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“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without Strategy is the noise before defeat.”
Strategy is the Yin to the execution Yang: both depend on the other for their existence and yet in most organizations each exist independently of each other. However, only 8% of leaders are good at both strategy and execution {Leinwand 2015}. This supports the statistic that roughly 70% of all strategies fail in execution hardly surprising {Forbes}. Countless resources in terms of work hours, effort and money are lost if a strategy is not right, but the same is true if a strategy is not well executed. For your organization to succeed and thrive over time, strategy and execution must become two parts of the same whole, working synergistically together to create sense out of an ever-changing environment and drive desired results.
While the Yin and Yang balance of strategy and execution are essential elements of success, it is leadership that choreographs the delicate dance between the two. Leaders need to be able to think strategically, then plan strategically and finally implement a rigorous, iterative and learning execution process to realize their visions. Without solid leadership, strategy and execution exist in a transactional or possibly opposing relationship where one ends and the other picks up but neither work together. In the end, strategy and execution mean nothing without leadership. Leadership creates the environment that provides bounds and structure which fills the gap between strategy and execution.
Over the course of the next year, Colman Coaching will expand upon this topic in a systematic way broken down into four phases:
1. Strategy and Execution
2. Team Effectiveness
3. Strategic Communications, Speech and Media
4. Building a World-class Sales Organization
Essentially, this is a one-year holistic “fitness program” for your organization that results in clear strategic direction, organizational alignment, effective execution, productive teams, coordinated strategic communication and supportive sales and marketing processes. Like a health program, we begin with building a solid foundation and then add to this foundation over time. Results will begin to show and you will see progress towards your organizational fitness goals.
As a jumpstart for your new understanding, implementation and leadership of a highly effective strategy-to-execution mindset in your organization, we offer the following five actions you can act on immediately. Taken from Harvard Business Review {Leinwand 2015}, these actions will begin to bring your strategy Yin and execution Yang into balance while building a solid leadership environment:
1. COMMIT TO AN IDENTITY: Find YOUR focus and YOUR vision for your organization and COMMIT to it. Your commitment to action acts as the proverbial flag and call-to-action that all others will follow;
2. TRANSLATE THE STRATEGIC INTO THE EVERYDAY: Be in both the execution dance on the floor while watching the ball from the balcony to see strategic patterns developing over time. You alone have this dual vision and must help your organization live and breath your strategy while learning and adapting from the realities of their daily dance;
3. PUT YOUR CULTURE TO WORK: Your culture WILL effect you and your organization, one way or another. For many of you, this means you must first think about and assess your culture. Understand its strengths and weaknesses and find ways to improve weaknesses while capitalizing on strengths;
4. ORGANIZATIONAL FRICTION HAS A HIGH COST: Reduce organizational “friction” to a minimum. Friction is produced by ineffective and inefficient aspects of your organization that do not contribute to your overall objectives. While no organization can eliminate all friction, the overall organizational friction can be minimized, bringing a bigger bang for every working minute. Consider your meetings: Does your organization have unnecessary meetings with no agenda and/or no specific objective? How many are ineffective? Do people show up on time? Does your organization consider employee work time as one of its most valuable resources? Taking immediate steps to make organizational time a precious commodity that cannot be wasted will bring immediate results. Read the side article, Your Scarcest Resource {Mankins 2014}, for ideas on how to make this change happen today;
5. SHAPE YOUR FUTURE: Begin building your future today by investing in your up and coming leaders while developing your current leaders.
By selecting Colman Coaching as your strategic coaching partner, you are choosing a top performer in the leadership development space, specializing in executive development and corporate performance.
Next week’s post: Identifying Your Strategic Challenge
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Click here to find more information on our Half-Day Training Session: Turn Your Strategy Into Action
8:30am – 12:00pm
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