50+ SAMPLE Execution Strategy

What is Execution Strategy?

We should define what is strategy first before getting into the meaning of strategy execution. In simple terms, strategy is defined as a plan on how the goals, usually and preferably long-term ones, will be achieved using only the available resources. It can also be referred to as a plan for shaping the future with the available means.

Execution Strategy, also referred to as Strategy Execution, is defined as the execution of a strategic plan with the purpose of fulfilling a company’s goals. Strategic execution employs procedures, methods, or a sequence of decisions to explain goals for employees and outline the activities or actions that the company must take with the resources at its disposal to achieve its objectives. In other terms, it is all about bringing the initiatives of a business or an organization into life.

How Important is an Execution Strategy?

How important is an execution strategy, well, effective strategy execution can prove to be a massive benefit to an individual or an organization and its members via the following:

It makes things clear. Strategy execution assists a company in clarifying and achieving its objectives. How is this done? Well, it accomplishes this by defining task lists and allocating each one to an employee, along with instructions on how and when the work should be completed. Moreover, the implementation of a strategy focuses on collaboration and guarantees that information is shared with everyone who requires it.It creates more engagement. In what way does it increase engagement? Well, strategic execution includes every important personnel such as the shareholders, corporate leaders, managers, and their members during the planning phase of their goals. This proves to be advantageous for achieving goals since more employees are working toward a single goal, which makes the tasks to be faced less grueling. In addition to that, having more employees engaged on a single goal greatly helps in achieving work satisfaction since it gives them more involvement in the processes that can affect them.It activates initiatives. Having effective strategy execution greatly aids in the activation of company initiatives by adopting strategies to achieve goals. In turn, adopting strategies certainly aids in the growth and innovation of businesses. For example, a strategy may assist in activating an endeavor to diversity the workplace by establishing mechanisms that compel the organization to acquire additional employees.

Key Elements of Effective Strategy Execution

In strategy execution, there are some elements that need to be present (even if it is still in the planning phase) in order for them to be effective. The elements are listed below and keep in mind that this is more on the business side of things.

Firm Process. Before strategies can be executed, it needs proper planning. And strategy formulation involves time and energy. Therefore, it is critical that the company’s time and energy are not invested in irrelevant operations and analyses. It should not be too difficult to develop a successful plan given a proper approach is followed. It is also important to keep in mind that the procedure must be thorough and all-encompassing.Involvement. Strategic planning is vital in its execution and it cannot be carried out in isolation. It must be done by groups of individuals who take part in the conversation and contribute to the approach. Individuals such as employees, contractors, suppliers, and customers are all included in the change management process, which is a vital component of strategy execution.Proper Sequence. Strategic planning is comprised of a series of key components that give guidance to planning teams at each stage of the process. The planning and execution process begins with the company’s purpose, vision, and values, then move on to goal formulation, followed by a discussion of strategies and tactics, and lastly the objectives. Looking at the bigger picture, it is a cyclical process.Mission, Vision, and Values. This is the first step of the planning and execution process, and it serves as the foundation of the process. There are numerous organizations that develop them, however, they just ignore them and never even modify them. Markets evolve, competition changes, leadership changes, and a firm’s Mission, Vision, and Values must represent current realities as well as future demands of the organization and the markets it serves as everything around them changes.Goals. In this step of the planning process of the execution strategy, it should be emphasized that there needs to be very clear goals that are set by the higher-ups even during the planning phase so that the members have something to work towards. It makes no sense working in the dark and not knowing what the goal is.Planning. Once the goals and objectives have been defined, and assuming they are not impossible, cross-functional teams must now conduct market research, assess business performance, perform an update to their product roadmaps, perform an evaluation of their supply chain efficiency, perform a review of their organizational structure, and do anything else that is important to them. After that, the teams must assess the company’s capacity to accomplish its objectives and close strategic and operational gaps.Accountability. All corporate decisions should be based on clearly stated goals and a well-vetted strategic plan. Each stakeholder should be prepared to discuss their role in assisting the organization in meeting its strategic goals. If they can’t, then there’s a great chance that their attention is elsewhere. Every stakeholder should be held accountable for a set of goals that support the company’s top-level strategic goals. Without that responsibility, the firm is very likely to fail at strategy execution.Execution. Implementing a strategic plan is difficult because for the following reasons: It necessitates a constant focus on strategic goals that are prone to change over the course of the plan’s life, senior leadership is preoccupied with working in the company rather than working on the company, and lastly, it necessitates difficult decisions and accountability.

How to Successfully Execute a Strategy

As discussed, the planning process of strategy execution is a difficult process. But, even harder than the planning process, is the execution process of a strategy, Therefore, it needs to follow a number of steps, which will be discussed below.

  • 1. Planning Phase

    The planning phase is the first step that needs to be done in order to ensure the successful execution of the strategy. Ultimately, this step should address factors such as what you are willing to attain, the steps that need to be taken in order to arrive at the goal, the structuring method for strategy reporting, the frequency of meetings, the strategic communications plan, and who will the essential advisors be in the planning phase. It is important to not spend too much time on this phase since it will only initiate further discussions which only serve as unnecessary noise.

  • 2. Communication Phase

    After the strategic planning phase, the next important step in executing a strategy is to focus on the communications phase. It should be remembered that this step should be done early since many companies and organizations commit a huge mistake in only communicating the entire plan after they have developed it. In this step, make sure that the communication between each member is two-way. What does this mean? It simply means that the guidelines or policies to be followed come from the top and the ideas that materialize come from the bottom. Lastly, it should be remembered that exposing the strategic plan to the members is the best way of communicating with them.

  • 3. Goal Setting Phase

    Once the basics of the plan have been set and communicated to the members, now is the time to decide on what goals you need to achieve and subsequently make them tangible. This step is important because aligning goals and activities provide structure to the plan’s implementation. It will also bring out any topics that may have been ignored and add a layer of practicality. Goal management, in conjunction with goal setting, becomes the foundation for your ongoing monitoring, reporting, and performance evaluation. To set your goals, one thing that needs to be done is to link all of your employee’s activities to the strategic plan and begin working from there.

  • 4. Tracking and Reporting Phase

    After setting the goals in the previous step, now comes the tracking and reporting phase. In making this phase effective, there are elements that you need to keep in mind. The first thing you need to keep in mind is that you need to make certain that everybody in your business is constantly updating the status of their individual goals. The next thing is to provide updates and make sure that they include a quantifiable measure of progress toward the objective, as well as a paragraph or two of remarks to add variety and provide a more complete picture of progress. Another important thing to remember in this phase is that effective tracking serves as a stepping stone for reporting.

  • 5. Performance Management Phase

    When we talk about performance management, we generally refer to it as the phase wherein it becomes the sole domain of the human resources department. Even worse, they’re viewed as a process so that management has something to do. Goal setting should be a natural progression of performance management, which should be a natural progression of your strategic plan. As a result, it is an essential component of your strategy execution action plan. In order for this phase to be effective, it must be able to relate back directly to the strategic plan set by the organization, must be simple to use, and above everything else, it must be transparent and fair to everyone.

  • 6. Rewarding Phase

    The logical conclusion of strategy execution is the rewarding phase. Rewarding should also be included in the execution phase because its importance in the execution of the strategy cannot be easily undermined. This phase should be simple enough if all the previous phases have been done accordingly and without any hitches. A great example of rewarding members for the successful execution of strategy would be by giving them more opportunities to prove themselves in the area of leadership. One thing to remember in this step is that linking rewards to the execution strategy plan helps cultivate a better culture of implementing ideas.

FAQs

How important is the strategic planning phase?

The strategic planning step is critical because it establishes the framework for the plan and all of its constituent parts. It is also important because it converts strategic thinking ideas into a strategic action plan that produces the desired results, aims, and objectives of the company, as well as the necessary schedules and budgets that the company has allocated.

Why is it important to keep your members organized in the execution of the strategy?

It is important because organizational abilities in a team will aid in providing a favorable influence on strategy implementation. Being organized may help workers maintain track of their duties, communicate on a regular basis, and fulfill their goals. Giving team members tools to help them keep organized is beneficial. Process maps, for example, can aid in the definition and assignment of tasks. Time-tracking software might potentially help you manage your time more successfully.

How do you build your own strengths in strategy execution?

An important principle in strategy execution is building your own team’s strengths. To start off, utilize your company’s skills that set them apart from your competition as a springboard towards further success. Examples of things you can do to build your own strengths as a team include making a list of all the capabilities that make you unique from the competition, looking for scenarios in which you’ve excelled as a whole team in the company, describing every scenario that had to happen and perfectly align at the right time to make the unique abilities of your company work perfectly, and figuring out ways to improve your strengths to take your company to even greater heights in the future. The more you understand about your own talents as a team, the more opportunity you’ll have to capitalize on your strengths.

Effective strategy execution is a complex process. More often than not, larger companies will find it very difficult in planning and executing their strategy especially if they’re trapped between a rock and a hard place compared to small startups since they have become so complacent in their operations. This leads to them being so chaotic in their business operations. In order to successfully execute a strategy no matter how big or small your company is, you need to adopt a holistic approach. What is it? It means that you need to make a tangible connection between all the elements that make your strategic planning and execution work smoothly. As this approach is adopted, your company is given more leeway to plan for long-term success and also helps them get out of difficult situations more efficiently.