Strategy and delivery: How to be better at both (6Ps)
- The strategy and delivery circuit
Successful organisations have both excellent strategies and excellent delivery. They do the right things and they do things right.
Which is more important? Well, strategy and delivery are like the twin blades of a pair of scissors. Each blade is only of use when combined with the other blade.
I recently guest blogged for the Industry and Parliamentary Trust on the causes of the frequent disconnect between strategy and delivery. It is a problem across all sectors. But not for the goldfish, as it doesn’t need a strategy to swim around in a circle.
In my work, I come across organisations that are great at strategy or delivery; seldom both. Here are some thoughts to improve.
For organisations weak on strategy
Purpose
Think through your aims. I am reminded of a sign at St Brides Church, London (over the gent’s loo): “We aim to please. Will you aim too, please.”
Plan
Remember that, as Louis Pasteur said ”Chance favours only the prepared mind.” So think longer term, not just about tomorrow. Look outwards not just inwards. Make a short written plan. Communicate and share it. Update it.
Possibilities
Actively manage both risks and opportunities. Use Northern Rock and Dubai World as reminders.
For organisations weak on delivery
Prepare
Make your plan less formalized; allow space for opportunities that emerge. As General Carl von Clausewitz wrote in 1832 in his book called On War: “The Prussian general staff did not expect a plan of operation to survive past the first contact with the enemy. They set only the broadest of objectives and emphasized seizing unforeseen opportunities as they arose. Strategy was not a lengthy action plan. It was the evolution of a central idea through continually changing circumstances.”
Projects
Use projects as a vehicle for delivering change. Apply the ingredients of project success. Avoid project overload. Make sure your projects don’t get into a muddle.
Processes
An organisation’s day to day work is delivered through processes. So make sure that your processes and associated behaviours are relevant, well managed and effective.
[...] good strategy and delivery and incredible [...]
Leadership: forget frogs, copy chameleons « Mike Barnato
April 12, 2010 at 8:49 am
[...] They need to be able to see both the big picture (the compass) and the detail. That’s the key to delivering strategies. That’s why they need both a compass and a [...]
Why do leaders need both a clock and a compass? « Mike Barnato
December 27, 2010 at 11:41 am
Leaders need clocks so that they can measure progress in secret of initiatives and projects which might otherwise overrun.
They need to do this so that they can assess what is actually going on without having to refer to project and programme directors who might otherwise obfuscate and not reveal the true state of affairs in terms of delays and problems.
Leaders need compasses to see where they are going which is why Hoshin Planning was developed by the Japanese and is used by Intel,HP and Toyota.
The process is similar to Balanced Scorecarding by Kaplan and Norton but is more thorough and lends itself to initiatives where previous experience is not available and precedent does not exist.
For example the Apollo Mission placed a man on the moon and brought him back again .
There was no precedent,no experienced people who had done it before.
Therefore it became a “HOSHIN EVENT”.
The word HOSHIN roughly translated means”Shining metal pointing brightly” or as we wold say in English COMPASS
JOHN A GELMINI
January 5, 2011 at 11:28 am
Thanks for this comment John. Very interesting. I guess we see more HOSHIN events such as Japanese earthquake, Libya and so on.
Mike Barnato
March 31, 2011 at 3:36 pm