Why Business Strategy Fails!
Co-authored by Jason Arnold and Chris Wollerman
The most significant challenge executive leaders face today is effectively executing company strategy. Despite research, deliberating, and planning, many executive leaders experience their strategic visions unraveling due to rapidly changing market conditions.
Our work with clients at Inspire Software reveals that organizations often fail to execute strategy effectively due to the lack of accountability to the strategy throughout the organization. Without clear accountability to what matters most for a business, even the strongest strategies can falter because there is no consistent standard for meeting frequency, documented progress updates, or meaningful data to analyze. Failing to practice these disciplines can disrupt a well-planned strategy and undermine business success.
At Inspire, we help our clients execute strategy more effectively through four solutions designed into our organizational performance platform that close the gap between strategy and success. These practices produce critical data for executive teams to be more informed about their organization's financial and cultural health.
#1 Establish A Cadence of Collaboration
To overcome the gap between strategy and operational challenges, executive leaders must lead by example and then establish a regular cadence of collaboration at three levels within the organization:
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Executive
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Team
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Individual (1-1)
Executive Cadence of Collaboration
We have found that holding initial executive progress meetings weekly or bi-weekly helps ensure progress on critical activities related to strategy and objectives. Here are a few tips for an effective cadence of collaboration for executive and senior leadership teams:
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Involve leaders one level below the executing team.
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Brief team members on the progress of strategic goals and execution plans for the coming week(s).
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Use organizational performance data to set the agenda and key collaboration points for the meetings.
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Once progress is on track, consider moving to monthly meetings.
Team Cadence of Collaboration
We recommend a weekly cadence for teams to discuss goal progress to build momentum and stay disciplined in executing strategy and team goals. Here are a few tips for an effective cadence of collaboration for department and project teams:
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Set an agenda with a primary focus on their strategic goal progress and activities related to making progress.
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Solicit feedback on roadblocks, skills, and motivation related to the team goal and address those needs through one-to-one conversations with team members.
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If there are process or motivation issues related to pursuing a team goal, hold a separate meeting to address those opportunities for the team's growth and development.
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A team of 5-7 people should only last 15-20 minutes.
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Each team member discusses what significant activities they accomplished towards the goal in the prior week.
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Team members discuss the one or two most important activities they plan to work on towards the goal in the coming week and where they might need help.
Individual One-to-One Cadence of Collaboration
We recommend weekly or bi-weekly meetings between a leader and an individual team member or contributor. These meetings create more intimate discussions about skills and motivation for pursuing team and individual goals aligned with strategy. Here are a few tips for an effective cadence of collaboration for one-to-one meetings between leaders and individual team members:
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Meetings should be scheduled at least biweekly.
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One-to-One meetings should last no more than 15-30 minutes.
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The individual sets the agenda but allows the leader to add to it if needed.
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Document meetings through performance conversations.
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Explore the skills and motivation of the people pursuing goals.
Establishing a collaboration cadence maintains momentum toward the corporate strategy and fosters a culture of accountability and agility for translating strategic intent into tangible results.
#2 Leverage AI-Assisted Strategy Execution Software
Leveraging AI (Artificial Intelligence) tools is increasingly essential for successfully executing business strategy at all levels. Here are a few ways we help Inspire clients leverage our AI tool to help generate and execute strategy more effectively:
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Help streamline strategy creation by generating tailored objectives aligned with industry-specific trends.
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Generate OKRs according to the best practices of OKR experts.
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Enable teams to better align with corporate strategies.
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Address business challenges with precision and agility through suggestions based on the corporate strategy.
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Improve team and one-to-one meetings by leveraging language models in leadership and business best practices to prepare for and summarize what is discussed during team meetings.
Integrating AI into your OKR and performance software generates rich data sets from which your executive team can extract insights. This data creates AI-generated "strategy narratives" to inform executive teams of the organization's progress and challenges in real-time, providing a significant competitive advantage.
#3 Performance Management Integration
Integrating performance management with strategy execution ensures that day-to-day activities align with long-term business goals. Performance agreements create alignment with corporate strategy. One-on-one performance meetings and reviews generate crucial detailed performance data to inform how well the corporate strategy is executed. A modern continuous performance management (CPM) platform forms the foundation of strategy execution, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
#4 Data Visualization
Strategic dashboards offer real-time visibility into strategy execution, integrating performance data like sales figures, engagement levels, and key project updates. Inspire's platform seamlessly integrates data visualization tools like Power BI, Tableau, and Google Sheets, allowing real-time access to key performance indicators. Visualizing performance metrics during strategy discussions enhances decision-making, driving better alignment and execution. Organizations can ensure that strategic goals are understood and actively pursued at every level by regularly translating data into conversations.
The Need for an Effective Strategy Solution
Your organization's success depends on bringing a well-crafted plan to life with precision and accountability. Embrace a continuous cadence of accountability, integrate AI-driven solutions, and harness data visualization to transform strategy execution into sustainable business growth. Equip your leaders and teams with the tools and practices to ensure your strategy thrives in the evolving business landscape and drives real, measurable results.
Inspire's platform is designed to help organizations execute strategy effectively. It provides tools and frameworks to align the organization with its strategic goals, creating a culture of accountability. For more information, please contact us HERE.
