Effective implementation

The client needs an overview of how classic management activities -planning, organizing, controlling, and leading - enable successful strategy implementation. Pair this article with a short powerpoint presentation on how management acitivties tie in.

LEAD STORY-DATELINE: Journal of Business Strategy, March/April 2003.

Many executives may think that their job is finished once a strategy has been formulated. The real genius, however, according to Freedman, is in implementing the strategy. Some of the barriers to successful implementation include a failure to start, a failure to get buy-in from everyone needed, a lack of focus, a lack of ownership, ineffective communication, failure to measure progress toward the goal, a failure to actually accomplish anything (though energy is being expended), a lack of patience, and a failure to reward successes.

To ensure that strategy implementation is more successful, the five phase strategy process should be employed. The process begins with the collection of information as the basis upon which strategic decisions will be made. The second phase is the actual formulation of the strategy. Then the projects identified necessary to meet the strategic objectives are then planned in the third phase. This sub-process has been referred to as the Strategic Master Project Plan (SMPP). Only then is strategy implemented - in the fourth phase. And finally, to ensure success, evaluation or monitoring should be conducted in the fifth phase.

Effective implementation depends upon carefully communicating the strategy to all stakeholders - both inside and outside the organization. When strategy drives the planning process, implementation is eased. When new strategies are implemented, changes must often be made - particularly in terms of structure and processes in the organization. Implementation can also be eased as complexity is reduced. And finally, having key processes in place (including decision-making, problem analysis, opportunity analysis, situation analysis, and project management) will assist in effective implementation.