“A vision without execution is just a hallucination.”
~ Thomas Edison
What percentage of your strategic priorities will actually execute this year?
Not just launch. Execute.
Successfully.
Be honest – how much of last year’s failure was truly due to external factors? And how much was because execution broke down somewhere inside your organization?
Pause. Sit with that for a moment.
Because here’s the truth: Most leaders don’t actually know.
They assume execution will simply happen because it’s been planned. They assume their teams will deliver because expectations have been communicated. And when things go sideways? It’s easy to blame groups, individuals, and even outside forces.
But if you really step back and look at why execution breaks down, the answer isn’t these factors.
The answer is a lack of leadership.
And I don’t mean leadership as a theoretical concept. I mean the day-to-day leadership of decision-making that happens in every group and function, from the C-suite to the front lines.
Where Execution Falls Apart
Businesses usually don’t fail because of bad ideas. They fail because those ideas never fully execute.
And the data only underscores that statement.
- 67% of well-formulated strategies fail due to poor execution
- Only 2% of leaders are confident their organization can achieve at least 80% of their strategic goals
- 95% of employees don’t understand their company’s strategy well enough to act on it
- Only 10% of organizations consistently achieve their strategic goals
That last point is especially important. It means that nearly 90% of strategies are struggling and basically just generating waste. Not because they were bad strategies, but because they never fully translated into tangible impact.
And this isn’t just about lost revenue or unrealized operational efficiencies. Poor execution drains morale. It leads to burnout. It creates a culture where people show up, do what’s asked (maybe) – but they never fully commit.
So, I’ll say it again… Execution failure is a leadership failure.
And the saddest part of this whole rant, most leaders were never taught how to actually execute strategy.
Why Leaders Aren’t Leading
If you have read my previous content, you know that I am a staunch believer in Henry Mintzberg’s philosophy:Strategy is a pattern in a series of decisions.
Strategy is a decision-making discipline. It is not a planning discipline.
Plans are only accurate the day they were created. And they often took massive amounts of energy to create.
But then they fall prey to the sunk-cost bias. Because of all the time and resources they took to be created, leaders struggle walking away from the plan when it starts to disintegrate. Instead they either:
- Double down on the plan and force people to work harder
- Or they lower the bar on the intended goals so that the goals become “achievable”
Neither approach is what I would call sustainable high performance. At all.
But I say that because the core issue is not that leaders aren’t trying. The core issue is that they are not executing.
Even more specifically, leaders are not only missing out on making great decisions, they are missing out on making an environment where great decision-making happens. Every day.
You see, if strategy is a decision-making discipline, so is strategic execution. Therefore, leaders must be focused on creating environments where great decisions are being made by the entire team. Otherwise, they get weak decision-making environments, where people are creating their own definitions of what “success” looks like – which look like this:
- Priorities become unclear, and teams default to firefighting
- Middle managers focus on keeping their own departments afloat instead of aligning cross-functionally
- Everyone gets distracted by low-value work instead of focusing on what truly moves the needle
- New initiatives die because no one wants to take the risk of working on something that won’t actually survive beyond its launch
But – again – most leaders were never taught how to create and maintain great decision-making environments. Let’s not be overly critical of the players because they don’t understand the game.
And here’s the real test: How well do you know where your decision-making is falling apart? Can you actually say with any clarity where the gaps are – and then prioritize what to fix first?
This is why I created my strategic execution model. Instead of a strategic planning model, it’s a decision-making model. Let me give you the summary here.
Strategic Execution In a Nut Shell
Point one has already been covered: strategic execution is about creating a healthy and highly effective decision-making environment for the entire team.
Point two is this: There are five essential factors that will either create or destroy that decision-making environment. They are:
- Culture
- Accountability
- Engagement
- Empowerment
- Clarity
Point three is this: To create a great decision-making environment, diagnose and address gaps in THIS order:
- Clarity first
- Then empowerment
- Then engagement
- Then accountability
- Then culture
Look, we cannot have a healthy culture without accountability. And we can’t have accountability without being fully engaged and “bought in.” We can’t have engagement without empowerment, and we can’t have empowerment without clarity. It MUST be created in that order.
But here is where it gets really tricky.
There are so many moving parts to this effort. Things like leadership bench strength, prioritization, the allocation of assets, and even trust are all at play. But – for example – does trust fall under engagement or culture? What about prioritization? Is that in the clarity or empowerment bucket?
Remember, most leaders were never taught how to do this – so they wind up playing whack-a-mole. The emphasis of one quarter is all about coaching, the next is all about alignment, then both are scratched when a new EVP comes in and decides to make accountability the focus.
Pause. Does this sound familiar?
How Good Are Your Decisions?
It takes us right back to my opening question: What percentage of your strategic priorities will actually execute this year?
And now I’d like to re-ask my second, more targeted question: How well do you know where your decision-making is falling apart? How good are your decisions?
I ask this because most of us would likely say positive things – then add qualifiers. As in, “My team does a good job – all things considered.” Or “We have strong leaders and I’m sure they will figure it out.”
Notice the unspoken reference to the chaos these leaders have to navigate.
But without a true decision-making framework that drives execution, how will these leaders (a) know how to diagnose breakdowns and (b) sequence which efforts will be done first, second, and so forth?
Round and round we go… While the employee numbers continue to show massive amounts of stress, burnout, and other dysfunctions. While the metrics scream in bright yellow and red tones.
It makes the following stat from the Project Management Institute (PMI) even more painful…
Companies lose an estimated $109 million for every $1 billion spent on projects due to poor execution.
Mirror moment: Take a hard look at your last major initiative – how long did it take from idea to fulfilled impact? Did execution actually match the original intention?”
If I’m hitting a nerve, let’s talk. Contact me here.
There are a number of ways that you can navigate this – from a leadership team 360 on its executional health to training, coaching, and offsite workshops to tackle the strategy you already have in motion.
Because as I often say… It doesn’t have to be this way.
We can learn.
We can do things differently.
We can work smarter, not harder.
We can be the best version of ourselves.
Holomua. Onward and upward.
Originally published at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-shift-changes-everything-tim-ohai-enamc
PS When you are ready, here are a few ways for us to continue your journey together.
- Subscribe to THIS newsletter on LInkedIn (and make sure you have LinkedIn newsletter notifications turned ON)
- Check out my YouTube channel here (and make sure you hit the “subscribe” button!)
- Check out the “How to NOT Execute Your Strategy” podcast on these platforms (and make sure you hit the “subscribe” or “follow” button!) Spotify iTunes Amazon
- Finally, schedule a 30-minute call with me using Calendly or email me directly at [email protected].
An extra thought:
“Strategy without execution is a dream. Execution without strategy is a nightmare.”
~ Japanese Proverb
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