Most strategies do not fail on paper. They fail in the gap between what an organization intends to do and what its structures, leaders, and people are equipped to deliver.
The execution gap
When a strategy stalls, the instinct is often to revisit the strategy itself. More often, the problem sits elsewhere: decision rights that are unclear, an operating model built for a previous era, or leadership capabilities that no longer match the scale of the ambition.
Three questions for leadership teams
- Does our structure make it easy to do what our strategy requires?
- Do our leaders have the capabilities the next phase of growth will demand?
- Are our rewards, governance and talent processes reinforcing the behaviours we need?
Organizations that answer these questions honestly, and act on the answers, are far more likely to turn strategy into performance.