Print this page... for All Its Difficulties, Solutions Exist
Strategy Execution Widely Viewed as the Prime Cause of Failure
The Balanced Scorecard Collaborative cites the difficulty with strategy implementation with an early 1980's Fortune Magazine study which reported that less than 10% of organization's strategies are effectively executed, even if effectively formulated. Fifteen years later Ram Charan conjectured in a Fortune article that 70% of the reasons CEOs fail is due to poor strategy execution, not the strategy itself.
A Triumph of Execution
Around this same time, Larry Bossidy was being recognized as a highly effective CEO for his leadership of AlliedSignal. Leaving GE to run Allied Signal in 1991, Larry demonstrated his mastery of execution, achieving performance results which quintupled the stock price of the old industrial company in the five years from the time he stepped in as leader. Bossidy then joined Honeywell in 1999 following its merger with AlliedSignal. Bossidy's focus at Honeywell was "to restore the discipline of execution to a company that had lost it." Bossidy and Charan teamed up to write their best selling book extolling the virtues of disciplined execution, Execution, published in 2002.
Execution Solutions Exist
Whatever the actual statistics regarding strategy execution, organization leaders know that strategy deployment is extremely challenging. Sometimes the challenge is getting out of the fire fighting mode long enough to pay attention to the strategy. Sometimes the challenge is prioritizing the work and aligning to execute the strategy. Whatever the execution challenges, the good news is that solutions exist.
The Strategy Execution Body of Knowledge is Strong and Accessible
Fortunately, there has been great learning, improvement, and organizing the body of knowledge regarding strategy execution. Organizations like the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, books like Execution and Collins's Good to Great, and Policy Deployment techniques from Lean are readily available to businesses with the conviction and discipline to implement a strategy. Strategy planning and deployment are challenging, but they are challenging like getting yourself in good physical condition is challenging, the guidance and methods exist, you have to supply the discipline.
The BAi framework for strategic management competency incorporates the known successful methods and knowledge of how to plan and deploy strategy.
