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Strategy without implementation is a waste of time. We are told repeatedly that good implementation of an average strategy is better than a poor implementation of great strategy.

Strategy without implementation is a waste of time. We are told repeatedly that good implementation of an average strategy is better than a poor implementation of great strategy. Why does implementation appear to be such a banana skin for planners?

The fact is, strategies are designed on paper and implementation concerns people. And where people are involved complexity increases. I have never understood the idea of a great strategy that is not or cannot be implemented; surely, this is a concept rather than a strategy.

Effective strategies contain the DNA for implementation; it is about doing post thinking. Implementation is not dirty work; it is, in fact, strategy in practice, in reality. What are the contents that strategy needs to accommodate to ensure successful implementation?

Sometimes, failure in implementation is a convenient excuse for a poor strategy. Strategy is a big word with hundreds of meanings, but when done properly it caters to the how to do as well as the what to do.

The implementation part of strategy fails for a number of reasons. First is lack of commitment; the implementers are not committed to the plan. To the surprise of some planners, this is in spite of the shared decision that led to it. Commitment comes from three things: shared assumptions, clear communication, and aligned self-interest. All strategies are based on a set of assumptions about the market, trends, competition, etc. If these assumptions are not shared, you are unlikely to agree on the strategy, and implementation will fail.

Secondly, strategy communication is typically done using a one-for-all approach. However, successful communication needs to be broken down into bite size and shared with audiences based on preference and relevance. In addition, the message should be delivered through various media, and feedback should be sought as confirmation of comprehension.

And the final jigsaw piece to gaining commitment is aligned interest. Strategy often changes the deal for implementers to a less favorable one; i.e., you cant see your friendly customers anymore, you must now see new customers. So the rep needs to work harder for less. It is important that the reward system is adjusted to ensure that that reward is fair and proportionate to effort.

The other component of successful implementation is measurement. The old adage is, what gets measured gets done. While there is some truth in that statement, it is a little misleading. This works if the measurement is correct and if they are measuring the right things. The measures need to be for both leading and lagging indicators. They must help planners to understand how effectively the plans are being implemented rather than just measuring the outcome.

It is important to remember that one of the main goals of measurement is to allow us to take corrective action. The focus on gaining commitment and having effective measurement is not an issue for so-called implementers but a critical part of the strategy-making process. To see these two parts as separate is at the root of a lot of the challenges we face with implementation.