I recently had a meeting with the CIO of a major IT organization. Her situation and challenges were very illuminating to me in that she wants to execute her own departmental strategy, yet she is completely dependent upon the strategies of others. Adding to this challenge, she answers to two separate 'bosses' -- one on a dotted line and one on a hard line basis.
Here's a visual that depicts the basic 
The following outlines her challenge and how we proposed to solve it to make headway:
Boss #1: The CIO reports to the head of the functional division that she supports -- on a dotted line basis.
This "Boss #1" is directly responsible for providing services to the organization's external customers. Naturally, the CIO views these as her customers as well and sees her main role, therefore, as serving the needs of this functional division (this division is her internal customer).
BUT (there's always a 'but'), none of the divisional units have clearly outlined objectives or measures. They typically have long lists of initiatives or action item lists, which might be OK if it weren't for the fact that these lists constantly change and shift in priority levels.
In addition, the top-level division executive does not possess a clear strategic plan with objectives and measures.
So, at the current juncture, our CIO is left:
a) guessing at the real needs of her internal customers and
b) constantly chasing the ever-changing priorities that are communicated from these internal customers.
Boss #2: The CIO's solid line boss is the Corporate CIO. His main focus is on macro technical issues, since he has little visibility into the customer-facing issues.
This "Boss #2" has developed a global strategic plan, though it, too, is more a list of initiatives than a true strategic plan. And unfortunately, these 'tech' initiatives are not all that well aligned to the internal divisional customers.
As is often the case, the corporate branch is highly political, which means it's a good idea for our CIO to follow the lead of "Boss #2" and be as supportive as possible, especially given that this is her true, solid line boss.
As I'm talking to the CIO, I realize that she's in business to please her internal customers (the division), but her real 'master' (corporate IT) lives elsewhere, isn't necessarily aligned to the needs of her customers, and holds ultimate control of her organization, budget, and political success.
Not the best design to ensure a win-win.
So, the question is, "how does this CIO implement a strategy execution framework when the two points of strategic alignment are so blurry?"
Step #1: Develop strategic objectives and measures for the internal customers. Invite them to the table, involve them, and then take your best crack at identifying their 'scorecards.'
Step #2: Develop strategic objectives and measures for the global CIO and executive suite. Invite them to the table, involve them, and then take your best crack at identifying their 'scorecard.'
Step #3: Develop a clear scorecard for our CIO, well aligned to the needs of both entities (the department and the global IT/executive suite). Then, deploy the scorecards into the IT organization. Select initiatives and start executing to the plan using Business Reviews. The only catch to this step is picking which priorities to align to, as there are most certainly too many.
Step #4: When either of the entities complains that IT isn't focused on the right things or working on the right activities, invite the party back to the table to examine their scorecard, give them a chance to adjust their strategy, and then re-align the IT scorecard and initiatives.
Eventually, this process will do two things.
First, it will teach the internal customers and the global CIO organization to understand the management and decision making process within IT (which gives them a clear seat at the "priorization table").
Second, it shows them the best-in-class model for running a business and might work up-stream. Who knows? This might be the beginning of a management revolution within this organization.
At the very least we have a clear path for how IT is going to align and execute its own strategy when the external alignment points are so blurry.
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