Overcoming The 7 Choke Points Of Strategy Implementation - Create The Conditions Business Quickie

Create The Conditions Business Quickie Overcoming the 7 Choke Points of Strategy Implementation Morry Patoka [email_address] iquestinc.com CreateTheConditions.com

A great strategy unimplemented is as useless as having no strategy. People develop your strategy. People execute your strategy. Strategy is all about your people . Get this part right.

If your Corporate Strategy is not being effectively implemented it’s because your people either…

Don’t know it.

Don’t understand it.

Don’t agree with it.

Don’t feel attached to it.

Don’t have a process to improve it.

Don’t have a framework to bring it down to a tactical level.

Don’t have benchmarks to navigate it.

Avoid the 7 Choke Points!

1 Don’t know it. How many times have you heard stories of CEO’s, incognito, asking employees what makes their company different and getting wildly different responses, none of which were correct? It’s not limited to the corporate masses. It happens at every level.

1 A senior executive approached me to apologize after I revealed the misalignment on their team. He was embarrassed. He was pissed off. He was inspired to explore how the executive team and employees can work together. He now runs that corporation, by the way. During my session with the C-Suite of a billion dollar company not one executive could clearly articulate the corporate strategy , and as a group, they did not agree on its fundamentals.

1 Not knowing is a symptom of two endemic problems Thinking Alone In Your Box + Weak Communications

1 Why it happens:

Little or no employee engagement through the process of developing strategy.

Entrusting all of your strategic thinking to senior executives without the benefit of “on-the-street-today” experience.

Rushing or limiting your strategic development to yearly bursts that don’t allow much time for others to contribute.

One-way, linear communications that don’t invite input from your people at all levels.

Failing to focus on the basic fundamentals that drive your business.

2 Don’t understand it. When you do communicate your strategy, are you playing “broken telephone”? You can’t rely solely on executives to pass it along to managers… who explain it to supervisors… who have a staff meeting and later… get full-timers to explain it to part-timers when they show up for a shift.

2 And don’t expect memos to get across the right depth of understanding Memos are helpful to share basic information. You need a little more depth when it comes to communicating your strategy.

2 Helping the people in your organization understand your strategy takes a more comprehensive and disciplined approach. Pre-Launch Program Launch Program Reinforcement Program Create a marketing plan with lots of interaction and reinforcement.     Etc.     Marketing      Production     Managers   Executives Intranet Program Email Series Memo Series Group Presentations Workshop Series Target Segments

3 Don’t agree with it. No matter what you do, not everyone will agree with your strategy. That’s okay. As long as you did your pre-launch homework.

3 Get feedback. Just because a few people don’t agree with the strategy doesn’t make it wrong. This is a learning and strengthening opportunity!   Disagree Rachna Vernon Albert Joyce Helen Sam Individuals  Trusted Customers Close Suppliers  Key Employees Advisors  Executives  Board Agree Group

3 Disagreement is your Early Warning System Use their answers, and yours, to identify and address potential gaps in either your strategy or your communication. Now . Before you go much further.

Ask why they disagree.

Listen carefully to their answers.

Listen even more carefully to your answers!

Can you respond quickly, clearly and convincingly?

Can you support your strategy with evidence?

4 Don’t feel attached to it. You need more than people’s brains for successful implementation… You need their hearts

4 To win hearts… Decisions Strategy Development Team enable contribution Tasks Research Testing Calibration Input Insights Opinions Experience Expertise Perspective Facts Results Departments Operations Finance Production Marketing Sales Customer Service

4 Creating attachment takes… consistent interaction, persistent effort, and multiple touch-points Big Messages: Collect feedback through online surveys so Core Team can quickly assess and utilize input. Focused Messages: Feedback flows up through managers who are better equipped to address specific issues. Communications from managers that translate Big Messages for departments and staff Communications from Core Team lay the foundation for the corporate strategy, keep employees aware of overall progress, ignites enthusiasm and stimulates feedback Engagement Focused Messages Big Messages

4 Find your Sparks!

Get Sparks on side early

Help them understand the underlying reasons for your strategic direction

Give them the basis to believe

Give them tools to communicate

Keep in close contact

Demonstrate your appreciation

Opinion leaders command attention from co-workers.

5 Don’t have a process to improve it. Your strategy is not perfect. Nothing is written in stone Except your Purpose and Core Values

5 Two major forces will push your strategy around One, your world changes. Dramatically. Two, employees will see things that require change. Deal with it before it destroys what you’ve built. Give them a way to do something about it.

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Don’t have a framework to bring it down to a tactical level. 6 Provide guidelines for the journey from corporate strategy to tactical reality Procedures; reporting. New metrics; new marketing; new voice mail greeting. How much time? Who is responsible? How does everyone know they’re doing the right things?

6 Strategy means change. How much change and how your people will react is dependant upon two attributes of your strategy:

How different it is; and

How new it is.

6 Fortify your framework by empowering your managers to work more effectively with their teams. Strengthen the framework by creating the channels for ideas to flow up and down Guidelines Metrics Examples Expectations

7 Don’t have benchmarks to navigate it. Implementing strategy takes time and resources. Keep track so you know what’s going on. Highlight issues that need to be addressed quickly. Evaluate internal processes, helping your organization become better, smarter and faster.

7 Establish a small team to formulate the implementation plan and benchmarks

Create a set of measures that…

Includes milestones to help everyone from the top down pinpoint progress against expectations;

Features simple triggers that trigger action; and

Includes learning modules to improve and embed processes.

7 The effectiveness of your strategy implementation is directly related to how well your strategy is being adopted by your people

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For example:

Executives might not consider the Schedule an issue until its six days late.

Managers may score it a negative and have to address it if it’s only one day late.

Each organizational group sets Strategy Adoption Scores against their needs.  Feedback  Performance  Schedule - + Adoption of Strategy

7 Negative Adoption Scores tell you where to look for the problems you have to address immediately Response to shortcomings of planning and/or forecasting Communication issue (Choke Points 1 – 4) Feedback negative Forecasting too optimistic Impact of change distracting Process issue – Choke Point 5 Benchmark issue – Choke Point 7 Performance below expectations Plan too aggressive Unforeseen hurdles Tactical issue – Choke Point 6 Benchmark issue – Choke Point 7 Off schedule Where you have to look Negative

Engage as many people in the organization as possible to contribute to strategy development, even if its just compiling information.

Communicate the direction and reasoning of your strategy in a way that makes sense to each audience.

Listen to what’s being said and learn from others in your organization who are responsible for bringing the strategy to life.

Help to bring the strategy closer to the minds and hearts of your people by developing a multi-channel, two-way communications program.

Provide a simple method to share thinking up and down the organization.

Establish a framework that empowers managers and employees to translate the strategy into their workday.

Measure what you do, how you do it and be proactive.

Creating The Conditions for Successful Implementation of Strategy

Read the full article at CreateTheConditions.com

A series of short presentations to help inspire thinking and accelerate action I would really appreciate your feedback. Visit CreateTheConditions.com to share your comments, ask questions and read articles on what it takes to create the right conditions for your business to succeed . If you’d like to learn how to develop the winning strategy by leveraging the collective brainpower of your organization, please visit iquestinc.com . Morry Patoka [email_address] Copyright © 2009 Create The Conditions Business Quickies