Have you ever thought why ambitious Business Plans Fail? Most of them crafted with the greatest care, by talented minds sifting through reams market analysis. Their fulcrum resting on precision forecasting that accounts for slightest factor tremor. Yet they fade away with a whimper.

At Ensemble Skills, we have studied this phenomenon and want to share our thoughts.
But first some startling statistics:

61% of respondents acknowledge that their firms often struggle to bridge the gap between strategy formulation and its day-to-day implementation

80% of leaders feel their company is good at crafting strategy but only 44% at its implementation

10% of organizations achieve at least two-thirds of their strategic objectives, with 36% achieving between 50%-67% and 54% achieving less than 50%

Only 2% of leaders are confident that they will achieve 80-100% of their strategy’s objectives

So what stands between an excellent Strategy and its Execution?
Let’s find out:

1. Execution does not mix well with complexity and more often than not, Strategies are complicated. Execution works with Simplicity and Transparency. Keep it simple.

2. Organisations need to align in such a way that their critical overarching objectives are translated into daily activities or day jobs (at all levels). Each individual/level must feel that they are connected to the Organisation’s Mission Critical and that they are contributing. More often than not, this does not happen. The individuals’ busy daily activities take up the lion share of their day, leaving them with little or no time to pursue anything else.

3. Strategic Objectives ought to be simple and measurable. What gets measured, gets done. The abstract must be made tangible and quantifiable. This is also an ideal way to bring in accountability across the warp and weft of the Organisation.

4. Achievements must be promptly and publicly acknowledged and rewarded. Success begets confidence, confidence begets greater success – The Success Spiral.
Managers must work with those who struggle to achieve their benchmarks by constantly lending their support and encouragement.

We function in an age of rapid disruptions and constant flux. Organisations are left with no option but to become agile, turn on a dime and have the ability to course correct.

Got tenets of your own?
Share your learnings. Put them down in the comment section below. We look forward to your inputs.

*https://boardview.io/blog/strategy-execution-stats/

photo credit: Jaro Larnos Chess Match via photopin (license)