Effective Leaders Use “Strategy of Execution”
Organisations look to impactful leadership to guide them through unprecedented times. Time and again, we have seen that even most established firms fail to adapt to effects of crisis, societal change or cultural shifts; they fail because they could not face uncertainty in the market conditions.
Looking at companies that have survived market upheavals, we learn from them. Effective leaders understand their team’s strengths well and direct them towards achieving the organisational goals. They understand that as much as having a robust strategy, they also need sharp execution capabilities to deliver results.
In their research for an article published in the Harvard Business Review titled ‘The Secrets to Successful Strategy Execution’ (2008), authors Gary L. Neilson, Karla L. Martin, and Elizabeth Powers asked over 125,000 executive level participants from over 1,000 companies and 50 countries, ‘Are important strategic and operational decisions quickly translated into action?’ and most of the answers were an emphatic “NO”. Over a decade later, the situation doesn’t seem to be any different.
When global GDP contracted 3.5 per cent in 2020, its worst performance since the Great Depression, Benjamin Franklin’s words became relevant: ‘by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. If only large enterprises, medium-sized businesses and startups from the most impacted industries had taken a leaf out of his wisdom, Covid’s economic impact could perhaps have been alleviated. Left with only Hobson’s choice, most organisations tweaked their business model, with special attention on supply chain redesign. The business skill sets required to survive a pandemic-stuck consumer sentiment is very different. Resilient organisations evolved differently, with differing outcomes. In the midst of a prevailing global economic carnage, the immediate goal was/is: ‘How to keep the lights on’. And then to start thinking, ‘How to keep going’ and move towards ‘How to keep growing?”
A real strategy involves a clear set of choices that define what the firm is going to do and what it’s not going to do. Strategic skills allow a leader to create policies, establish direction, and determine how to effectively allocate resources to achieve a larger goal.
Execution, on the other hand, involves the tactical, practical skills needed to put a plan into motion. Where strategic thinking allows a leader to craft the future of an organisation by making broad decisions, the tactical skills of execution are required to bring the vision to life.
*Startups & Corporates
Startups have the advantage of literally being born from and with problems; and from day-one, are driven in obtaining optimal solutions for them. Highly successful early-stage ventures ‒ those that manage to continually exceed performance expectations ‒ are continuously strategising and executing in parallel; they are often driven by consistent improvisation and a clear focus. All these are in motion, with a lean team and with close-knit real-time team collaboration. This in turn, eliminates the lengthy development cycles that are generally consumed by planning, strategising and then planning for execution before actually executing. A capability that large organisations have to imbibe as team-agility in their cultural DNA!
For example, the strategy of the online entertainment giant, Netflix, which gained 207 million paid global subscribers’ by the end of Quarter 1 of 2021, a 23 per cent jump from a year earlier as reported by Statistica 2021, will be very different from the strategy of businesses that have had to shrink down their size by three fourths of what they were pre-Covid. The lesson here is to stay nimble-footed and change quickly in the event of an unexpected landscape.
It has become imperative to break down strategy into tactics i.e. small steps on a daily / weekly / monthly / bi-monthly basis. A clearer picture of where the company is headed begins to emerge and helps to assess if it is in line with the long-term strategy, facilitating any course correction. Flawless execution of tactics, therefore becomes the most critical variable of this equation. McKinsey Global Institute suggests that CEOs must focus on quick action on fronts where action is possible rather than waiting for the fog to clear up completely before taking action. While there is no guarantee of 100 per cent success, decision and speed of adapting is the key now.
*People first. Technology-enabled
The pandemic got the corporate world to look at the concept of “People first”. In addition to WFH or even WFA, it brought the spotlight on the health and wellness of its employees and their families. It also brought to the fore the tougher task of discussing the almost-taboo topic of “mental health”. Remote collaboration and communication via mobiles, laptops, tablets and with Zoom, Webex, Skype and MS meetings pushed organisations of all sizes to continue functioning. It helped firms to continue serving their clients.
*Sharper Financial Goals
Organisations severely impacted by Covid learnt to closely monitor, reduce cost and become efficient. Overall, cash management based on the progress of the situation and turnaround planning has become the most critical job of the business leaders. Like startups, which hardly have spare liquidity to be generous or less careful, good corporates have moved to frugal and Just-In-Time spending; and are investing time and efforts to raise funds when available in the market and not just when needed!
*Innovation
Using internet as a tool to serve consumers quickly and sometimes even before they ask, is the new phenomenon of Covid led business model innovation. Digital communication has made ideation a reality and communicating, at the risk of exaggeration, as a ‘child’s play’! Businesses, especially startups have seized the opportunity and have found unique ways of marketing, engaging customers, providing services and delivery and accurately reaching their target audience. Ironically, we have to thank the pandemic for accelerating the flood of innovation in fields ranging from healthcare to manufacturing to service delivery.
These point to a strong leadership that made the firms adapt to the situation and adopt newer ways. Good strategy, well thought-through, would have already included an execution roadmap as its core component! This is the new-normal.
