Without strategy or tactics, execution is aimless. Without execution, strategy and tactics are useless.

Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu wrote in the “The Art of War” that “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” Having a strategy is like applauding with one hand. Having a strategy and tactics is just having two hands. If the goal is to applaud, we must have the third and vital ingredient which is execution. In this case, execution requires bringing the two hands together in an aligned, timely and coordinated partnership. A successful outcome for your strategy is the same. You need a smart strategy, relevant tactics, and disciplined execution. In this blog, I focus on the execution.

 Strategy execution takes shape in many ways, but typically it will include a combination of four key elements: people, communications, direction, and measurements. These key elements are critical for a successful strategy execution. Below is a list of why each element is important and symptoms that are indicators the strategy execution will not be as efficient or effective within your organization.  

1.   People. 

Strategy formulation often gathers those with authority in the room. However, it's not those in authority that execute strategy - it's everyone in your workforce championed by leaders, at all levels. Those in positions of authority build the corporate culture. To execute on our strategy you need to get the right people, with the right attitudes, in the right positions.

 Just because a senior member helped the team decide the strategy, does not mean they should lead the execution. More often than not, they shouldn’t. Use your senior team to build a culture that promotes and reinforces the strategy. Encourage them to lead mentoring, inspiring, measuring, and removing barriers from line-leaders and the tactics they choose to execute the strategy.

 The below graph shares the degree of support over time by your people in relations to the strategy you have selected. Working together, your leaders, and those in authority, will help move the rest of the organization along the curve on the graph. The points on the graph indicate how well your organization or individuals are embracing the strategy. 

Along the way, be mindful of the signs that reveal cracks and crevices in your corporate culture that hinder the success of executing on the strategy. 

Problem Indicators:  

• Difficulty by those in authority to predict which leaders will drive the strategy execution.
• Frequently missed deadlines or low quality deliverable.
• Project charters lack strategic alignment.
• High levels of Bureaucracy.
• Employees are unaware how their work impacts the strategy.
• Lack of expendability and succession planning.
• Mistrust and gridlock.
• Lack of respectful disagreements in meetings.
• Poor Process Adherence
• Employees unwilling to be candid in their communications.
• Arms-Length Interest.
• Everyone is stressed. 

2.   Direction & Alignment. 

When your new business strategy is communicated, do your employees know what to do differently? Do they have the right tools and individual plans to execute the strategy? Alignment. Your organization needs to be aligned between what you say you are going to do (strategy) and what vital few objectives, initiatives and daily activities (execution) you are undertaking to effectively support the strategy.

 Problem Indicators:  

• Employees are unable to articulate why their duties will or will not change.
• Tactics are not aligned with the strategy.
• Lack of training opportunities.
• Nothing new is happening.
• Employees are bored.
• Lack of participation in collaborative events or silence during feedback.
• Unhealthy activities.
• Abandon the office quickly.
• Confused or indifferent.
• Lack of learning or work motivation.

 3.   Communication. 

Well executed strategies are well communicated. The employees know about it and really understand it. Each person understand how their daily activities fit with and support the strategy. Information flows freely vertically and horizontally across different parts of the company.

 Problem Indicators:   

• Low ROI from economies of scale initiatives
• Best practices are not transferred or reproduced across lines of business
• Toxic work culture
• Employees from different areas of the business rarely interact.
• Redundant tools are being used by different parts of the business.
• Business units lack similar standards and techniques.
• Unknown or unpublished policy and process maps.
• No symbols or signs promoting the strategy in different workspaces.
• Lack of creative promotion of the strategy.

 4.   Measurement, Review, Recognition. 

"You can't manage it, if you can't measure it." Do you have the right measures for monitoring the new strategy? Continual Review. The execution of strategy must be continually reviewed in order to make mid-course corrections and to understand measurement success. Finding errors early in the process and making corrections improves your ability to execute strategy successfully. Recognition. The introduction of a new strategy often introduces change in behavior. To ensure success, new behaviors need to be reinforced (rewarded for positive behaviors) so they are repeated.

 Problem Indicators:  

•  Lack of metrics or dashboards relating to tactics and strategy.
• Those in authority weakly acknowledge or reward their subordinates.
• There is a lack of emphasis on reward and acknowledgement.
• Lacking of tools and techniques, and training around measuring, reviewing, and recognizing employees.
• Authority is fast to discipline and slow to acknowledge or reward.
• Measurements are not mature or well communicated.
• Reviews are inconsistent, delayed, ignored, or inconsistent.
• Measurements are not relevant or linked to tactics or strategies.
• What is measured is not reliable.
• Measurements are subjective or not guided by data.