The secrets to successful strategy execution pdf

Here they are, in order of importance. The ability to deliver on performance commitments 10 strongly influences career advancement and 32 compensation. With this accurate, managers.

Current CEO Jim make ineffective, tactical marketing decisions. Owens, then a managing director in Indo- Within 18 months, the company was work- nesia, told us that such information that did ing in the new model.

Once made, decisions are rarely About the Data Pricing, for example, was based on cost and determined not by market realities but by the second-guessed. Whether someone is second- guessing depends on your vantage point. It had a problem others might envy: It of 26, responses. It did not reward the delegation of operational decisions are quickly free to focus on more global strategic issues.

Their talent and tion grew. Second-guessing was an art form. An effort to expedite success indicator in 25 of the 31 data market decisions. We worked into a key customer segment.

All managers were potential trade-offs and volume discounts. Once people had a clear been a problem because the company had idea of what decisions they should and should been the dominant player in a high-margin not be making, holding them accountable for market. But as the market became more com- decisions felt fair. Clarifying decision rights and and they became increasingly reluctant to responsibilities also improved the organiza- enter into favorable relationships.

The customer division be- zational boundaries. Moreover, the organization as a cause analysis. These moves bred held accountable. Since scores for even the the information they need to understand strong companies are pretty low, though, this the bottom-line impact of their day-to-day is an issue that most companies can work on.

Rational decisions are necessarily A cautionary tale comes from a business- bounded by the information available to em- to-business company whose customer and ployees. They can hardly be faulted, clients, the company had established a even if their decision is—in the light of full customer-focused marketing group, which information—wrong.

But this group issued no have the information they need to understand clear and consistent reports of its initiatives the bottom-line impact of their decisions.

In arounds that subvert formal reporting lines. So what to do did risk assessments, placing each in a differ- about it? Unfortunately, they faces a unique set of internal and external failed to institute the necessary information variables, there is no universal answer to that and motivation links to ensure smooth opera- question. As a result, each pursued different, and sources of the problem. In our work, we often often competing, goals. The more people in the organization with clients that cost the company more than who take the survey, the better.

Without of actions. The options ered the front-end people to be cowboys. All of these To help companies ciled, management would bemoan the sharp actions are geared toward strengthening one increase in operational costs, which often or more of the 17 traits.

This interactive tool accompanies more year-end surprises. Unclear decision rights Transformation. While there taken into account. The center might decide what technol- ogy applications, for instance, to develop on Mapping Improvements to the Building its own rather than set priorities according to Blocks: Some Sample Tactics what was most important to the organization.

In a similar way, major product launches Companies can take a host of steps to improve their ability to execute strategy. Every one strengthens one or more among departments. The marketing depart- of the building blocks executives can use to improve their strategy-execution capabil- ment would develop new coverage options ity: clarifying decision rights, improving information, establishing the right motiva- without asking the claims-processing group tors, and restructuring the organization.

Nor Clarify and streamline decision making at each did marketing ask the actuarial department operating level. To identify the greatest barriers to building Assign process owners to coordinate a stronger execution culture, Goodward In- activities that span organizational functions.

Numer- Define and distribute daily operating metrics to the ous previous surveys employee-satisfaction, field or line. As it turned out, middle manage- ment was far more pessimistic than the top Broaden spans of control. Sharing informa- low [unless it comes] from everywhere. In a single group. Sixty-seven quarters quickly. What better. You are faced with dozens of levers address the weakest links in your organiza- you will see is illustrated below. To help you make the right The beauty of the simulator is its ability to ited time and resources.

You choices, the simulator offers insights that shed consider—consequence-free—the impact on operate in the real world. You can tions. It then generates a bar chart indicating While the simulator cannot capture all of go to www. It serves as a cient in improving execution at your company. Although is a perfect score, no- body is perfect; even the most effective com- panies often score in the 60s and 70s. Now they intermin- dle management revealed that the wrong gled, making themselves more accessible and information was moving up the org chart.

Seating at these events the broader marketplace. They only started, they kept going. For instance, assessed their own informal networks to the company had a project under way to understand how people making key decisions create new incentives for its brokers. Being clear about who needs respondents felt that decisions were regularly what information is encouraging cross-group second-guessed at Goodward.

The the group level, so that rather than focus on program integrated early, often symbolic, solving the mystery of who caused a problem, changes with longer-term initiatives, in an management can get right to the root cause of effort to build momentum and galvanize par- why the problem occurred. A well-designed ticipation and ownership.

As a result, the focus of man- to signal their intention to create a more agement conversations has shifted from trying informal and open culture. One symbolic to explain the past to charting the future— change: the seating at management meetings anticipating and preventing problems. As long as com- reer path to emphasize the importance of panies continue to attack their execution lateral moves to career advancement. The insurer has distributed own- fail.

With these two cross-unit collaboration and clarity of decision building blocks in place, structural and moti- making have improved as much as 20 to 25 vational elements will follow. And high performers are 1. The details for this example have been taken from Gary L. Even at the companies that are best at or go to www. Kaplan and David P. Skip to search form Skip to main content Skip to account menu You are currently offline.

Some features of the site may not work correctly. Corpus ID: The secrets to successful strategy execution. Neilson , K. Martin , Elizabeth Powers Published 1 June Medicine, Business Harvard business review When a company finds itself unable to execute strategy, all too often the first reaction is to redraw the organization chart or tinker with incentives.

Far more effective would be to clarify decision rights and improve the flow of information both up the line of command and across the organization.

Then, the right structures and motivators tend to fall into place. View on PubMed. Save to Library Save. Create Alert Alert. Share This Paper. Background Citations. Methods Citations. Results Citations. Topics from this paper.

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