While facilitating a two-day annual strategic
planning meeting for a long-time client the
other day, a major discussion erupted over
the apparent need for a "new" strategy.
Obviously, the economic conditions of the
past two years have negatively impacted most
companies to some degree, and this client was
no exception. But they have stabilized and
rightsized the company, have positive cash
flow and are poised to take some market share
from weakened competitors as they come out of
the recession.
IS THE PROBLEM THE STRATEGY OR EXECUTION?
I was quite intrigued about the stated need
for a "new" strategy (which was only
supported by about half the executive team),
because three years ago they spent a
significant amount of time and effort
crafting a new strategic plan with four main
threads and clear strategies, tactics and
measurable goals for the short-term (0 to 2
years), mid-term (2 to 5 years) and long-term
(5 or more years). Admittedly, the recession
interrupted progress on some of the goals, as
they refocused on the need for immediate
actions to maintain cash flow and deferred
some of the items. But it was nevertheless
interesting to see how quickly the team
forgot about all the high quality work they
had done to create a great vision, seeming to
think there was some new strategy or silver
bullet they could or should pursue.
I listened carefully to the debate and
finally weighed in re the existing vision and
strategic plan. My question revolved around
whether there was a problem with the vision
and plan, or whether the problem was with
execution. In addition to the challenges of
the recession, there had been some turnover
on the senior leadership team, some
accountability had slipped, certain
initiatives had not been completed as
expected, and they had allowed other
short-term hot issues to pre-empt their
long-established meeting rhythm. I had
already been warning them about some of this
laxness, which was being excused by the need
to respond to the recession. I had pointed
out that in tough times, priorities,
accountability, meeting rhythm and execution
are even more critical and stabilizing. I
challenged the assumption that something was
wrong with the vision or strategy, and
proposed that if they would get back to solid
execution, in my opinion they could return to
excellent results.
None of us has ever faced the depth of
recession we have just experienced, and it
was scary. But for those of us "gray hairs"
who have lived through three or four
recessions in our business careers, we know
how to survive. And typically the answer is
not to try and dramatically change the vision
and strategy but rather to adapt to the new
normal we will face, set appropriate
priorities and execute like crazy. Rarely in
my career have I seen a situation where
something was drastically wrong with the
vision and strategy; the problem usually is
the execution. Remember, an average quality
vision well executed is far better than the
best vision in the world that is not fully
executed.
Worry less about the vision and more on the
team, alignment and accountability to execute
your existing vision. As Jack Welch says in
his book Winning, set a general course of
action (since it will most certainly change
and seeking perfection takes too long and is
too expensive), put the right people in place
who can execute the vision, and constantly
benchmark best practices to improve execution.
Best regards,
Jim Alampi
Alampi & Associates LLC
phone:
248.349.6045
