Five Reasons Your Company Is Failing At Strategy Execution

Most companies struggle with strategy execution; some don’t even know how to implement it. What could you be doing wrong?
 
70% of change efforts fall short of desired results. Statistics like these show that the financial losses are massive for corporations big and small. The primary challenge of improving performance using strategic change is implementation; however, those who realize this problem, look for a solution in the wrong places.
 
Executives often emphasize the importance of conveyance in strategy execution and while communication is important, it’s not the decisive factor for success. Of course communication is essential but there can be influential, tacit messages that often severely affect eloquence. 

Collective Emotions
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​Emotions aren’t generally dealt with in the corporate world. The collective sentiment of a manager’s employees are often swept under the rug. Business leaders often focus on the intellectual side of their individual employees and not so much on their responsive, palpable side. This tactic may work on the surface but once a dire alteration in the corporate environment becomes necessary, one might find employees reluctant to change.
This often occurs because the emotionally illiterate leadership of most results in change-averse behavior becoming widespread in the company. This isn’t problematic while profits are high and future economic prospects remain favorable; however, once the tides change, your workers – as a collective group – may not be willing to adjust with the tides. This’ll cause your enterprise to drown in an economic typhoon. Let’s take Microsoft as an example.
One or two years before the iPhone came out, Bill Gates tasked then-CEO Steve Ballmer with creating a copycat device that would be able to compete with Apple for electronic dominance. Though Ballmer had the resources – engineers and hundreds of millions of dollars in their budget – Microsoft failed to create a device comparable to the iPhone. Why?
Despite the available resources, there was no full cooperation present between the departments because of Microsoft’s cut-throat stack ranking system. This system forced managers to grade their employees “on a curve”; even if an employee did an outstanding job, his or her work was compared to his or her co-workers. Those who were at the bottom of the curve were often fired or had no chance to move up the corporate ladder or earn a raise. This created an atmosphere of competition as individuals teamed up with others that would make them look better as a form of self-preservation.
 
All collaboration that may have occurred between coworkers was stifled by the dehumanizing corporate culture. Microsoft isn’t the only corporation guilty of this. Your company may be establishing a dehumanizing corporate culture as well. What mistakes could you be making? 

Mistrust and Low Sharing of Information​

​No one wants to be the bearer of bad news. It’s even worse if your corporate environment feeds a politics first mentality where appearance management is prized above action.

Low Receptivity To Effortful Change

​Effortful change (even when beneficial) is extremely easy to profess and difficult to do. There’s a reason why New Year’s resolutions are such big flops. As a leader, you must demonstrate your own willingness and ability to change before expecting it of others.

Lack of Inspiration

​Leaders must inspire the change they want to see around them. If a leader fails to inspire the organization towards a common goal, each key member will veer off in its own direction. 

Mechanistic Action

​Under pressure, employees become creatures of habit and avoid taking risks

Complacency

​When confronted with the prospect of change, the organization believes that the status quo is good enough so no one makes an effort to change it. As a company you should always be striving for the best. 

Finding Balance

When you think about it, it all comes down to balance: employers often focus on the intellectual left side of the brain rather than the emotional right side. To execute a strategy successfully you need a good plan (left side) and an even better culture (right side). Cremer International can help you find the balance in your company. In no time, you’ll be able to ride off into the sunset hand in hand with your employees.

Contact us at aec@cremerinternational.com if you’d like more information.