{"id":3238,"date":"2019-02-18T15:45:05","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T15:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calebayiku.com\/?p=3238"},"modified":"2019-02-18T15:45:14","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T15:45:14","slug":"formulating-a-business-strategy-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calebayiku.com\/press\/formulating-a-business-strategy-4\/","title":{"rendered":"FORMULATING A BUSINESS STRATEGY (4)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In earlier posts we\nexamined the first 8 (eight) questions business executives must answer to\nformulate a clear, compelling business strategy. In this post, we examine the\nfirst part of implementation of strategy by considering the ninth question; How\ncan I align all employees to the Strategy and motivate them to achieve it? <\/p><p><strong>Introduction:<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Execution is the GAP between Vision and Reality<\/li><li>Execution is the GAP between Plan and Actual<\/li><li>Execution is GAP between the Promise and the Delivery<\/li><li>Execution is the major job of the (Business) Leader<\/li><li>The lack of enforcement of standards, codes, regulations and laws in\na company or in a nation is a lack of Execution<\/li><\/ul><p><strong>Definition:<\/strong><\/p><p>Execution is a discipline to,&nbsp;infuse\nstrategy with realism, develop comprehensive operating plans, align people with\ngoals, and track their delivery to reward them and to build a culture of\nthinking, doing and follow-through. <\/p><p>Sound execution is ultimately\nachieved by addressing 5 (five) areas in business;<\/p><p>1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Strategy\nFormulation Process<\/p><p>2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Operating\nPlans<\/p><p>3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Performance\nManagement System<\/p><p>4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Prevailing\nCulture<\/p><p>5.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Conduct\nof the business leader<\/p><p>Let us examine each of these five\nareas by simply asking a number of question in each are.<\/p><p>&nbsp;<strong>A.<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong>Strategy\nFormulation Process \u2013 A strategy document is necessary but it is lacking in\npotency if it is not infused with execution from start to finish<\/strong><\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Are the objectives or goals clear and concise (To increase market\nshare by 6% while retaining operating margins)? <\/li><li>Was the strategy built by involving those who will implement it\n(from line staff and their team leads)?<\/li><li>Does it contain a sound analysis of the operating environment?<\/li><li>Does it contain sound knowledge about who the customer is\n(customer behavior, customer preference)?<\/li><li>Does it address BOTH the best way to grow and the obstacles to\ngrowth?<\/li><li>Is it adaptable (once a year strategizing can be dangerous)?<\/li><li>Does it anticipate the reaction of competitors to company\nactivities?<\/li><li>Does it capture the critical issues facing the business (every\nbusiness has critical issues that limit growth or threaten survival)?<\/li><li>Can it be condensed into a maximum of 3 or 4 building blocks (E.g.\nSeek new market segments, differentiate offering to attract premium price,\npursue strategic alliances with complementary players?<\/li><li>Is it owned by the CEO?<\/li><\/ul><p><strong>B.<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong>Operating\nPlans \u2013 Should address the \u201cHOW\u201d by providing the pathway to the desired\ndestination<\/strong><\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Are there clear programs and initiatives that seek to address the\nHOW (commission new market research, increase R&amp;D allocation to build\nbetter product, appoint senior manager to focus on Strategic Alliances, expand\nthe channels of distribution by 20%)<\/li><li>Are there contingency plans or alternatives in place if something\ngoes wrong?<\/li><li>Are the initiatives broken down into small time-bound chunks with clear\nlines of accountability for team members?<\/li><li>Has HR been involved in determining the competencies or lack of\nsame of the team that will be involved in execution?<\/li><li>Have the underlying assumptions been debated and\/or tested?<\/li><li>Has the Finance team been involved in debating\/accepting the\nfinancial indicators?<\/li><li>Was the Finance team involved in ascertaining the cost of the\nprograms and initiatives which will be translated into the budget?<\/li><li>Has there been a cross-functional debate of the final plan with\nall departments represented?<\/li><\/ul><p><strong>C.<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong>Performance\nManagement System \u2013 the aim of any performance management system should be to\nget employees to deliver the strategic objectives of the company (maintenance\/enforcement)<\/strong><\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Have the current strategic objectives and programs and initiatives\nbeen translated into performance targets and goals for all employees?<\/li><li>Have the future strategic objectives been translated into job\nprofiles and job descriptions to ensure there are employees who can perform the\ntasks of the future?<\/li><li>Are job descriptions adequately captured in performance contracts?<\/li><li>Is there constant supervision? <\/li><li>Is there a rigorous and fair appraisal system that is documented\nat least every 6 months?<\/li><li>Are top performers rewarded?<\/li><li>Are poor performers equipped or removed?<\/li><\/ul><p>In\nthe second and last post on implementing strategy, we will review how Culture\nand the conduct of the CEO impacts strategy implementation. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[149],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxMBa-Qe","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calebayiku.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calebayiku.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calebayiku.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calebayiku.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calebayiku.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/calebayiku.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3240,"href":"https:\/\/calebayiku.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3238\/revisions\/3240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calebayiku.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calebayiku.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calebayiku.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}