Execution – The Key to Successful Strategic Plans

Earlier this month, I moderated an organization’s first strategic plan review for 2012.  As we went through the plan, we discussed issues which I think are worth sharing with any leaders who want to successfully execute their strategic plans.

First and foremost, progress on strategic plans should be reviewed at least once a month. Management teams that execute well keep close tabs on important long-term projects. What long-term projects could be more important than the strategic plan initiatives?

For non-profits, the strategic initiatives should be those actions or projects that will allow the organization to fulfill its mission for years to come. For businesses, the initiatives should lead to a sustainable competitive advantage. When the leaders of an organization can’t find time to meet once a month to review a plan, that plan isn’t much of a priority and is unlikely to be executed well.

One excuse I hear often is that strategic plan reviews take too long. That is not an inherent problem with strategic plan reviews. That is the result of a lack of proper preparation which, in turn, can result from weaknesses in the plan.  The most glaring example of this is the failure to assign a single owner to each strategic initiative, with ultimate responsibility for timely execution.

It is not unusual to see action plans with no owner identified, or with multiple owners or even with the names of departments or committees listed as the owner.  The owner of a strategic initiative or action plan is the person who should be managing the often cross-functional team needed to execute it. He or she is the person who updates the plan, in real time, if due dates are missed.  

In addition to an owner for each action plan, each detailed activity should be the responsibility of a single member of the project team. Here again, I often see multiple names or departments listed as being responsible for an activity. So, who is the initiative owner’s “go-to” person for that activity? The answer is no one. 

Strategic plan reviews that take hours are often the result of this lack of clear accountability. When the ownership of an action plan and responsibility for each activity in the plan are clear, then it is clear who is to keep the plan updated. Plan owners should be the individuals who provide the progress reports to the leadership team. When milestones are missed, the owner should report the new commitment date, the reason the date was missed and the plan to get things back on track.

When the initiative owners are clearly identified and held accountable for proper preparation, the review of individual action plans can be done in just a few minutes.  I know some will read this and think, “All that preparation is a lot of work for the plan owners.” Not if they are doing their jobs. Keeping an action plan updated is the daily responsibility of the owner. If it is being done in a flurry of activity the day before the monthly review meeting, then the owner isn’t doing his or her job managing execution of the plan.

This disconnect – the idea that managing and executing the strategic plan is some kind of extracurricular task that interferes with getting the real work done – is a major cause of failure to execute and of management’s aversion to review meetings.

Another planning flaw that causes problems is a failure to break large milestones down into finer activities. I see examples of this all the time. Suppose a company wants to increase sales by adding commissioned sales representatives. It is not unusual to see a plan for something like that with just a few milestones like “Add first sales rep by June 30, add second sales rep by December 31.”

At a January review, the first milestone in this example is six months away.  There is nothing to review – or is there? In reality, there are many activities that must be completed to have a sales rep in place by June 30. Territories must be defined. Sales reps in those territories must be researched. There must be an interview process and reference checks. It might be necessary to research industry sales rep contracts.

It is very important to question action plans that have a few big milestones, and it is important for the owners of those plans to take the initiative to break those milestones down into more granular activities. Then and only then can progress be properly monitored by management.

Clear ownership and accountability, action plans with key milestones broken down into manageable action steps, and regular, rigorous review by management are the simple keys to executing a strategic plan. It’s not difficult, but like so many things, it depends on good leadership.

Originally Published in the Central Penn Business Journal – January 2012