Making strategy implementation an enduring capability - The emotional and political reality

What does it really take to make strategy implementation an enduring organisational capability - rather than something we periodically struggle with? That was the central question at our BIG Leadership discussion on 7 September: We went into the session wanting to test five questions: Do organisations really have the systemic problem BIG describes? Do different professions experience connected symptoms of that problem? What prevents organisations from addressing it? What leadership is required to create and sustain the capability? What changes when integrated governance becomes part of normal organisational operation? Some of the messages that came through strongly were: Competent parts do not necessarily create a coherent whole. Strategy, finance, risk, governance, portfolio, projects, operations and assurance can each be capable - while the connections between them remain weak. Strategy implementation is broader than delivery. The gap may begin with unclear strategy, objectives or accountability and extend through priorities, resource allocation, culture, information, delivery, performance and learning. BIG's distinctive role is integration. It does not need to replace Balanced Scorecard, portfolio management, project management, finance, risk, assurance or other specialist capabilities. The challenge is getting these capabilities to work together. Executive demand matters. The trigger may come from almost anywhere, but enterprise strategy implementation eventually requires board and executive engagement. Transparency is not enough. Making conflicting priorities, overloaded resources or poor performance visible still leaves leaders with the job of deciding what to do about them. Priorities only become real when something else gives way. Integrated governance therefore needs real decision rights, allocation, arbitration and the ability to stop or re-steer work. And perhaps most importantly: Strategy implementation should not be a handover from strategy to delivery. It needs to become an enduring capability through which purpose, strategy, objectives, priorities, resources, operations, value creation, change, performance, uncertainty and learning remain connected - and feed back into future decisions. Read the session report -   / big-leadership-from-strategy-implementatio...   You can also watch the discussion and related material - see comments for links. If you are about to start, refresh or improve a strategic process, please contact us - https://big-cic.org.uk/about-us/conta... It is worth thinking about the leadership and operating capability needed to implement and continually manage the strategy before strategy formulation and delivery start drifting apart. And watch out for our forthcoming BIG session specifically on Strategy Implementation, where we will take this discussion further. https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regis... Perhaps the question to take away is: Does your organisation continuously operate its strategy - or does it periodically have to rediscover how to implement it?