Strategy will only get you so far.

A well-defined strategy can provide a lot of value for you and your business (read more). But making strategic choices will only get you so far.

Engaging your team and executing your business strategy with discipline will help you capture the value of your strategic choices.

Engage your team.

Once you have made the choice on where to focus your business, share it, then share it again and again. Repetition is key. Studies have shown that people need to hear a message seven times before they retain it.

By applying various methods, you can bring your team along the journey from awareness to ownership of your business strategy.

• Awareness—Does your team know it exists? Write it down and communicate it.
• Understanding—Does your team appreciate it? Have a conversation about what it means to them and the organization.
• Acceptance—Does your team feel connected to it? Share stories about it.
• Ownership—Does your team act on it? Provide training and integrate into individual goals.

Inspire action, begin your business strategy with purpose and aspiration worth pursuing.

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” —Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Execute with discipline. 

First, set-up you and your team with clear path forward to effectively make progress.

• Set clear priorities—Define three to five short-term areas focus aligned with strategic choices. 
• Develop a plan—Define specific action steps, owners and timing aligned with each priority.
• Continue team engagement—Engage the team to develop the plan and establish ownership of actions.
• Establish a project management system—Understand if action steps are being completed as expected.

Next, take steps to understand whether you are making progress.

• Identify measures—Define metrics to understand if progress is being made against strategic choices.
• Set targets—Define where do you want to be at a point in time (e.g., in one year).
• Create a dashboard—Visualize progress against metrics in one place.
• Establish a monitoring system—Determine who is involved and frequency of review to guide execution.

Executing with discipline is an ongoing process. On a quarterly basis, take a step back to review and refresh—review overall progress and understand and address roadblocks, refresh priorities and the plan to execute.

Have you taken the steps needed to capture the value of your business strategy? 

Want to learn more? Click here to contact us or to schedule a complimentary consultation.