Strategic development, while not difficult, does require consideration that extends well beyond the boardroom. In fact, all attempts at developing strategy are exercises in futility unless you can bridge the gap between strategic plans and the orchestrated horsepower that must be in place to propel the organization to attaining those plans.
The vast majority of companies fall into a false sense of security when they make the erroneous assumption that simply organizing the best and brightest leaders to conduct strategic planning is what they need to become the most audacious vision a reality. The sad reality is that this approach is destined to fail because the preponderance of organizations fail to adequately consider the logistics of strategic implementation.
A recent study highlighted the painful reality that only 30% of all strategic planning efforts deliver what they promise. However, before diving further into the intricacies of strategic implementation, we need to define what success looks like.
Successful strategic implementation is little more than delivering what was planned in as timely and resource conscious manner as possible. David Garvin, Professor of Management Essentials at the Harvard Business School asserts that successful strategic planning “involves delivering what’s planned or promised on time, on budget, at quality, and with minimum variability—even in the face of unexpected events and contingencies.”
In other words, if implemented successfully, strategic planning will achieve economic growth and leaps in business value.
Strategic endeavors can only be successful when implementation is assigned to a team of people
In over 20 years of my career spent as a management professional, responsible for strategic planning, only a handful of strategy efforts were truly successful. The je ne sais quoi, or “X” factor that would make or break these planning efforts was the vitality, commitment, organization and empowerment of the group of people that were made accountable to implement the strategic roadmap. Implementation efforts will dwindle and fade into obscurity unless a dedicated group are empowered and removed from the day-to-day grind of operations. I have witnessed the death of implementation take place when the individuals assigned to take strategic initiatives over the finish line were still expected to meet the obligations of their day job.
The second reason strategy implementation efforts die on the vine relates to assigning the effort to a team that is not used to managing and delivering objectives in an organized, methodical approach.
Only a project management approach can make strategic implementation a success
The optimal solution to the issues countless companies grapple with when it comes to institutionalizing strategy is found via assigning implementation to a dedicated team of project management professionals. This means assigning a project manager and other PM practitioners that are well versed in risk management, schedule management and reporting in a project environment.
One of the most distinctive advantages of using a team of PM practitioners lies in the fact that they are adept at taking high level, i.e., strategic, requirements and planning for their achievement. They break down the loftiest and visionary of objectives and break them down into component pieces that are actionable. In addition, PM teams are also well-versed in resourcing for those requirements and in doing so add the sense of reality and concrete foundations to aspirations that were dreamed up in the boardroom.
A recent paper published by the Project Management Institute addressing the pitfalls of project success asserts that a structured and disciplined process for planning and executing plans to meet objectives are paramount if the project (or strategic objective) is to be successful.
It is also critical that assignments for the disparate PM functions be clear and that the strategic objectives need to be implemented are clear, mutually agreed to along with who from among will be responsible for which tasks as well as how and when those tasks will be accomplished.
PM processes instill stakeholder confidence
All too often strategic development efforts disintegrate because stakeholders simply lose interest, or become ambivalent, usually as a result of not being in the loop when it comes to implementation. Strategy, by nature, requires change and its human nature to resist change as it forces us to get out of our comfort zones. I saw this play out several times but one of the most memorable is when I witnessed a $250M, 5-year software project get scrapped without a single objective because the user community refused to adopt it. They argued that no one had bothered addressing what this software upgrade would do or how it would impact their operations and as a result, refused to accept delivery of an otherwise vastly superior capability.
A recent study identified that at the end of the day, stakeholders are ultimately the group that must be satisfied for any project or strategic implementation to be successful.
Reporting to those in the organization with skin in the game, both horizontally and vertically, is critical to continue the momentum that began with strategic development process.
The only effective method of breaking through this natural resistance is through constant communication. Stakeholders need to feel that their concerns are heard and that there will be a safe transition period between what they do now and what they will end up doing once implementation is complete.
The PM approach to strategic implementation focuses on stakeholder management as a major tenet of the PM process. As a project manager I spent up to 40% of my time communicating with stakeholders far and wide, across an array of disciplines and functions ranging in rank from interns to senior leaders responsible for budgets in the tens of billions.
The chance of strategy being successful is inordinately increased when a project management approach is incorporated during implementation.
Questions to Consider
How successful have your strategic initiatives been in the past 5 years?
What would it mean for you if 90% or more of your strategic vision would materialize into tangible results in a timely manner?
Who is delegated the responsibility to implement strategic objectives? Are they cleared to do this full time until all objectives are met or are they burdened with the responsibilities of their day job?
Have you considered utilizing the expertise of a project management practitioner to bring your strategic initiatives to reality?