4.2
By Pia Fuglsang Bach, Community Manager at CfL, updated June 2024
The difference between success and failure often comes down to the ability to execute. It is not a lack of strategies, plans, visions, or good ideas. The major challenge is the actual ability to effectively bring strategies to life.
There is no doubt that the execution phase is often the most difficult part of strategic work, so the question is how we achieve effective execution – or implementation, as it is also called.
CfL has advised on strategy and execution for many years, and our experience is that strategy and implementation should be worked on simultaneously. That is, strategy development and strategy implementation should be treated as almost parallel processes within the same phase.
A strategy is a long-term plan that creates goals and direction. It is the strategy that ensures everyone in the organization moves in the same overall direction, but it is the flexibility, competence, and autonomy of the individual employee that ensures action and execution.
CfL’s method for working with strategy and action in the same movement is inspired by the international leadership expert Stephen Bungay, who is known and recognized for the bestseller The Art of Action.
His main point is that goals and purpose must be clear and known, but operational freedom is granted so that different parts of the organization can translate the strategy into actions on their own.
A central method in this context is an iterative briefing backbriefing process, in which all levels of the company receive a clear common direction for their area and respond on what needs to be done to achieve it.
Briefing and backbriefing can be explained in the following way:
Briefing is about translating the purpose of the strategy
Briefing is about getting the strategy – that is, direction and purpose – translated to every level of the organization. For example:
If a director is tasked with achieving 30 percent growth, the purpose must be translated to the sales department. Here it may involve finding a new customer segment, or it could mean increasing sales to existing customers.
The point is that simply presenting the 30 percent growth target in a department does not make sense. It will immediately raise questions about how, who, and when, so it is up to the department itself to propose solutions.
Backbriefing is about getting everyone in the organization to contribute their ideas. When the purpose of the strategy is clear, the question becomes how to make it succeed, and as a leader, you should refrain from providing the solution yourself. Everyone must contribute.
If we return to the example of a 30 percent growth target, you should not say that employees must call specific customers on a specific day. It is up to the individual team leader or employee to come back and explain that they will pursue a particular plan based on the customer portfolio.
That is the difference between micromanagement and leadership. Have you turned your employees into machines, or have you given them the necessary skills and framework so they know what to do?
In reality, it is about giving employees freedom. It is only when they are in the concrete situation – for example, facing a specific customer – that they know what to do. They must act in the situation rather than believing they can control everything in advance.
One of CfL’s experienced advisors in strategy and execution is Chief Advisor Henrik Graungaard. His recommendations for implementation fall into three categories:
It is about becoming very aware that messages must be broken down for specific target groups. All that with a single script and the same slide deck for the entire organization is a cardinal sin. Leaders must have such strategic insight at all levels that they can precisely translate from their level to all employee levels.
You must trust that you have hired capable employees, and they must solve tasks on their own. You must dare to remain in your leadership role and not succumb to the temptation to play the know‐it‐all. At the same time, you must also be able to point out when something can be improved. “It is also a leadership task.”
How do we create a culture where we can speak openly – both about the good, commendable things and also about what does not work or is not right? An example may be an employee who, for five consecutive years, receives poor evaluations but gets away with it because that person earns a lot of money. If that is the case, then top management is tone-deaf.
The fact is, organizations with a healthy culture are much more resilient in handling challenges at a completely different level than those that simply refuse to adapt. They may achieve short-term gains, but they often end up collapsing.
CfL has designed a process in which strategy and execution go hand in hand. The typical phases are:
Strategy execution or implementation does not happen on its own, and it is not uncommon to only achieve parts of your strategic plan – partly because the external environment changes rapidly, but more importantly because you learn as you go.