Organisations don’t fail at Strategy Definition. They fail at Strategy Execution.
To be good at the challenge of Strategy Execution, you need a “Model”: a set of frameworks and tools that lets you build a formal process to manage your strategy.
1. Start with a solid strategy
The Strat.exe Model goes beyond Strategy Definition, but it starts, of course, with a solid strategy, because you don’t want the wrong strategy brilliantly executed. That’s just accelerating towards death. You need to understand where you are, what’s happening inside and outside the organisation, what direction makes sense, and where your destination should be. That’s how you formulate strategy.
2. Translate it into tools built for execution
Here’s the catch: the tools and frameworks built for defining strategy are not designed for executing it. So you have to translate your defined strategy into tools built for the challenges of implementation.
Don’t show up to Execution Mode carrying your SWOT.
Show up with a Strategy Map, a Strategic Scorecard, and a well-prioritised portfolio of strategic initiatives that actually move the needle.
3. Create alignment
Once you have that, you need to create alignment by making sure everyone understands the strategy: how their department, and they themselves, can contribute, and how to align their performance to it. At the end of the day, you need everyone rowing in the same direction, because strategy is a common, coordinated effort.
4. Manage the strategy
Finally, Strategy Management. This is about knowing where you are on your strategic journey, and making execution part of the organisation’s day-to-day. It means constantly balancing the “speed of the boat” with the “turn of the boat”, all while you test the hypothesis behind your strategy.
Because a strategy is always a hypothesis: you test, you adapt, and even if the path changes, you still arrive at the right strategic destination.