DD
Hi David, I had a look at the blog and it starts with this “Do organisations fail at strategy implementation because people lack ambition, effort or capability? Usually, no.”
I am afraid I strongly disagree with this statement. In my experience this is exactly what causes a failure of strategy, be that in formulation, or execution. Sometimes it is capability, but most times it is about attitude, or culture. How do various parts of the organisation work together, do they agree on strategic priorities, do they share a common purpose, are they prepared to work with others to resolve those conflicts for the benefit of the organisation as a whole?
Where we succeeded in improving strategic performance it was by getting the people in the organisation to agree on their strategy together, and to agree on how to implement it together, and building their own accountability, governance and performance management processes and abilities in ways that kept all aligned.
Sometimes tools (software, automation) and admin staff helped them, and always the CEO/MInister/GM made sure that all management knew they were expected to follow the processes they had built.
There were key challenges in many cases that on occasion derailed the final outcome depite getting people on board - one of those was non-availability of key data for KPIs leading to delays and a weakening of ‘purpose’, another was conflicts between budget processes and strategy and governance processes.
