Dr. Seleem R. Choudhury
Recently, my organization went through system-wide strategic planning sessions. Too often, even the best of strategic plans are not implemented successfully because organizations do not consider strategy execution in these discussions, neglecting to ask themselves how their organizations can prepare to implement the plans crafted (Cote, 2020). Our facilitator, Costin Jordache of Adventist Healthcare, lead us through our planning session, taking care to define the ingredients of execution. The following article explores his format for successful execution.
More than strategy
A strategy specifies how you are going to get things done (Center for Community Health and Development, 2023). However, to implement, sustain, and succeed in a strategy you must attain Critical Success Factors (CSFs), a term initially devised in the 1960s by Ronald Daniel in his classic Harvard Business Review contribution, “Management Information Crisis.” (Daniel, 1961). Essentially, “critical success factors or CSFs are the elements of an organization or project that are vital to its success” (Mind Tools, 2023). This idea was further developed twenty years later by John F. Rockart. More specifically, Rockart asserts that “Critical success factors are…the limited number of areas in which results, if they are satisfactory, will ensure successful competitive performance for the organization. They are the few key areas where ‘things must go right’ for the business to flourish. If results in these areas are not adequate, the organization’s efforts for the period will be less than desired” (Rockart, 1979).
The following are three key CSFs:
Actionable
A 2016 survey discussed by Harvard Business Review indicated that 67% of well-formulated strategies fail due to poor execution (Carucci, 2017). Organizations must understand what actions are necessary to implement their strategy and reach their goals. Author Bill Welter, in his book How to Turn Strategic Concepts into Actionable Strategy, describes actionable strategy as “vision with action” (Welter, 2020).
Strategy and plan are not synonymous terms. As Ann Latham explains, “a plan is comprised of actions, assignments, and dates. Plans are actionable. A strategy is not. Not until it is translated into plans” (Latham, 2018). Therefore, while the first step is to devise the strategy, the second step must be to outline the plan to implement it. An organization should study the business environment and react accordingly to ensure that plans are laid and followed, not derailed (Kabeyi, 2019). Studies continually show that the alignment of a strategy and its actionable implementation is “positively related to firm performance” (Elbanna, Al Katheeri, & Colak, 2020).
Resourced
Many organizations conduct a SWOT analysis as part of their strategic planning, examining their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This allows an organization to assess how they match up to their competition (Teoli, Sanvictores, & An, 2022). Considering available resources illuminates various organizational opportunities.
The term resource has many different uses in common language and the business world. Strategic resources are distinct from these other meanings (Edwards, Ketchen, & Short, 2014). Generally, there are three standard strategic organizational resources: a company's financial strength, its enterprise knowledge, and its workforce (Malik, 2019). The exact approach to assess each of these resources is unique for any organization. For hospitals, however, it might involve examining clinical service line, surveying its volume, and determine its role in increasing market share. Organizations should also specify where these resources are located, whether from capital investment, additional FTEs, or marketing, for example. Allocating these resources should “strengthen competitive positions and heighten competing priorities” (Sadq, Ahmad, Faeq, & Muhammed, 2020).
Measurable
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is “the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive” (National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2023). Created in 1987, the goal of this award is “to help organizations innovate and improve, while achieving their mission and vision” (Jackson, 2023).
An independent board of examiners judges potential award recipients using the “Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence,” where organizations must have demonstratable “achievement and improvement in seven areas:
Leadership
Planning and strategy
Customers
Measurement, analysis, and knowledge management
Workforce
Process
Results” (Jackson, 2023).
Just like the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, the strategic plan should also possess continuous improvement and measurable outcomes. This is the only way to truly determine whether a plan is working or if it needs to be changed. Measurement allows organizations to recognize if a plan needs more resources or the actionable plan simply isn’t working as projected.
Any strategic plan without measurable and effective implementation is no plan at all (Vorhies, & Morgan, 2003). Measurable goals offer a clear destination and metrics for success, and allow organizations to objectively state that they achieved their goals and implemented a fruitful strategy (Pettit, 2020).
Conclusion
Strategic planning is a consistent activity of any contemporary organization, and is “consistently ranked among the five most popular managerial approaches worldwide” (George, Walker, & Monster, 2019). But to leverage a competitive advantage, the design and development of the strategy during the planning phase must be Actionable, Resourced, and Measurable (Porter, 1985). Successful strategic plans also require dynamic execution, meaning it may need to change or be tweaked to sustain the competitive advantage, potentially triggering a number of shifts (Bradley, Hirt, & Smit, 2018). Now as ever, organizations must constantly adapt their strategies in order to maintain competitiveness (Emerson, 2022).
Resources
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Carucci, R. (2017). Executives Fail to Execute Strategy Because They’re Too Internally Focused. Harvard Business Review.
Center for Community Health and Development, University of Kansas (2023). Section 4: Developing Successful Strategies: Planning to Win. Community Tool Box.
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