We heard that 60 to 70 percent of all strategic plans fail to reach their desired outcomes. We wanted to know why!

We’ve all heard the phrase “go with your gut.” But should you really be funding projects based on supposition and emotion? And we’ve also heard about how growing a business takes perseverance, commitment, and determination. While these are important attributes for every company executive or entrepreneur, perseverance, commitment, and determination alone may not be enough to get you to your goal.

Following a strategy management process will guide you and your organization in formulating, implementing, and executing a strategy that will significantly increase your probability of success.

Michael G. Addario
President Norveld Business Systems, Inc.

Strategy Management - Pathway to the next level.

Here I’ll discuss the three distinct pillars of strategy management: Formulation, Implementation, and Execution, their proper order, and the important distinctions between them. I’ll pay particular attention to the strategy implementation process, primarily because it is the component that forms the critical link between formulation and execution, and unfortunately, most often ignored or missing.

Strategy Management

Chapter 1 - Part 1: Why Good Strategies Go Bad

Chapter 1 - Part 2: The 3 Pillars of Strategy Management

In the beginning you have a desire, a goal, or a dream. You know two things: where you are now and where you want to be. Strategy formulation will validate that goal and help plot a realistic journey to get you there. Without it, you’re just making it up as you go. Unfortunately this is not easy. It will take some thought and likely some research but it will be well worth the effort.

Chapter 2 - Part 1: Setting Your Direction

Chapter 2 - Part 2: External Analysis

Chapter 2 - Part 3: Internal Analysis

Chapter 2 - Part 4: Primary Strategy Selection

Chapter 2 - Part 5: Your Strategy Framework

Organizations often don’t include strategy implementation in their strategy management practice or don't distinguish it from strategy execution. Isolating the strategy implementation process is critical because it converts  strategic goals and objectives into assessment criteria and ultimately into a strategic portfolio of approved projects that are directly aligned and prioritized with the organization's strategy and capabilities.

Chapter 3: Doing The Right Things

Once you have an approved project, it’s now time for action. The projects must be executed. Typically, project execution falls to the project managers or the project office. They hold a lot of responsibility for how to get things done. While organizations like PMI, IPMA, and ISO promote many project management skills, I suggest there are just five critical success factors where senior managers need to be heavily involved in order to do things right.

Chapter 4: Doing Things Right