An article on strategy execution

1. PHD in Business and Management
Semester 7: Session 2 live Presentation
Topic: Strategy Execution
by: Kabutu Chuunga
Introduction
A winning plan or ground-breaking product may briefly put you into
the limelight, but without a strong and effective execution, you will
not stay long there. Your inability to properly execute a strategy
may be due to the gap that exists between strategic planning and
execution. Having a good strategy is not even half the battle, the
real struggle is executing your strategy and keeping it going.

2. What is Strategy Implementation and
Execution?
If you ask managers what they think Strategy Execution is, they will
probably answer something like:
“the successful implementation of a plan” or “follow through with your
strategy”.
These statements might be somewhat true, but they don’t really tell us
everything that strategy execution entails and how to successfully do it
to drive top results.
A more proper definition would be “strategy execution is translating an
organization’s strategic initiatives into action” (Knowles, 2022).
Strategy execution is the most crucial step after a long planning process.
It is extremely important to do it right not just to make the planning
process worth it, but to obtain the best outcomes.

3. How to Execute a Strategy
Successfully?
Strategic planning sessions are frequently held by organizations,
costing hundreds of hours and ultimately money. But if there are
no clear strategic goals and target alignment across the entire
organization, all these efforts could be of no value and only
hindering the successful execution of the organizational strategy
that took so many hours to create.
There are several techniques that can help managers understand
the complexities of strategy implementation. If well understood,
these techniques can provide guidance on the aspects that will
help companies achieve a successful strategy execution.

4. How to Execute a Strategy Successfully?
Cont.…….
• Ensure that plans are aligned with the organizational mission, vision, and core
values.
• Build an effective leadership team.
• Create an implementation plan.
• Allocate budgetary resources.
• Assign objectives and responsibilities.
• Align structures and end-to-end processes.
• Align people.
• Communicate the strategy.
• Review and report on progress.
• Make strategic adjustments as necessary.
• Develop an organizational culture that supports the strategy.

5. Communication
Most of the problems companies face are frequently attributed to poor
communication. Sometimes we don't communicate well enough, we are
hesitant to ask questions, or we find it difficult to confess that we don't fully
understand what we are supposed to do, so we simply wing it and hope for
the best which, of course, never happens.
However, the truth is that to execute a good strategy, its implementation
completely depends on a 100% understanding and supporting of such
strategy. As such, clear communication of strategy to the people involved in
its implementation is vital.
Behind a successful strategy implementation lies an effective
communication strategy, one that motivates employees to thrive and
avoids resistance from employees to perform satisfactorily (Knowles,
2022).

6. Conclusion
To ensure that a strategy is well implemented, there is need to
monitor all stages of implementation. Having a system to monitor
the performance and development of the company's strategy is a
key element for successful strategy execution and achieving
strategic goals. This should be done in such a ways that after
assigning employees OKRs and/or KPIs, hold them accountable
and ask them to keep you updated on their performance. Project
and Performance Management dashboard can be used to
determine whether underperformance is the result of a shift in the
market, a misleading strategy, or simply poor execution from your
team.