Earlier this year, the London Business School reported 70% (!) of strategy fails to deliver and the trend has been constant over the past 25 years!
It’s hard to believe that an opportunity of this magnitude has not been seized. Surely, execution of strategy cannot be that difficult a problem to solve. The first question is: How has this opportunity remained invisible and avoided detection for so long? A possible answer is that the problem is systemic, with ineffective behaviours embedded and resistant to change.
Solving a systemic strategy execution problem requires:
- Establishing a measurement system that identifies problem areas.
- Designing a framework that develops an optimal solution.
- Providing an accelerated delivery process, tools and skills.
- Embedding changes in the organisation culture.
The prize for closing the strategy to performance gap is huge – an increase in performance of anywhere from 60% – 100% for most companies (Mankins 2005, HBR).