Vantage Blog
6 February 2023
Successfully implementing Strategy
Businesses that are highly successful over the long term have, in my view, a few key factors in common.
1. They are laser focussed on how they are going to compete in their chosen market – that is they have made clear strategic choices on where they will play and how they will win – in short, their competitive advantage.
2. They can identify the critical strategic priorities that will protect and grow their competitive advantage, and
3. They align the whole organisation around those strategic priorities, focussing on implementing them above all other agendas, activities and demands on their time
So how can you replicate this successful model?
Firstly, in terms of defining or refining your strategy, as per factor 1, you can’t go past Lafley & Martin’s Playing to Win framework.
Strategy, at the end of the day, is all about making clear choices, and the 5 key questions, if developed and validated in a rigorous manner, are the questions you need to answer.
• What is our winning aspiration?• Where will we play?• How will we win?• What capabilities must be in place?• What management systems are required?
For more information on this approach click here To give you an idea here’s a high-level example for a fictious national IT service company
1. They are laser focussed on how they are going to compete in their chosen market – that is they have made clear strategic choices on where they will play and how they will win – in short, their competitive advantage.
2. They can identify the critical strategic priorities that will protect and grow their competitive advantage, and
3. They align the whole organisation around those strategic priorities, focussing on implementing them above all other agendas, activities and demands on their time
So how can you replicate this successful model?
Firstly, in terms of defining or refining your strategy, as per factor 1, you can’t go past Lafley & Martin’s Playing to Win framework.
Strategy, at the end of the day, is all about making clear choices, and the 5 key questions, if developed and validated in a rigorous manner, are the questions you need to answer.
• What is our winning aspiration?• Where will we play?• How will we win?• What capabilities must be in place?• What management systems are required?
For more information on this approach click here To give you an idea here’s a high-level example for a fictious national IT service company
The second factor is very important and is sometimes skipped over or ignored amongst the busyness of so called BAU. At this point the team needs to identify the critical strategic priorities that will protect and grow your set of strategic choices.
The approach I have found to be highly effective is to diagnose your current and future health against each of the elements within the 5 strategy questions. You can do that by reviewing the inputs to your strategy development process. Scorecards of performance, SWOTs, specific diagnostic analysis – are all methods to undertake that process.
Armed with that information the board or executive team can traffic light each of the factors – red for way off course, amber for course correction needed, green clearly powering now and into the future.
Here’s an example…
The approach I have found to be highly effective is to diagnose your current and future health against each of the elements within the 5 strategy questions. You can do that by reviewing the inputs to your strategy development process. Scorecards of performance, SWOTs, specific diagnostic analysis – are all methods to undertake that process.
Armed with that information the board or executive team can traffic light each of the factors – red for way off course, amber for course correction needed, green clearly powering now and into the future.
Here’s an example…
And that then brings you to factor 3. What I have seen work, time and again, is for the executive team to develop a small set of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) that address those strategic priorities withing a 90-day horizon.
OKRs have been a big part of many companies success, including Google and Intel. John Doer's book Measure what Matters is a very useful handbook on how to drive performance and alignment through OKRs.
In summary Objectives are what you want to accomplish. They should be significant, meaningful and linked to your strategic aspiration and priorities.
Key Results are how you will accomplish the objectives and need to be limited in number and measurable within a 90-day period.
Based on the red and amber ratings above, this could be one of the OKRs for the next 90-day period
OBJECTIVE• Double the number of clients who rate us an 8+ for value delivered within the next 90 days
KEY RESULTS• Run value assessment and improvement workshops for top 10 clients • Develop two cyber security client papers • Join European technology foresight institute and exec team attend monthly briefings
A key tool to help align everyone and communicate what you are going to do is 90-day planning. This will take the high level OKR and enable teams to identify the detailed actions they need to undertake to achieve the stated objective. It also enables the OKRs to be cascaded to support focus and alignment. (For more information on 90-day planning click here )
Finally, it is important to check that your leadership teams operating model – how you measure, track, and hold yourself accountable for delivery – provides the structure, including how and when you meet, to support successful implementation across the organisation.
If you would like to know more, or if you need some help in structuring or running a strategy development and implementation planning workshop simply click here
James AtkinsVantage Strategy
OKRs have been a big part of many companies success, including Google and Intel. John Doer's book Measure what Matters is a very useful handbook on how to drive performance and alignment through OKRs.
In summary Objectives are what you want to accomplish. They should be significant, meaningful and linked to your strategic aspiration and priorities.
Key Results are how you will accomplish the objectives and need to be limited in number and measurable within a 90-day period.
Based on the red and amber ratings above, this could be one of the OKRs for the next 90-day period
OBJECTIVE• Double the number of clients who rate us an 8+ for value delivered within the next 90 days
KEY RESULTS• Run value assessment and improvement workshops for top 10 clients • Develop two cyber security client papers • Join European technology foresight institute and exec team attend monthly briefings
A key tool to help align everyone and communicate what you are going to do is 90-day planning. This will take the high level OKR and enable teams to identify the detailed actions they need to undertake to achieve the stated objective. It also enables the OKRs to be cascaded to support focus and alignment. (For more information on 90-day planning click here )
Finally, it is important to check that your leadership teams operating model – how you measure, track, and hold yourself accountable for delivery – provides the structure, including how and when you meet, to support successful implementation across the organisation.
If you would like to know more, or if you need some help in structuring or running a strategy development and implementation planning workshop simply click here
James AtkinsVantage Strategy