Many organizations are great at creating strategy yet struggle to implement even 50 percent of their strategic objectives. Their objectives are rarely too difficult or unattainable; rather it comes down to the capacity and capability of the organization’s leadership. In this session, learn how teaching managers and staff how to lead effectively can expedite the execution of your strategic objectives and position your organization to outperform your competitors.

1. Expedite Exceptional Execution of
Your Strategic Plan
Training Industry Conference & Expo (TICE)
June 2019

2. A Strategic Plan Is
A set of priorities that drives leadership to:
focus energy and resources
strengthen operations
ensure that employees and other stakeholders are
working toward common goals
establish agreement around intended outcomes/results
assess and adjust the organization's direction in response
to a changing environment
2Source: https://www.balancedscorecard.org/BSC-Basics/Strategic-Planning-Basics

3. Raise Your Hand If You
• Are aware that your organization has a
strategic plan
• Have read the strategic plan for your
organization
• Have discussed the strategic plan with your
direct supervisor and/or team
• Understand the strategic plan and how what
you do every day helps to achieve strategic
initiatives
3

4. 4
You are not
alone!
If you didn’t raise your hand at all
or had to put it down for any of those questions

5. 5
At least not according to these statistics…

6. 6
Statistic Sources:
1 https://www.sixdisciplines.com/thesixdisciplinesblog/strategy-execution-the-scary-statistics
2 http://www.org-synergies.com/Strategy%20Execution%20Paper3.pdf
3 https://www.sixdisciplines.com/thesixdisciplinesblog/strategy-execution-the-scary-statistics
85%
of leadership
teams spend LESS
than 1 hour per
month discussing
strategy1 Just 42%
of managers and
27% of staff have
access to the
strategic plan2
95%
of staff do not
understand the
strategy of the
organization3
Communication

7. Communication May Create…
Alignment: List 1 or 2 examples of when you have
experienced alignment between what leaders SAY is
important and what they DO
7
Misalignment: List 1 or 2 examples of disconnects
between what you hear leaders SAY is important
and what you see or experience that they DO

8. 8
We believe in
respectfully working
together to achieve
goals.
But it’s the raving
lunatics that get
promoted!Alignment
Misalignment

9. There is Hope!
Aligning efforts towards a
common goal has
positive impact! 9
Especially when it helps
to eliminate
undesirable behaviors!

10. Alignment Requires Competent Leadership
Leaders focused on alignment:
• Ensure a strong connection among the organization’s
mission and its operational resources
• Fine tune departmental goals and objectives and discover
implementation gaps
• Address issues that may exist around internal efficiencies
and effectiveness
10

11. Leadership Competencies Bridge the Gap
61% of leaders admit they struggle to bridge the gap between creating the
strategy and implementing it.
In other words, the leadership competencies needed to execute the plan
may be different (and more challenging) than those used to create the
plan.
11Statistic Source: http://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/thought-leadership/why-good-strategies-fail-report.pdf

12. Which Competencies are Needed
to Create the Plan?
12
Assess
• Identify Strategic
Issues
• Complete SWOT
Analysis
• Scan the
Environment
(External /
Internal)
Design
• Determine Unique
Advantage
• Identify Strategies
& Objectives
• Develop Financial
Projections
• Create Vision,
Mission, Values
Build
• Determine
Priorities
• Set Organizational
Goals
• Identify and track
Key Performance
Indicators
• Develop Cascading
Goals (Dept. &
Individual)
• Establish Budget

13. Which Competencies are Needed
to Execute the Plan?
13
Manage • Communicate the plan
• Allocate appropriate resources
• Eliminate obstacles to achievement
• Review the plan regularly and adapt or update
as needed
• Ensure leaders and staff possess the right
skills and knowledge to implement the plan

14. Group Discussion
• How are the competencies needed to create a strategic plan
different from those needed to execute and manage the plan?
• How does your current leadership development effort support the
transition from plan creation to plan execution?
• How might you educate your leadership on the need to expedite
execution?
14

15. 15
Need help convincing leaders that leadership
development efforts will help them expedite
execution of their strategic plan?

16. The Stats are with You
Less than 10% of all
organizations successfully
execute their strategy because
they fail to communicate and
live the strategy.
16
How Strategy is
Created
How Strategy
is Lived
How Strategy is
Communicated
Strategic
Success
Statistic Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/larrymyler/2012/10/16/strategy-101-its-all-about-alignment/#3a9a9fb128cf

17. The Stats are with You
17
76% of successful companies focus
on a limited number of strategic
initiatives at a time.
30% of leaders say their single
greatest challenge in executing is
failure to coordinate across
functional units.
Statistic Sources:
Norton, David P. "Strategy Execution, A Competency that Creates Competitive Advantage." Palladium Group Whitepaper (2007): 1-7
https://hbr.org/2015/03/why-strategy-execution-unravelsand-what-to-do-about-it

18. The Stats are with You
64% of successful companies build
their budget based on the strategy,
not how much they spent last year.
Compensation for 70% of managers
and more than 90% of frontline
staff is not linked to the strategy.
18
Statistic Sources:
Norton, David P. "Strategy Execution, A Competency that Creates Competitive Advantage." Palladium Group Whitepaper (2007): 1-7
https://www.sixdisciplines.com/thesixdisciplinesblog/strategy-execution-the-scary-statistics

19. Eight Execution Expediters
19
DISCUSS the plan frequently
FOCUS on what’s achievable now
IMPLEMENT the right things
COLLABORATE across functional areas
EDUCATE and build understanding
SHARE widely and transparently
LINK compensation to the plan
BUILD a strategic budget

20. LACE: Weaving Leadership Competencies
to Plan Execution
•Link
• Budget to strategy (not past performance)
• Compensation to strategy
•Allocate resources
• Strategy vs. operations
• Time, people, $
•Communicate & Collaborate
• Discuss strategy frequently
• Widely share the strategic plan
• Collaborate across functional boundaries
•Educate
20

21. 21

22. A True Partnership
Our mission is to drive performance in
the learning and development
community by connecting the right
talent with the right opportunity.
• Custom learning solutions
• Staff augmentation
• Employee development
• IT & advanced technologies
22
A distinctive performance improvement
company with a mission to inspire adaptable,
people-driven organizations to succeed in
shifting environments through better thinking.
• Leadership development
• Strategic & cultural alignment
• Change management
• Operational distinction

23. Potential Leadership Competencies
Needed at Each Phase
23
Assess
•Enhanced communication
•Open-mindedness
•Self-awareness
•Social awareness
•Critical thinking
•Understanding and leveraging
data and statistics
•Financial acumen
•Creative thinking
•Listening skills
•Transparency
•Effective coordination
•Diversity & inclusion
Design
•Assess plus…
•Vision
•Strategic thinking
•Creative thinking / innovation
•Systems thinking
•Collaboration skills
•Decision making
•Team building
•Transparency
•Diplomacy
•Influence
•Conflict management
•Priority setting
•Optimism
Build
•Assess, Design, plus…
•Goal setting
•Financial acumen
•Delegation
•Empowerment
•Humility
•Action-orientation
Manage
•Communications
•Action-oriented
•Conflict management
•Transparency
•Creative thinking
•Influence
•Agility/adaptability
•Enabling and inspiring others
•Commitment & passion
•Accountability
•Failure management
•Resilience
•Persistence
•Problem solving
•Priority management
•Coordination
•Resource allocation
•Realism
•Project management
•CHANGE MANAGEMENT

24. Potential Leadership Competencies
Needed at Each Phase
24
Assess
Design
Build
Manage