Effective Information Flow means Effective Strategy Execution

In a Harvard Business Review article, entitled "The Secrets to Successful Strategy Execution", "information flow" and “clarifying decision rights” are identified as the most important factors in determining whether a business is effective in executing its strategy.  Also important were "aligning motivators" and "organizational structure."  All four factors are highly inter-related and of course, executing a well-thought-out strategic plan usually leads to an increase in enterprise value.

Effective information flow throughout the organization allows for quicker and better strategic decisions, whether it is information flow from the front office to the back office, from corporate headquarters to the locations, from the plant floor to the office, from one business unit or department to another, etc.

As an organization grows, effective information flow becomes more complex and naturally gravitates to become increasingly ineffective. So how do you resolve this challenge?  We believe there are three primary ways to improve information flow and hence dramatically improve a business’s ability to effectively act on its strategic plan.

1) Strategy Communication.  The business's strategy must be clearly communicated throughout the organization regularly to be understood and thereby acted upon.  Everyone in the business must also understand how their role contributes to the strategic plan.  Management must commit to effective information flow on how the business is progressing towards its strategic goals to maintain momentum and employee engagement levels.

2) Strategy Review Meetings.  Many people think they already participate in too many meetings.  To effectively implement your strategy, strategy review meetings need to be separated from operational meetings.  They also need to be scheduled regularly.  The optimal interval between meetings depends on the business growth rate and how quickly the market landscape is changing.  For very fast-growing companies the interval needs to be very short, however, in all cases, they should never be less frequent than once per quarter.
Each strategy review meeting has three primary purposes: 1) to repeat, reiterate, and reinforce your business strategy to gain deeper team insight, input and clarity, 2) to review progress towards your strategic goals and identify the key barriers/challenges that need to be resolved, and 3) to set your top strategic priorities and the action plans that need to be implemented before the next strategy review meeting.   Regular strategy review meetings build and maintain momentum by keeping the team focused on what's important.  They also facilitate effective information flow which is essential to bring the strategy to life.

3) Information Technology.  Information flows up, down and across the organization has never been easier with today’s communication technology.  However, at the same time, it has become more difficult to separate the important and critical data/information that is needed to drive the organization’s strategy, from the everyday noise about operations, the market, your competitors, etc.  Strategy-focused organizations have systems in place to collect, analyze, and share critical data, such as key performance indicators on important strategic initiatives, in real-time.  Each strategic goal needs to have an “owner” i.e. the person that is responsible for the collection, analysis, and updating of the data used to assess progress or when key milestones are completed.  If it is a high priority, highly important, stretch goal, it normally will only be accomplished if the team can stay intensely focused on implementing the action plan.  It must then remain “top of mind” through effective information flow.

It is amazing what a team can accomplish when focused and given clear insight with real-time feedback on the team’s progress towards a shared goal.  And when a team is energized, rewarded, and focused on important strategic goals, it inevitably drives enterprise value and creates more and better exit options for shareholders.
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In our next blog article, we will address how “clarifying decision rights” inter-relates with “effective information flow” to drive an effective strategic plan implementation.

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