analyse

targets

mission

engage

strategy
execution

communicate

align

deploy

actions

Executing your strategy and

delivering results
deliver
mobilise

results
measure

Steve Smith
Paul Ward

learn
adjust

improve

Contents
Introduction 1
The Strategy Execution Formula

Strategy 3

Focus

Balance

Stretch

Leading Strategy

Execution 10

Alignment

11

Engagement

12

Discipline

13

Leading Execution

15

Sustained Results

16

The Strategy Execution Cycle

18

How good is your Strategy Execution?

20

Appendix

23

ii

Introduction
80% of executives are satisfied with their strategy yet only
14% are satisfied with the execution of the strategy.1

Something is very wrong here. What is the point of an elaborate

strategic plan if you cannot put it into practice and deliver results?
This leaders guide addresses this common business problem. It
outlines how, in practice, strategy can be converted to successful
business results. A simple formula will help you remember the
key steps: Strategy plus Execution equals Sustained Results.
This formula is expanded in this booklet to show the practical
actions needed to implement a sustained drive for results into the
natural rhythm of your business. You will see that your strategy
needs Focus, Balance and Stretch before it can be successfully
executed. And for execution to deliver sustained results, Alignment,
Engagement and Discipline are essential. These are the six critical
elements of Strategy Execution and are explained inside.
The principles and practices described in this guide are based
on years of experience helping leaders and organisations convert
their strategy into success. Each section will highlight how you,
as a leader, can make a difference. Effective leadership is required
at every stage in strategy execution. At the end of the guide, you
will find a self-assessment survey to enable you to identify reasons
why strategy execution in your organisation may be less successful
than it should be. Apply these six elements well and your strategy
execution will be as good as the worlds best.

Source: Quest Worldwide global survey

Strategy execution is now rated as the top issue by leading

executives. It is worth making the effort to master it. By the way,
strategy execution cannot be left to a strategy director or corporate
planning department or even delegated down the line. If you are the
leader, you have to lead it!

The formula for Strategy Execution:

Strategy + Execution
= Sustained Results
Strategy + Execution
Focus

Alignment

Balance

Engagement

Stretch

Discipline

= Sustained Results
Execution is not only the biggest issue facing business today; it
is something nobody has explained satisfactorily.
Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
Source: Monitor Analysis quoted by Palladium Group Inc.

Strategy:
Focus, Balance, Stretch
A thick report of dense analysis is not a strategy. A strategy must be
communicable to be useful. Your strategy should impart direction,
inspiration and specific guidance of what your organisation needs
to do to win. If you can articulate that sense of winning, express it in
terms to which people can relate and show how they can contribute
to it, you have a communicable strategy.
To help people in your organisation
to understand and ultimately feel
a sense of co-ownership of the
strategy, you will need to show
the linkages between the longerterm ambitions and the actions
people take today and tomorrow.
The diagram shows the logic required
to convert your long-term thinking
into current actions. The egg-timer
constriction is important. You need
to make sharp informed choices of
what is strategic and high priority
or people will feel swamped and
confused.
To make these hard choices, use
the techniques of focus, balance and
stretch.

SHAPING
3-5 year vision

Winning priorities

Breakthrough
goals

Vital few
goals
Annual targets
and objectives
Projects and actions

DOING
From thinking to doing ...
a planning framework

Focus
Focus requires a clear Vision of the desired future
state. What is your organisation about and how
will it stand out and compete in the future? That
vision may reflect customer and market drivers,
operational excellence, environmental standards
and financial performance. Paint a picture of future
competitive success and describe it, not in the
style of a statement for the annual report but as the
future messages and actions of the leaders of the
organisation. Think in terms of a three to five year
horizon for your vision statement.
Should you have a Mission as well as a vision? Yes, if it helps to
unite and inspire people. The mission should support the vision
by describing the direction and drive of the organisation in simple,
memorable terms. Examples are 3Ms mission To solve unsolved
problems innovatively or Walt Disneys To make people happy.
The mission should have emotional appeal and should encourage
a unity of purpose. To contrast vision and mission statements,
make the vision a to be statement and the mission a to do
statement.
The vision is the relatively easy bit. More gruelling but ultimately
rewarding is the definition of goals to support the vision. Many
leaders start by shaping big strategic themes or priorities,
sometimes using warfare terminology such as Key Battles or Must
Win Battles. Within these winning priorities, specific goals must be
defined. This takes time, needs good data and structured debate in
the top leadership team. Use tools to make disciplined choices, not
gut feel or argument. Keep working at it until you have an agreed set
of Vital Few Goals. This means a maximum of 15 and ideally much
less. Leadership teams which try to achieve 30 or 50 goals (not
uncommon) always disappoint themselves.
4

Focus is also about learning to say no. Identify the things to stop
doing in order to focus on the vital few. These must stops require
leaders to let go of their favourite projects, stop wasting valuable
resources, and focus their own time only on the chosen goals.

Balance
Short term financial performance, driven by quarterly
reports to investment analysts and shareholders,
certainly provides focus for todays business leaders.
Yet companies routinely deliver less than they
promise an average of only 63% of the promised
financial performance according to one survey. The
leaders of these companies may have too narrow a
focus. Revenue growth, profitability, and return on
investment can only be outcomes of a successfully
executed strategy. The drivers of these financial
outcomes are what we must pin down through the
vital few strategic goals. An explicit sense of balance
is needed covering a broader spread of stakeholders
than shareholders alone. How will we be distinctive
in the market? How will we attract and retain good
customers? How will we deliver to their needs? How
can we make our delivery processes responsive and
efficient? How do we develop and motivate talented
people to manage those processes?
Without an explicit step to balance the vital few goals, leadership
teams exhibit a natural yet flawed bias. For instance, technologyfocused teams often create a long list of product and technology
goals. More marketing-oriented teams may show a brand
development bias. In both cases, goals relating to customer service,
process improvement and people development tend to be underplayed.
Source: Marakon Associates

Start with the standard balanced categories of Our Market, Our

Processes, Our People and Our Performance and assess whether
the chosen focused goals strongly cover each one. Use this
balanced framework to prioritise and refine the goals even further.
There is another check to do to ensure good balance in your
strategy: will the goal statements require leading or lagging
performance indicators when tracked? One example of the
difference is: leading indicator, inventory turn; lagging indicator,
return on assets. Another is: leading, time spent with customers
versus lagging, sales revenue. Dig hard to find the leading indicators
because they trigger earlier action important for execution.
When thinking about balance, think also about balancing hard and
soft issues in the business. Emphasizing organisational values is
a good way of ensuring the softer elements of business are not
neglected. All organisations work to a set of values which are often
unwritten and may be hidden. The really successful organisations
shape these values to support their strategy. Try and identify around
five positive words or short statements that exemplify how you
would like your customers to describe how they see your business
and performance. Could you live up to these value statements?
Doing so could create a big competitive advantage, so make these
aspirational values form part of your strategy.
So far, we have converted our strategic thinking into a vision
(possibly with a mission), a set of organisational values and a suite
of vital few goals spread across a balanced framework. How does it
look together? Will it fit on one page? If so, you have the basis for a
Balanced Business Strategy. The one page test is a good one. If you
have too many words to fit onto one page, you almost certainly have
too many goals and your wording is not yet succinct enough.
6

Stretch
Now our strategy is focused and balanced but what
degree of stretch is required? Without stretch, we
may well find that achieving it is not enough and the
competition has left us behind. First, be sure that all
the vital few goals have been converted to SMART
goals. SMART means Specific, Measurable, Agreed,
Relevant, and Time-bound. Each goal statement
must have a specific description, a relevant measure
and clearly defined targets. Does each goal and
target present a stretching challenge?
Check for sandbagging. Goals should be realistic and achievable
yet with targets extended enough to make a difference. Take out
any routine goals that offer small improvements. Your vital few goals
must stimulate changes, elevating performance from the average
to the exceptional, from the mediocre to the excellent, and from
the ordinary to the extraordinary. Examples of stretch goals include
doubling historical sales growth in one year, reducing order time to
delivery by two thirds in five months, reducing employee turnover by
50% in one year. Achieving these types of stretch goals will deliver
performance excellence to outpace competitors.
If we now have our 15 or less vital few goals with appropriate levels
of stretch on our Balanced Business Strategy, we can consider
another stretch challenge. Are any of these capable of truly marking
out a unique position? If so these could be our Breakthrough Goals.
A breakthrough goal may be the one big hairy audacious goal
(BHAG) proposed by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in their business
classic, Built to Last. Or you could have one or two breakthrough
goals that express a step change in performance and behaviour of
the particular process or service.
7

So your Balanced Business Strategy now has statements of vision,

values, vital few goals and one or two breakthrough goals, all
expressed with a three-year timeframe in mind. Using this threeyear view, the remaining task is to think through with your leadership
team how you would define the goals and set the targets for just
one year ahead. During this task, you can also capture the main
projects to be delivered to achieve the goals.
You now have a communicable strategy.
Short Mission
statement

Vision
statement

Values
statement

Balanced Business Strategy

Balanced goal
categories
2008

Values

Vision

Mission

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxx xx xxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx
- xx xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx
- xxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx
- xxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx xxx xxxxxx

Our market

Our processes

Our people

xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxx xxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxx xx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxx xx

Our performance
xxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx

Goal

Measure

Target

Goal

Measure

Target

Goal

Measure

Target

Outcome

Measure

xxxxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxx xxxx xxxx

xxxxxx xxxxxxxx

xxxx xxxx
xx xxxxx

xxxxx xxxxxx
xx xxxx xxxxx
xxxxxx xxxx

xxxx xxxxxx
xxx xxxxxxxxx

xx

xxxx xxxxxxxxxx
xxx xxxxxx xxx

xxxx xxxxxxxx
xx xxxxxx xx

xx%

xxx xxx

xxxx xxxxxx

xxxxx xxxxxx
xxxxx xxxxx
xxxxxxx xx

xx xxxxxx xxxxxx
xxxxx xxxxxx xx

xxxxx xxxxx
xxx xxxxx

xxxxx xxxxxx
xxx xxxxx xx

xxxxx xxxxxx
xxxx xxxx xxxxx

xx

xxxxx xxxxx
xxxx xxx xxx
xxx xxxxxx

xx xxxxxx xxxxx
xxxxxx xx xxxx

xxxxxx xx
xx xxxx xx
xxxx xx

xxxxxx xxxx
xx xxxxxx xxx
xxxxxxxx xx

xxx xxxxxxx xx
xxxxxxx xxxxxx

xx

Target
x

xxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx
xxx xxxxxxx
xxxx xxxxxxx

xxxxx xxxxxxxx

xx

xxxx xxxx
xxxxxx xxxxxxx
xxxxx x xxx xx

xxxxxxxx xxxxx

0.0

xxxx xxxxxxxxxx

xxx

xxxxxx xxxx
xxx xxxxxxxx

xxxx xxxx xxxxxxxx

xxx

xxx

xxxx xxxxxx

xxxx xxxxx xxxx

xx

xxx xxxxxxx
xxxxxx xx

xxxx xxxxxxx xx

xx
x
xx%

Specific measures
and targets
per goal

xxx

xxxxxx xxxxxx
xxxx xxxx
xxxxxxx xx

xxxxx xxxxxxx
xxx xxxxxxx

Key projects and tasks to deliver goals

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxx

xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xx xxxxxx xxxxxxx
xxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xx xx

xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx

xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx

xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxx

xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx

xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxx

xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx

Specific goal
statements

Headings of key
projects to
deliver goals

Framework for a Balanced Business Strategy

xx
xx

xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxx

xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx

Headings showing
winning priorities

Leading Strategy:
Focus
99Paint your picture of success in three to five years
time; talk to people about it and listen to their views;
understand what your analysis and research is telling
you; start to capture the vision in words; make sure it
sends a clear direction (the train is going this way) and is
inspirational (come on board)

99Define what will enable you to win in the marketplace

your winning priorities

99Working with your leadership team, draft goal statements

to drive towards the vision and winning priorities; get
down to the 15 or less vital few goals; state also what you
will not be focusing on.
Balance
99Ensure the vital few goals are distributed across the
categories of impact on the marketplace/customers,
processes, people and performance

99Check for goal descriptions which require leading, not

lagging, indicators

99Identify the five or so values statements that describe how

you want to be recognised by your customers.
Stretch
99Make sure the vital few goals are SMART and are always
expressed as specific goal statements with dedicated
measures and targets; set the targets to be stretching but
attainable

99Identify the one or two breakthrough goals that will drive

step jump improvements in performance

99Capture and communicate your strategy through a onepage Balanced Business Strategy; have two focal points
with targets for three years and one year.
9

Execution:
Alignment, Engagement,
Discipline
Its great to have a communicable strategy. You can use it with
confidence to make decisions and you can use it with passion
to discuss your business with people inside and outside of the
organisation. But there is much more to do to turn the strategy
into success. Effective execution is at least as important as the
excellence of the strategy itself.

Breakthrough
goals

Winning priorities

planning
framework

IV

VI

Annual targets
and objectives

W
Projects and actions

DOING

10

ER

Vital few
goals

RE

The diagram opposite

adds a timing discipline
often called the annual
planning cycle to the
planning framework
discussed earlier. To
embed this natural rigour
into your organisation,
you need to apply the
techniques of Alignment,
Engagement and Discipline.

TH

Execution is largely about discipline. The discipline of working to a

set timetable so strategy execution fits with and then reinforces the
natural business rhythm. The discipline of sticking with the defined
strategy and not second-guessing it.
And the discipline of relentlessly
annual
SHAPING
planning
driving towards the stated
cycle
3-5 year vision
P
K
goals.
N

Alignment
JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

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JUN

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

Line 1
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JAN

Line 1
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Line 6

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

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OCT

NOV

DEC

aligned
plans

JAN

Line 1
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Line 7

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Line 8

Line 8

FEB

MAR

APR

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NOV

DEC

With the Balanced Business Strategy, you now have

a communicable strategy, so communicate it. This
may sound obvious but leaders typically undercommunicate their strategy. You will need to make
the one-page strategy accessible to people in your
organisation, explain it to them and bring it to life.
Take it with you whenever you go walkabout and
always use it. People will pick up on your enthusiasm
and passion.

However, if your organisation is at all complex, you will not easily

be able to communicate directly and regularly with everyone. You
will need to align your leadership teams and ensure the same
messages and beliefs are passed on through the organisation lines.
Different business units may face different challenges yet a lot of
their strategic needs may be similar. Indeed, the winning strategies
may well lie in the inter-dependence between business units.
Similarly functional teams also need to be strongly aligned. Strategic
alignment is best achieved by each team taking the top teams
Balanced Business Strategy and working out their best contribution
to it in collaboration with other contributing teams. The aim is to
encourage teams to commit to inter-dependent plans.
The same logic applies to different levels with the goals of a team
at one level contributing closely and visibly to those of the team
above. Achieving a strong degree of alignment across a complex
organisation requires a lot of iteration until the best set of aligned
plans emerges. This process is called catchball and can be
facilitated to make it happen speedily.
Unilever is a giant multinational with hundreds of brands and
operations in almost every country. 120,000 people work in
sales teams, category teams, innovation centres, functional
expertise centres, regional supply chains and many other sub-

11

divisions. How does the Chief Executive ensure all these people
and teams pull in the same direction? The solution is to have
one core discipline called Strategy Into Action that aligns
leadership teams at every level and every function. Using the
same one-page strategy format, each leadership team creates
its strategic plan not in isolation but in collaboration with the
levels above, below and across. This allows the Unilever top
executive team to manage the whole global corporation with just
16 goals.

However strong the alignment of strategic plans becomes, you still

cannot delegate strategy execution; it must be led personally. This
requires awareness and attention to how you and your colleagues
behave as leaders. Consistency is required. Consistency in making
decisions based on the Balanced Business Strategy, consistency of
messages and consistency in dealing with people. Nothing causes
more confusion in an organisation than leaders displaying conflicting
attitudes and variable behaviours.
Your organisational values defined in the Balanced Business
Strategy will help here. Invest some time in defining with your
team what behaviours exemplify these values both good and
bad examples. Then spend some more time rehearsing the
good behaviours and seeking feedback to ensure you are being
consistent. A leadership team demonstrating aligned behaviours will
earn a lot of respect from people inside and outside the business.
Understanding how to create alignment in organisations is a big
deal, one capable of producing significant payoffs for all types of
organisations.
Robert Kaplan and David Norton

Engagement
Even with a clear strategy and strong leadership, the
desired results will prove elusive without mobilising
the people who do the day to day work. People
12

engagement at all levels of the organisation and all

stages of the process is a prerequisite for effective
strategy execution. People like to know and
understand the big picture, how other people are
contributing to it and, most of all, how they can work
on and own strategic delivery in their own area.
People like to feel involved.
Engagement requires winning hearts as well as minds. Winning the
hearts of people is about inspiring belief in the strategic direction
and generating passion for what we are doing. Winning the minds
of employees is about appreciating their perspective, listening to
their views and incorporating their insights. The leaders willingness
to engage people in the strategic process will be rewarded in
commitment and passion for work. This can become a tangible
asset noticed by customers and others in the marketplace. In turn
this reinforces and deepens the organisational values.
People are our greatest asset but we dont own them. As
Shakespeare noted in Henry V every subjects duty is the Kings
but every subjects soul is his own. A skilled leader matches talents
and capabilities against the strategic needs of the business in an
engaging human way, not mechanically or through bureaucracy. As
the strategic plan builds into a detailed programme, it is important to
be realistic and pragmatic about resourcing the winning strategy
will not succeed without the right people in place and committed to
deliver it.

Discipline
BALANCED
SCORECARD

One common area of weakness is to believe that

once a plan is finalised and agreed and people are
clear what to do, then it will happen. Organisational
life is too contrary for that: results have to be driven
with relentless concentration and effort. Processes
13

and methodologies, tools and techniques, skills

and competencies, all provide the discipline to
complement effective leadership.
The bigger items in the strategic plans need to be converted into
projects and even programmes of projects. Programme and project
management is an under-rated skill. You will benefit considerably
through finding or developing these skills in your organisation to
keep up the energy behind the drive for results.
Similarly, effective measurement is a problem for many
organisations, where the wrong metrics clog up the ability to know
what is happening. The key here is to use a Balanced Scorecard.
This is a straightforward step once you have a good Balanced
Business Strategy. The balanced scorecard simply tracks the
measures specified for each strategic goal. The same scorecard
should be used at every level and people at each level and in
each team should feel fully accountable for progress against those
measures. Progress is best highlighted using traffic light reporting.
Finally, a core discipline in strategy execution is the Annual Planning
Cycle. Most businesses have an annual budgeting process. This
goes much further and ensures all the strategic needs are thought
through and implemented within an annual cycle. It helps to
work through the different stages needed in developing and then
implementing a strategy and then allocating strict timeframes to
each. This avoids common pitfalls such as taking too long over
planning, not involving people early enough in planning, not thinking
the strategy through well enough, not setting up the programme
management to drive delivery, nor reviewing progress and many
other mistakes organisations make over and over again.
A simple concept for an annual planning cycle is shown in the next
section on sustained results.

14

Leading execution
JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

Alignment

DEC

Line 1
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JAN

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Line 6

FEB

MAR

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aligned
plans

JAN

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JUN

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DEC

99Make sure all business units and functions have plans

aligned with your Balanced Business Strategy

99Align teams also by level using catchball to promote

dialogue, challenge and commitment

99Work on your behaviour to create an aligned way of

working which is tangible in the organisation.
Engagement

99Involve as many people as you can manage in shaping,

planning and defining the strategic plans

99Work on the hearts and minds to engage people and

allow them to feel committed and passionate about
their work

99Be sensible about resourcing and continually aim to

match the talent in your organisation to the winning
priorities.
BALANCED
SCORECARD

Discipline

99Apply effective programme and project management

techniques

99Apply a balanced scorecard for tracking

99Impose a set planning timetable.

15

Sustained Results
This guide has taken you, as a leader, through the shaping of a
communicable strategy and the execution of it. If you apply the
six elements outlined so far you will definitely see good results.
Unfortunately, unless you are retiring this year, this is not quite
enough. You have to sustain the results.
Sustaining your results means building on your one year success
and doing better next year. This is why the Balanced Business
Strategy must have a three year horizon as well as next year. Each
year you need to expect and plan for better results and this means
stretching the targets further as experience is gained.
Your vital few goals must be reviewed at the end of the year and you
can change them for the new year. However, experience suggests
that leadership teams take at least a year to understand fully how to
deliver their goals and changing them can disrupt this learning. It is
usually preferable to refine the goals from experience and focus on
new stretching targets. On the other hand, business is dynamic and
your strategy execution process must be similarly dynamic. When
market needs change you must adapt and the strategy execution
process should help you adapt quickly and effectively.
The most important task after a year of applying disciplined strategy
execution is to learn more about the process and improve it. The
second and third year is the opportunity to drive the whole strategy
execution process harder and take it deeper into the organisation.
Every leader should be using it as the primary leadership tool and
ultimately every person in your organisation should be engaged by
it. After two or three years, strategy execution as a business process
should be fully and permanently embedded in your organisation.
16

To help you achieve and reinforce this embedding, use the strategy
execution wheel shown overleaf. The four phases of THINK, PLAN,
DELIVER and REVIEW are repeated each year to enforce rhythm
and rigour and apply the appropriate techniques at the right time.
Achieving goals by themselves will never make us happy in the
long term; its who you become, as you overcome the obstacles
necessary to achieve your goals, that can give you the deepest
and most long-lasting sense of fulfilment.

Anthony Robbins

17

The Strategy
THINK
Articulate a compelling vision.
Agree the winning priorities.
Build a Balanced Strategy with vital few goals.
PLAN
Deploy with a process of catchball.
Align teams and processes.
Engage people and gain commitment.
DELIVER
Drive programs and projects.
Measure progress with balanced scorecards and traffic-light
reporting.
Communicate progress and celebrate achievements.
REVIEW
Review process and results.
Improve strategy development and execution.
Prepare for the next Think phase.

You can have a good strategy in place but if you dont have the
culture and the enabling systems that allow you to successfully
implement that strategy, the culture of the organisation will
defeat the strategy.

Dick Clark CEO Merck

18

Execution Cycle
K

Quest Global Balanced Focused Plan

2005

3 YEAR
STRATEGIC
SUMMARY

leadership
what
QWiP

ba

h
tc

ca

balance

focus

vital few

TH

2005

1 YEAR
STRATEGIC
SUMMARY

Quest Global Balanced Focused Plan

breakthrough

llin

consensus
stretch goal
JAN

goals

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mission

RGISING
ENE

values
VISION

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LEARNING

THE
WINNING
SYSTEM

Measure:
Breakthrough objective:
Strategy
Owner
Target
Measure

BILISING
MO

POSITION
ANALYSIS

benchmarks

FEB

Line 1
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planning tables

winning priorities

external
position

JAN

aligned
plans

XX

XXXX

YYYY

programme and
project management

internal
gaps

TR
G
ANS
FORMIN

JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

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Target:
Milestone

XXX

Objective: XXXX
Strategy
Owner

Target

Measure: XXX
Measure

Target: XX
Milestone

YYY

YY

processes

Line 1
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fitness
review

corrective
actions

integrated
activity

variances
gaps

VI

realign

BALANCED
SCORECARD

RE

teamwork

situation
changes
recommunicate

PERSONAL
PERFORMANCE
PLANS

course
corrections

ideas

This disciplined approach of THINK>PLAN>DELIVER>REVIEW

has proven in practice to align leadership teams, engage people,
accelerate progress and deliver results. Timing should be prescribed
and managed. Once an organisation has learned the rhythm, the
THINK phase is typically from March to June of the year before,
with PLAN following with greater detail and commitment until the
end of the year. At this point the emphasis shifts totally to the
DELIVER phase to drive for results by the end of the year. REVIEW
is continuous through the year building up to a full review as the
year closes to ensure the results have been achieved. This means
leaders have to learn to THINK and PLAN for the next year while
DELIVERING and REVIEWING the current year.
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How good is your

A: How good is your Strategy?
Not at all

Focus

Definitely

We have a compelling and credible vision

We have defined what our winning priorities

are (not just a wish list)

We have defined the vital few goals to achieve

our vision and winning priorities

Focus score: ________

Balance
Our strategic plan is balanced

Our performance indicators are mostly

leading indicators

We have identified and stated our

organisational values

(ie goals focus on market, operations, and people as well

as financial performance)

Balance score: ______

Stretch
All our goals have sharp measures and
targets: there are no fuzzy goals

One or two breakthrough goals have been

defined

Our strategy is captured on a one-page

Balanced Business Strategy

Stretch score: ______

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Strategy Execution?
B: How good is your Execution?
Not at all

Alignment

Definitely

All our leadership teams have aligned and

linked strategic plans

Each leadership level uses input from the level

below as well as giving direction (catchball)

All our leaders exhibit aligned behaviours

supporting our values

Alignment score: ______

Engagement
Our people are actively involved in planning,
monitoring and delivering our strategy

Our people support the strategy with

commitment and passion

We assess our capabilities and workloads

and adjust resources to meet our strategic
goals

Engagement score: ____

Discipline
We follow a rigorous planning timetable

We apply effective programme and project

management techniques

We monitor progress through a balanced

scorecard and ensure accountability

Discipline score: _____

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How good is your Strategy Execution?

Strategy + Execution
Focus

Alignment

Balance

Engagement

Stretch

Discipline

=
0 - 30 Act now! There is a lot of work to do to rescue your
organisation.
31 - 50 The warning signs are there. Identify and work on the weak
areas.
51 - 70 Some elements of the formula may be strong but a more
holistic approach to improving strategy development and
execution is required.
71 - 90 Well done! Your organisation may already be world class at
strategy execution but beware of complacency; much effort
is required to maintain these levels of performance.

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Appendix

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About Quest
Quest Worldwide is a global change management consultancy
working for multinationals in all sectors. Quests mission is:
To enable leaders to achieve sustained results by:
hh focusing their strategy
hh engaging their people
hh driving improvement.
Quest works to values that clients see as:
hh committed
hh collaborative
hh challenging
hh enthusiastic
hh delivering results.
Quests services are focused on:
Strategy Implementation
Guiding clients to create, align, deploy and deliver
compelling and communicable strategies at all levels of the
organisation. We mobilise and commit teams at each level,
ensuring every person knows how to contribute to their
companys goals.
People Engagement
Working with clients to create a service-oriented highperforming culture, impacting the behaviours of people at
all levels. We design and run High Impact Events to engage
the creativity, knowledge and passion in teams of all sizes.

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Worldwide
Operational Excellence
Advising, coaching and equipping client teams to raise
the performance of business processes to high levels of
capability, drawing on an array of tools from lean to six
sigma. We embed a culture of continuous improvement in
order to sustain the drive for even better performance.
The following service model shows how Quest typically works
holistically with clients, blending these service areas to apply the
most appropriate techniques for maximum impact and benefits.

strategy
Strategy Implementation
balanced strategy
leadership development
values and behaviours

Focusing strategy, engaging people

and driving improvement

agility

Operational
Excellence

People
Engagement

customer-focused
business processes

service / continuous
improvement culture

fast, lean,
team development
responsive operations and coaching
consistent, assured
performance

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high impact
events

energy

About the authors

Dr. Steve Smith, founder and chairman of Quest Worldwide, has
been helping organisations transform their performance and culture
for over 25 years. Steves wide experience of consulting in global
corporate change has helped him become regarded as one of
the most progressive change management consultants of his
generation.
Steve has conducted major transformations in a host of
organisations through the provision of timely, supportive and often
pioneering consultancy advice. A strong advocate of a holistic
approach to business, Steve works with his clients to create and
apply a stretching yet balanced strategy and a culture with a
relentless drive for results.
Dr. Paul Ward, principal consultant, has been leading strategy
deployment and organisational change assignments for Quest
Worldwide for more than 12 years. His passion and enthusiasm is
focused on transforming performance and culture at the level of
the individual, the team, and the organisation. Paul has delivered
conference presentations on strategy deployment, performance
improvement, and values-based leadership.

For more information and case examples about Quest Worldwide,

visit www.quest-worldwide.com

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