one of making the dream come true. One of my Aha! moments was when I realized that implementation was a step along the way to execution and that without it, execution might not be possible. Allow me to explain.

Business strategy is most often expressed in the form of a strategic plan. This plan is designed to define major goals and objectives for the organization. Once this is established, it is very typical for the organization to ask the question, "how are we going to do this?" I think there is a more important question that sometimes doesn't get asked; "Can we do this with our current organizational structure?" You see, implementation is all about capability, not activity. Without capability, activity (execution) will be at best, inefficient and in the worst case, unsuccessful.

Implementation is that step where the following questions must be asked and answered:

• Do we have the enough assets (human, financial) to achieve the goals of the plan?
• Do we have the right assets (skill sets, talent) to achieve the goals of the plan?
• Have we gained the explicit buy-in to the plan from the key stakeholders (Board, members, staff)?
• Do we have the right value proposition for our members/customers that support the plan? 

If the answer to all of these questions is yes, then the plan is implemented and it is appropriate to move on to execution. If not, there is still work to do. When a plan is implemented, execution becomes all about the actions that an organization takes to achieve the best results possible from a fully implemented strategy.

These three concepts, strategy, implementation, and execution are co-dependent parts of the proverbial three-legged stool. Each is individually critical to the stability and success of the organization. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on these ideas!