1. forum.com http://www.forum.com/blog/4-traps-of-strategy-execution/
4 Traps of Strategy Execution
August 3rd, 2011 by Steve Barry
Which of these four traps do leaders in your organization fall into after launching a strategic
initiative?
1. Jumping the Gun (Not taking time to thoroughly understand and communicate the
impact of changes on the organization and people)
2. Expecting M ore with Less (Failing to provide adequate resources for successful
execution)
3. Taking on the Next Big Thing (Confusing the organization by moving on to a new strategy or
initiative)
4. Being the Final Straw (Overloading people with multiple strategic or “special” projects and initiatives)
If you said, “Expecting More with Less,” you are not alone. Forty-six percent of the participants in our
recent webinar, Driving Strategic Initiatives, responded as you did, indicating it as the No. 1 trap.
Tom Endersbe, guest speaker on the webinar, challenged this response. Having led a spinoff of a Fortune
300 company, Tom knows a thing or two about driving strategic initiatives. He believes that, although
resources may be a challenge, they are more of a side-effect or symptom than a cause of failure. That is,
leaders fail to consistently provide visible commitment to, recognition of, and rewards to an A-priority
initiative. And so people supporting those senior leaders may lose motivation—or forget how it aligns to what
they are doing—and place their resources elsewhere.
Tom is spot-on. In our blog post, Leader as Archaeologist, we outlined the “four hurdles to strategy
execution,” as detailed in Blue Ocean Strategy. “Resources” are only a surface trap. To really drive
change, leaders must not jump the gun; rather they must thoroughly understand the situation and identify
the other hurdles (motivational, cognitive, and political). It’s all about mitigating execution risk, which is one
of the three keys to driving initiatives to success. For tips on the three keys, watch the replay of our webinar.