Implementation factors that affect your strategy
Creating an effective plan for your company is critical for development and sustainability. However, creating a viable strategy is only half the challenge; making it a reality is an entirely different problem.
There are a number of challenges with strategy implementation. In this post, we’ll look at the challenges and roadblocks that stand in the way of your strategy’s successful execution.
Here are the five key factors for successful strategy implementation:
For each issue, we provide an example and actionable steps.
The 5 key factors for successful strategy implementation
Commitment to the strategy
As a leader, you must prioritise the long-term viability of your organisation.
Long-term plan execution is not a “box-checking” process. It is continually battling the day’s pressing issues. If you approach it as a “check it off and move on” task, you will fail before you begin.
Strategic planning is difficult.
It necessitates a great deal of introspection.
When you challenge the performance of your organisation, you face an uncomfortable truth. This kind of ruthless honesty can assist your organisation in realigning its priorities. If you go deeper into your organisation and uncover those unpleasant realities, you will be able to devise a strategy to overcome your greatest shortcomings.
Self-awareness is a fantastic attribute to have in an organisation. Knowing your own talents and shortcomings puts you in a better position to succeed in the future.
To properly implement a plan, you must completely commit to the goals. Expect no one else to believe in your strategy if you don’t approach it with entire confidence. You must be decisive.
However, give the procedure the time it need.
A well-thought-out long-term strategy will not be implemented in a couple of days. Commitment to the plan may require many weeks to outperform business as usual.
The early discussions with top leaders will be chaotic when you initially start. That is merely a byproduct of the procedure. Each person will contribute their unique perspective on how to best implement the plan with the available resources.
Again, this is all part of the process.
Example
An organization’s senior officials meet over several days to sketch out and formulate a long-term strategy. The strategy’s implementation is simply mentioned as an afterthought. As a result, business as usual erodes devotion to the new plan.
Steps to Take
Take your time developing a plan. This cannot be completed in a single day. It takes time for it to percolate in the thoughts of everyone concerned. Begin an implementation discussion once a plan has been determined.
The outcomes of such conversation must be thoroughly committed to by all top executives. When it comes to a long-term version, they can’t be half-in, half-out.
Aligning Strategy with organizational structure
The structure of your organisation influences strategy implementation.
Is your organisation prepared to carry out the strategy you’ve outlined? What adjustments will be required for this to occur? How much impact will this have on the existing business in the short term?
In certain circumstances, the structure of an organisation is not in sync with its strategy. For example, you may have picked strategic objectives that no department can fully own, requiring you to rearrange your teams.
Bridging the gap between your goals and where you are currently is the goal of a successful strategy. If you set lofty goals for the following 18 months but are unable to deliver on them in practice, they will simply not be met.
Implementing a plan with large movements necessitates major change. You may see that your company has been moving in the wrong direction.
Certain departments may need to be reduced in size, while others may need to be increased. Realigning your attention and outlining your goals may result in a course correction.
It is common for organisations to restructure their structure in order to adopt a new strategy.
A plan cannot be executed immediately, especially in huge organisations.
People joining, leaving, and moving around might take many months for all of the parts to fall into place.
The goal is to move past the planning stage and begin implementing the strategy. Outline your goals and aims and link your staff with them so that your organisation can adjust.
Example
Consider the case of a media organisation.
This organization’s senior officials examine a long-term plan for particular revenue targets. After careful consideration, they realise that their whole video production department will need to be dismantled and the knowledge reassigned.
The issue is that their video production section is also heavily involved in the operations of the organization’s other divisions.
It quickly becomes clear that the organization’s structure must alter in order for the new strategy to be properly executed. Rather than doing this all at once, they intend to gradually downsize the video production department and their cross-organizational operations.
Steps To Take
Consider how your organization’s existing structure may become an impediment in the future. If a single department must be reduced in size, how will this influence the other departments and the overall production of the company?
Aligning strategy with the culture of the organisation
People implement strategies.
Who are the people in your organisation who everyone admires? What role models does the culture of the organisation promote? What are the values of your culture?
It is critical to get those folks on board with your vision for the organisation, as well as your approach to getting there.
When your culture’s star workers embrace the new plan, it will be easy to persuade the rest of the workforce to follow suit. These individuals will provide significant insights into what is going on in various sections of the organisation, allowing you to apply the strategy across all of your activities.
People at all levels of the organisation must comprehend the larger picture. Employees that are driven by a sense of purpose are more engaged in their job. This is why it is critical to emphasise their importance to the organization’s success. How they fit into the greater picture.
Communicate both the context and content of your strategic strategy.
Team leaders should emphasise the objective of each employee’s daily actions on a frequent basis. They must understand the company’s goals and why their own contributions are important.
Example
Certain crucial persons were not included in the development of an organization’s strategy. The management team does not appear to take employee comments seriously. Employees do not understand the needed organisational changes, and no one supports the new plan. During lunch, there are unpleasant talks, and the strategy implementation falls flat.
Steps to Take
Take the time to include key voices in the workplace in the planning process, even if they are not normally part of a leadership team. This will not only increase buy-in and engagement from the rest of the team, but it will also provide you with vital insight into what could be missing. People want to be a part of the strategy.
Creating an environment where strategy succeeds
This necessitates more than simply matching your organisational structure with your strategy.
Just because your team is organised in a way that puts resources in the correct places doesn’t guarantee that the climate is favourable to making your plan a reality. This simply addresses the organization’s shape.
You’ll want to maintain important components of your culture, operational model, and so on that define you as an organisation. However, do not keep items that no longer benefit you.
Change takes concentration, effort, compromise, and the possibility of doing a few things wrong before getting them right. As a result, you must develop the things you wish to maintain while still providing support for change. It’s a difficult balancing act.
The key elements to achieve balance around culture and your implementation approach are:
Communication
Internal communication is critical, yet it is frequently of poor quality. Here’s a rule: You can’t communicate too much. Keep your team informed, and be willing to revise and alter your strategy plan’s implementation.
Your implementation will have a higher chance of becoming a reality if you establish an atmosphere in which conversation is encouraged and the strategy is clear yet adaptive. It does not imply that you must act on every idea, but making communication a two-way street will pay dividends.
Clarity
There is no replacement for everyone understanding what is going on and why. It removes any doubt about whether you’ve truly determined and committed to the strategy, and it provides your team with the finest opportunity to adjust.
Accountability
The culture of accountability: if no one feels like they are responsible for owning and delivering the plan, it simply won’t happen.
Acceptance of change
It’s in that balance between valuing change and not constantly changing everything. It’s also about creating an environment where learning from change is part of the culture.
Focus
When making a strategic change, you must consider two factors in your execution strategy. Accept that certain things will have to suffer in the near term (to make way for a change) and that others will suffer in the long term (since you value some activities over others, i.e., you’re focused). People will have to let go of certain things in order to take on new duties.
Example
A small manufacturing business has decided to focus its efforts on improving and expanding its primary product line while eliminating its other two minor lines.
However, they haven’t explained why they’re doing it to their employees (other than “we think business will be better”). Furthermore, they have not considered the impact on operational efficiency that will occur when they transition workers from the phased-out lines to the main line.
People are unsure what to anticipate from the changes and are concerned that the forecasts imply they must continue to work at their prior efficiency despite the fact that they will be splitting their time between two regions, one of which they are unfamiliar with.
Steps to Take
Go beyond simply explaining the approach to your staff. Take the time to explain why the present plan isn’t working and what you anticipate for the future. Inform your employees about the new plan. Allow them to interact with it and have access on demand. Use a dynamic advisory consultation company like GOLDEN GATE PROPERTIES, to organize and expose your strategic plan.
Keep track of the operational consequences. People will spend more time training, working on things they don’t necessarily know well, and splitting their time between additional activities. The fact is that there will be some short-term impact on productivity. That is part of your long-term investment. Make it a part of the plan, and the plan will become more feasible as a result.
Setting realistic targets for delivery across a set time period
Your targets have to align with your organization’s capabilities.
While strategic goals can extend and push an organisation, they must remain based on reality. Unrealistic goals can only demoralise your organization’s staff and stakeholders.
The aims and goals must be achievable. This does not imply that a strategy to attain goals must be adopted overnight. Some goals may need months of strategic implementation to get an organisation on the correct track.
It may look daunting to employees and key stakeholders when you deliver a long-term strategy plan. Prioritise your goals. If a certain strategy piece does not need to be implemented right away, how much concentration and attention does it demand at the start of the process?
It’s usually a good idea to make your strategic objectives ambitious in order to challenge the organisation. But you must also make them attainable. Don’t pick too many so that you may concentrate your efforts on the things that really important.
While it is important to establish the tone for the organization’s future, implementing too many changes at once might cause major unhappiness among your personnel.
Assure your workers that the procedures required to attain these objectives will be appropriately incorporated into the organization’s operating operations.
Example
A senior leader has lofty goals for an organization’s future. They have set ambitious financial goals that promise unparalleled development. The approach for implementing these will put the workers under enormous strain, reducing morale as they struggle to keep up with the impossible (and, very perhaps, giving up trying).
Steps to Take
Invite your employees to participate in strategy discussions, and use their comments and front-line knowledge to help your plan become a reality. At each level, you should aim to find a balance between driving your organisation ahead and keeping things reasonable in the short term.
Issues in strategy implementation
Several barriers impede an organization’s capacity to implement a plan. However, virtually all of these issues may be overcome if they are treated properly. In many respects, putting a strategy into action is more crucial than devising it.
You will fail at execution if you do not set realistic goals, engage the right people, create a strong atmosphere, match the plan with your organisational structure, and commit to it.
To summarise, the most significant challenges in strategy execution are:
Lack of dedication to the strategy
Aligning Strategy and organisational structure
Alignment of strategy with the culture of the organisation
The establishment of an atmosphere in which your approach can succeed
Setting realistic delivery objectives over a certain time span
Don’t let these happen to you, read our 6-Step Guide to Strategic Implementation (COMING SOON) to improve your odds of successfully implementing your strategy!
