However, we can all agree that strategy is the start of something. We’re generally conditioned to think of it as the “first” stage, or the moment of reset.
Logically this means that “We Do Strategy” before “We Do Execution”.
This order is so normal for us we never challenge it, but it’s rarely as linear as this suggests. In reality we treat the step from strategy to execution like a giant leap over a pit of crocodiles.
It's a tiny observation, but I think it has a huge impact. There is lots of noise at the moment about New Zealand’s productivity problem, and rightly so. We’re 33rd out of 37 OECD countries*, demonstrably behind the norm.
In fact, I was invited last week to listen to our Prime Minister chatter about it. Yet another political sheriff riding into town, packing a revolver full of magic bullets: access to more capital, faster adoption of tech/AI by business, reducing compliance red tape, and upskilling our workforce.
I can’t disagree with the ambition, yet what political rhetoric fails to point out is that the responsibility for productivity starts with us, not our government.
Let's face it, we can all get faster at implementing strategic change. Because when we help everyone in our business to confidently act on their plan, then we’re going to hit milestones quicker. To me, cadence IS productivity. Hit the goal quicker, set another one.
I face this challenge with every project, as my strategic work cannot build value unless it is executed. Insights and plans left in a drawer don’t make us more money!
From my experience, there are three recurring themes that conspire to slow us down.
“We don’t all trust the strategy.“
“We don’t yet have the team.”
“We don’t control the right resources.”
You’ll notice that what these themes have in common is absence. A focus on what you don’t have, rather than what you do have. This absence creates the perfect psychological conditions for delay, making it ok to shift attention away from the new goal.
In truth, it’s impossible to execute a plan where these statements are not true at the start. Execution takes alignment of people and process. It needs more hands to do more work, with the right tools and resources to keep going. They are the fundamental truths of delivery that we know we will face at the start of a project, every time.
So I find it useful to shift perspective. These themes are not a bug in your execution. They are a feature in your strategy.
Identify the barriers to execution as a normal part of your strat-planning process. Agree how to solve them before you push go, with the people who you will hold to account for delivery.
Because when strategy drops solutions AND plans together, everybody moves faster.
*I think, but feel free to correct me
