Strategy realization takes over where implementation falls short

The article is a serial on the article: Six Recommendations for Strategy Implementation
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Strategy cannot be realized in a rigorous chronological process. The idea of the classical implementation is no longer out of date. For example, as early as 2014, John P. Kotter came up with his own linear model of change in the book Accelerate. The 8 known steps of his model of change hold water, but, according to him, must be applied dynamically, flexibly and adapted to a changing reality. The ambitions of the strategy must be translated quickly into results and value that can be felt by customers, users and citizens; this is what we call realization. Realization is dynamic, experimental and iterative.

Power your strategy and build momentum in 100 days. A guide for top executives.

Since we set out in 2002 to make several strategies succeed, we have collaborated with a wide range of public and private organisations and, based on our experience from there, put together a strategy realisation process. We work on the realization of strategy in four stages. The four stages are like a railing with a series of processes and managerial levers that you as a top manager can hold on to while working on the realization of the strategy. There is a logic to the order, but it can and should be applied dynamically and always adapted to the situation in which you are. The method must never be in the foreground, and must, for our sake, be as good as invisible.

Phase 1: Strategic approach

“THE THIRD GENERATION'S STRATEGY WORK MUST HAVE BOTH GOALS, DIRECTION, FRAMEWORK AND FLEXIBILITY” (JESPER FISKER, DIRECTOR, CANCER CONTROL)

Never underestimate the importance of this stage. If you do not agree on the strategy in management, then it can have negative consequences for the rest of the course. The disagreement will manifest as a lack of coordinated action and ambiguous communication. Therefore, more than expected time is often spent in this phase. When the dialogue on the strategic direction is initiated, it often turns out that leadership groups are not as aligned as they themselves thought they were. It can feel like a setback. But this should instead be turned to an advantage, because the strategic base is made all the more stronger by the fact that disagreement has emerged, opinions have been discussed and you have subsequently reached agreement. In the dialogue you have got to know each other better, the trust has strengthened and the messages are sharper.

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Central to this phase is to describe the strategic ambition and context. What are you going to get away from? And what are you going towards? Are these minor adjustments or a larger and more fundamental change? How does the strategy affect your product or core task? Are there new ways of working and a desire for a culture change?

Currently, we see in several clients that there is a very strong focus on strengthening a culture in which one moves from providing demanded services to being a proactive partner. It's fluffy when you hear it mentioned the first time. However, this must be stated clearly and clearly by the top management in the strategic direction, and then later in the process it can be made concrete in the individual areas. In many organizations, change is a constant factor. Therefore, it is also important in this initial phase that you, as a senior manager, have an eye for connecting strategic elements and describing the connection between existing activities and the new ones that are on the way. Complexity can be difficult to communicate simply, but it is crucial for the further course. In some cases, there may also be good logic in prioritising and shutting down activities that no longer create value. A final important factor in a good strategic direction is dialogue. Get started quickly with conversations with managers, employees and external stakeholders.

Tell us about your strategic ambitions, listen to the response, and adjust wording where it makes sense. Especially on this point, as a top manager, you can show a more dynamic and open management style than in the more traditional strategy execution, where the involvement does not come much later, when the strategy is complete. The result of the first phase can be a one-pager in which the strategic base is sharply cut and ready to be translated into action within the organization.

Stage 2: Ownership and Traction

“IT'S IMPORTANT TO HAVE THE EXPERIENCE OF GETTING STARTED. IT MUST BE CONCRETE AND ACTION-ORIENTED. AND SO THE PLANS SHOULD NOT BE MADE BY THE TOP MANAGEMENT, BUT BY THOSE WHO HAVE TO CARRY THEM OUT. (JONATAN SCHLOSS, DIRECTOR, COMPONENT)

In Phase 1, you've been out presenting the strategy and putting your ear to the organization. But in Phase 2, ownership and traction must be seriously established so that managers and employees seize the strategy. Not because they have to, but because they want to. It remains a matter of communication and dialogue. You have to be visible out there. Participate in strategy sessions where opportunities and barriers are discussed by various actors. And your most important message has to be that you're handing over responsibility and freeing the organization to act. For it is through action that meaning, and therefore ownership, is strengthened.

An important step in this phase is to set up action teams that define concrete experiments that can be initiated in collaboration with relevant stakeholders. The experimenters will have to test bits of the strategy, large or small, and thus warm up to phase 3, which focuses on creating momentum. In forming action teams, we often challenge clients to cross paths. That is, not talk about cross-cutting cooperation. But actually cooperation across. And as a special leg brace, we encourage inviting external stakeholders right into the engine room, as outlined in Recommendation 4. The strategic efforts that you want to try out in experiments should be described quite concretely here, and the phrase from recommendation 6: “Think big — start small” is put into play. Strategy realization should be down to earth as long as it is relevant and you put the task at the forefront.

Stage 3: Propulsion on stakes

“I CONSTANTLY MENTION EXPERIMENTING TO MY MANAGERS AND EMPLOYEES, BECAUSE WE COULD PLAY, EXPERIMENT AND TRY NEW THINGS IN A LOT OF AREAS, AND WHEN WE DO, THE OUTCOME IS ALWAYS POSITIVE.” (HENRIK FYLKING-NIELSEN, CORPORATE VICE PRESIDENT, NOVO NORDISK)

At this stage, it's on with the boiler suit and getting down to business. Here, work must be carried out locally, with courses of action in defined time periods. We have good experience of working for a 100-day period at the same time throughout the organization, or in an area or department where there is a special energy or other acceleration to get started quickly. Solutions are developed, experimented, evaluated and adjusted in an ongoing and dynamic process that, in addition to creating strategic momentum, also creates a learning organization. Here you can focus on influencing culture or promoting desired behavior, while working on relevant activities. Connecting leadership development to such a course provides a very special trajectory for leadership training and learning that cannot be created in the classroom.

Along the way, new knowledge and insights are collected, which lead to new questions and ideas, which give rise to new experiments. Work is done in real-time in your daily life, and short meetings are added for planning and reflection. It becomes a common feature on the strategy, which buzzes throughout the organization. In this illustration from the book, we have tried to highlight the dynamic element of the course, where three joint workshops, testing ideas in practice and sparring in small teams are key elements.

Towards the end of a 100-day course of action, there is often great energy and desire to carry the experience forward. The good results and the learning must be used for something, so that the effort creates value in the future. The transition between Phase 3 and Phase 4 is one of the major hurdlers in strategy realization. How is innovation rooted and disseminated?

Stage 4: Anchoring and spreading

“STRATEGIC WORK IS TO THINK ABOUT AND SET A COURSE THAT CAN THEN BE CONTINUOUSLY ADJUSTED. AND THEN YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW UP! SYSTEMATIC FOLLOW-UP IN AN AREA SHOULD BE AS NATURAL AS FOLLOW-UP TO THE BUDGET PROCESS.” (MORTEN VOLMER PEDERSEN, MUNICIPAL DIRECTOR, NORDFYNS MUNICIPALITY)

In phase 3, as a top manager, you have been a bit withdrawn and have given way for managers and employees to run with the balls themselves. In stage 4, you can advantageously move closer to the process again. Indeed, in many cases anchoring and dispersal require an overall decision to adjust workflows, processes, management mechanisms and priorities. There needs to be a lot of focus on the successes. What has worked well and therefore needs to live on? Tell the powerful stories of change that have occurred to support the momentum that already exists. However, be prepared for the fact that positive stories can be met with skepticism and the “not-invented-here” syndrome. Communicate clearly, but keep the nuances. Perhaps not everyone thought that these changes were so great. In top management, you can usefully return to the ambitions that you agreed to at the initial stage. What have we achieved? Where have we not reached the finish line? What have we learned along the way? What decisions need to be made now? And then the big question finally comes: With the new knowledge we have and the results we have achieved, what new strategic opportunities and challenges should we focus on now? And then it's from the front. Change is the only constant in many organizations, so you might as well make strategy realization a habit and a process that can be integrated into your daily lives. With the four phases we have just presented, you can create a dynamic flow that ensures focus on the strategy at all stages of the organization — in a way that is energy-creating and empowering.

Six Recommendations for Strategy Implementation

The four phases can accelerate your work on the strategy and produce results faster than you expected. Are you ready to create extraordinary momentum on your strategy realization? In the end, only the individual strategy, the individual organization and the given ambition or challenge can determine how exactly a course is put together — and the results thereof. In the first part of this article, brought in December 2021, we presented six recommendations for strategy realization. They highlighted some points of attention, dilemmas and issues that you as a top manager can be aware of in your day-to-day leadership. Recommendations are particularly relevant when it comes to strategy implementation, because this is particularly where your organisation needs to be disrupted, supported and changed. As is the case with all management, recommendations should be applied pragmatically and with the greatest possible sense of timing and context. Read more: https://resonans.dk/strategirealisering-topledelsens-guide-til-fremdrift-paa-100-dage/

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Read the article at nb-kommune.dk