Wind in you Back – How Effective Strategy Execution is a Prerequisite to Breakthrough Performance

If a strategy is considered to be the distinct game plan in which businesses create value and operate, then every business has a strategy or at the very least, makes strategic decisions.  Whether it is a good strategy and acted upon consistently throughout the organization, is another story.  Every time management makes a move, such as launching a new product, for example, it inevitably becomes a part of their strategy, consciously or unconsciously, written or unwritten, communicated or not communicated.
So while every business has a strategy, less have an up-to-date and comprehensive strategic plan, and even less that have a dynamic strategic planning and execution process that is embedded, documented, articulated, understood, and acted upon consistently and continually throughout the organization.

Businesses that are strategy-focused outperform their competitors. That is, those that have a clear vision and strategy that guides, directs, and prioritizes everything and everyone from resource allocation including time and capital, to daily activities such as, which call to return first.  Moreover, research has shown, that strategy execution competency is far more important than the strategic plan itself.  Companies with brilliant strategies but poor execution lag those with average plans but with superior and deliberate execution skills, presuming of course their plans are not fundamentally flawed.  Even then, when executed properly, the chances of a poor strategy ruining a strategy-focused business is low, because competent execution includes continuous feedback and appropriate adjustments as a business continues along its path towards achieving its envisioned future.

Translating the business strategy into business operations is where “the rubber hits the road”.  Deciding on key strategic goals, who is responsible etc., across each of the business's functional areas is only the first step.  Each goal must be a SMART goal (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely).

Kaplan and Norton’s “Balanced Scorecard” is a strategic management and planning system used by thousands of businesses around the world.  A Balanced Scorecard helps teams set their strategic objectives and targets, decide on how to measure success, and identify the specific actions/initiatives that need to be undertaken.  The Balanced Scorecard helps organizations consider their most important strategic objectives across four perspectives: financial (eg: return on equity), customer (what will be our value proposition to the customers in our chosen market), internal processes (what do we need to excel in to service our chosen market/customers and achieve our financial goals), and growth/learning and development (how do we deepen our capabilities such as critical skills, systems, etc.).  Each of the specific objectives for each perspective links to other objectives, through a cause and effect relationship culminating in achieving the ultimate financial goal(s). 
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The Balanced Scorecard is an effective way to create buy-in from everyone and create an interactive and dynamic strategy management system that allows the entire team to work towards common, organization-wide strategic goals.  When implemented with determination, it can help transform your business into a strategy-focused business that can achieve breakthrough performance.

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