Leadership Buy-In & Strategy Execution

When studying what makes or breaks an Enterprise Strategy Execution effort, it initially appears to come down to two factors:

1. the need for a sound and compelling strategy that differentiates an organization
2. the right mix of execution methodologies, performance reviews, and accountability 

However, upon further scrutiny, it becomes clear that leadership buy-in is really the essential piece. Without it, nothing within a culture will truly change. And "Business As Usual" is the antithesis of Enterprise Strategy Execution.

Since I've seen plenty of leaders who don't step up to drive Strategy Execution, let’s discuss why this happens. Why don't they "buy-in" to this proven performance-driving methodology, when they are the ones charged with ensuring that the organization improves results?

I know there may be many reasons, but let’s talk about the top three, as I see it:

1. They DON’T personally feel the pain from the company's “burning platform” (i.e. a lingering high-level organizational problem that significantly hinders current or future performance)
2. They DO feel the pain of a burning platform, but don’t understand that Strategy Execution is the solution 
3. They DO feel the pain of the burning platform and realize they need to execute strategy better, but just don’t know how to do that

Number 3 is all about methodology, which is something that can be benchmarked or improved through training or coaching. Many of our clients fall into this category and come to us looking for the "better way." There are best practices for executing strategy that include cascading of business plans or scorecards, robust improvement methodologies, structured business reviews, and related approaches that change culture and ensure accountability.

To convince a leader who is not bought in for reasons 1 or 2 requires similar approaches.

If you seem to be faced with situation # 1, the simple fact is that every organization has challenges, so every organization has “burning platforms.” These might be large (like mortality problems in a hospital or declining profitability in a multi-national corporation) or smaller (like poor communication in some functional areas of an organization). Once the key burning platform is highlighted for a senior team and talked about as a real, solvable problem (as opposed to an elephant in the board room), addressing buy-in now moves into issue #2.

Issue #2 seems to be at the root of most buy-in issues. So, how do we get senior leaders on board once they feel the pain of a burning platform? The solution is to find a way to help them understand that the benefit of executing strategy in a more disciplined, accountable way is the key to the elimination of that burning platform that is keeping them awake at night.

This is not always easy, but I have found that whoever delivers the message to the senior leaders has to understand the senior leaders' viewpoint on managing the organization. This person must speak to senior leaders in a way that helps them see that this new way of managing will assist them in meeting their goals (and perhaps, even in achieving their annual incentive bonus).

Sometimes the message is best coming from an objective third party who has used a system like they may be considering and who can confidently and enthusiastically cite example after example of how it was used to change organizational results dramatically in similar organizations. At the same time, the senior leaders must be shown, at least at a high level, the best practice methodology that will be used and how it differs from what they are currently doing.