Think big and start small — when the strategy needs to be realized!

The quality of the strategies we encounter, in both public and private organizations, is significantly better than the one we saw just a few years ago. We see that the strategies are ambitious and that they relate explicitly to the changes taking place in the outside world. At the same time, they are often very clear about what they need to hold on to, unlearn and teach in order to succeed. It is very clear that there is a thorough work behind the strategies, and often work that has involved employees, customers, users and stakeholders in formulating the direction.

Where we still see that many organisations are challenged, it is to put the strategy into practice and really start the changes and actions that will lead to the realisation of the strategic ambitions. Why is it so difficult for so many?
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Strategies are still often formulated with a 3-5 year perspective, and often in some relatively broad terms. It is more the exception than the rule that we see the overall strategy broken down into concrete objectives, for which ownership has been taken for the right places in the organization. Worryingly, many in the organisation do not know the strategy at all. Perhaps the headline of the strategy is known. But not main elements of the content. The strategy has been laid, but we don't know where we put it!

Realizing a strategy requires prioritization, focus, insistence and persistence, and constantly challenging oneself and one's organization to do, rather than talk. A lot of strategy realization gets counted to death, and that can build up a passivity in the organization that can be tremendously difficult to manage.
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As the highly successful founder and CEO of Southwest Airlines Herb Kelleher once said when asked about their strategy. “Hell yes... we have a strategic plan... it's called doing things!”
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A 2020 strategy has a long time horizon, and as an employee you could say, “why do we have to start this now, I have a lot to look at already”. But this is where prioritization, focus and insistence come into play, because it's all about getting started doing something, as Herb Kelleher says.

In other words, it is about how you as a leader can create a focused and coordinated effort that accelerates strategy realization and creates bridges between the overall strategy and the concrete actions of everyday life. It is only when individual managers and employees experience real progress in meaningful strategic work that the ball starts to roll in earnest. Help them create the conditions for that to happen.

Insist on realization and action

One way to start is, for example, to initiate a 100-day strategy realization process, where the individual teams/departments/units themselves identify a high-priority strategic objective based on the overall strategy that they will work together on the next 100 days.
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The following can be a guideline to select the objective...
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• The objective must be linked to the most important strategic objectives of the overall strategy — check if it is, otherwise it is an ommer!

• The goal must be closely linked to everyday tasks and practices

• The goal should allow employees and customers and users to be involved in the work
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When the work on the 100-day training course takes place, focused and intensive work can be done with, among other things, feedback coupled to the 100-day progress internally between managers/employees and employees in between and between the organization and stakeholders. What works? What do we succeed in? Where are the challenges? Who can help? What is the next step, etc.
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The aim is to simultaneously begin the realisation of the strategy at the same time as building change and action competence in the organisation. Focusing on continuous progress along the way, for example, at daily or weekly sprint meetings over a focused 100-day period, will ensure shared learning and understanding of how creating strategic results together is actually quite fun and developing.
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Do you and your management colleagues know your company strategy in depth? And what would you be able to accomplish in 100 days?
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It's about thinking big, and starting small!

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