Most business strategies don’t fail in their development or implementation. Instead they fail in the gap between these two activities. I call this becoming ‘lost in translation’ and it is your ability to translate your strategic goals into actions on the ground that will be at the heart of your future success.
I’ve set out below seven questions to see if you have fully translated the strategy of your business so that your teams have the best possible chance of implementing it. For each question rate your organisation on the following scale: Fully Delivered; Mostly Delivered; Partially Delivered; Not Yet Started.
- The leadership team is completely and fully aligned on your number one goal, your strategy and your agenda for action
- You have prioritised and phased the key initiatives to deliver your strategy and your teams are totally committed to their delivery
- You have reallocated your scarce resources to reflect your new strategic ambitions
- Your top talent is leading the most important strategic initiatives and objectives
- You relate every ongoing decision and action to your underlying strategy
- Everyone in the organisation has a set of accountabilities that relate directly to your strategic objectives and agenda
- The KPI’s on which you base your performance management and rewards have been changed to reflect your new strategic priorities
From my experience you will need to have answered “Fully Delivered” for at least five of the seven questions and “Mostly Delivered” for the remaining two. If any of these actions are only “Partially Delivered” or worse I recommend that you give them immediate attention or run the risk of letting your strategy get lost in translation!
How well does your organisation stack up against these seven questions? Or do you think that there are other steps that need to be taken to set yourself up for the successful delivery of your strategy?
© Stuart Cross 2012. All rights reserved.