Why strategy implementation fails

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Why strategy implementation fails

MODULE 6 | 6.6.1 | STUDENT COMPANION

Implementation happens amid complex, shifting conditions inside the organisation, among competitors and

across the industry. It needs a supportive climate in which leaders, managers and staff buy in and take

part. Mitch Evans (2013) summarised ten common reasons plans fail; most reflect management and

leadership weaknesses and are easily avoided.

Ten reasons implementation plans fail

1. Missing purpose

Daily tasks crowd out the

why

2. No road map

Plans not shared or

translated into jobs

3. Everything a

priority

No sequence, no timeline

4. No urgency

Deadlines never reach

the working plans

5. No

follow-through

Nobody checks progress

or corrects

6. Missing

know-how

Unsure how, so people

delay

7. Weak

accountability

The plan's measures go

unused

8. No celebration

Milestones pass

unnoticed

9. No rewards

Helpful behaviour isn't

reinforced

10. Poor

communication

One-off, one-way

announcements

Most are management and leadership weaknesses, and most are easy to avoid

The remedies mirror the causes

Link every task to the strategy's purpose; turn the plan into a road map for each team

Sequence the priorities and carry the deadlines all the way down

Review progress regularly, and train people before asking them to work differently

Use the plan's measures in performance reviews; celebrate milestones; reward the right behaviours

Keep communication flowing in both directions

Turning strategic thinking into action

Thinking without action

Strategy drafted by a few senior people

Implementers hear of it by email

An annual cycle, reviewed once a year

Functions and systems left uncoordinated

Frontline staff don't know the strategy

Thinking into action

Implementers involved from the start

Each person sees how their work fits

Continuous review and adjustment

Structure, processes and information systems realigned

Every employee can explain the strategy

Plans designed without regard for their context drift away from reality

GLOBAL STRATEGY AND LEADERSHIP | M6 | 6.6.1 | STUDENT COMPANION

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Accounting Ahead | Original study resource | accountingahead.com.au

Examples (imagined): a supermarket chain's head office moves staff to the checkouts at fixed hours without

asking store managers, who know the busy hours differ by store; a sales team promises delivery dates the

factory can't meet; a hotel promises personal service, but the receptionist at midnight was never told. Results

often depend on frontline staff, yet most employees don't fully understand their organisation's strategy. The

traditional strategy process runs on an annual cycle, while implementation is continuous.

Paralysis by analysis. Managers are trained mainly to formulate strategy, not implement it (Hrebiniak, 2006),

and finishing a formal plan can feel like implementing it. But strategy is a stream of decisions and actions, not a

document. For CPAs: the budget is not the strategy; it measures the strategy and reflects its outcomes. Rigid

planning stifles creativity, and analytics can tempt constant tinkering: a dashboard that refreshes hourly can

provoke a change of course after one bad week. Test whether the next study could change the decision; if not,

act.

Pitfalls at an imagined firm

Symptom at Corella Pitfall Fix

Drafted by six partners at a retreat; managers heard by

email

Thinking not turned into action Involve office managers in detailed planning

Fourteen priorities, all due this year Everything is a priority Three priorities, in sequence

Bonuses still reward billable hours No rewards for the new behaviour Align rewards with advisory goals

More market research a year after approval Paralysis by analysis Set a date to stop analysing

Two of fourteen priorities moving No follow-through Monthly reviews against the plan's

measures

Imagined: Corella Partners, one year into its advisory strategy

Case note: Hershey's systems launch

In the late 1990s the US chocolate maker Hershey invested more than US$100 million in new enterprise

software for ordering, planning and distribution. The schedule was compressed, and after slipping from April, the

main switch-over began on 5 July 1999, as orders for Halloween, one of its busiest seasons, were arriving. Many

orders could not be processed and shipped properly, and in the third quarter of 1999 sales fell about 12% and

net income about 19%. For a CPA, the warning signs were visible in advance: a compressed timetable, a single

switch-on date in the peak season, and little time for testing and training.

Sources: Hershey Form 10-Q, third quarter 1999; CIO, 15 November 2002; AP, 30 October 1999.

GLOBAL STRATEGY AND LEADERSHIP | M6 | 6.6.1 | STUDENT COMPANION

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Accounting Ahead | Original study resource | accountingahead.com.au

Practice questions

MODULE 6 | 6.6.1 | TRY THESE BEFORE THE WORKED ANSWERS

Question 1 - Match the symptoms

Symptom at Swiftline Logistics (imagined) Which of the ten reasons?

(a) Drivers have never heard of the new 'green fleet' strategy

(b) Every depot manager has twelve 'top priorities'

(c) Training on electric trucks was promised but never scheduled

(d) Beating last quarter's fleet target went unmentioned

(e) The plan's targets never come up in performance reviews

(f) Bonuses still reward on-time delivery only, regardless of fuel

Question 2 - Bring the frontline in

Lighthouse Youth Services (an imagined charity) develops its strategy at an annual board retreat; frontline youth

workers learn of it from a newsletter. Redesign its planning process so frontline staff help shape and deliver the

strategy.

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Question 3 - One more study?

The board of Granite Mining Services (imagined) has asked for a fourth market study before approving a new

maintenance-services strategy. Two rivals have already launched similar services. Advise the board.

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Worked answers

MODULE 6 | 6.6.1 | WORKED ANSWERS - ATTEMPT THE QUESTIONS FIRST

Question 1 - Swiftline Logistics

Symptom Reason

(a) Drivers unaware No road map / poor communication

(b) Twelve top priorities Everything is a priority

(c) Training never scheduled Missing know-how

(d) Success unmentioned No celebration

(e) Targets not in reviews Weak accountability

(f) Bonuses ignore fuel No rewards for the new behaviour

Question 2 - Lighthouse Youth Services

Run listening sessions with youth workers before the retreat; include two frontline representatives in it

Draft the strategy, then test it with each team: what would make it work where you are?

Turn the final strategy into a one-page road map for each program, with local priorities and measures

Review progress quarterly with frontline teams, not just annually at board level

Question 3 - Granite Mining Services

Ask what a fourth study could reveal that would change the decision; if nothing, approve now

Rivals are moving, so delay has a real cost: lost contracts and first-mover customers

Reduce risk through staged implementation (a pilot with one client, with decision points) rather than more

analysis

Set measures and a review date so the board can adjust as real data arrives

GLOBAL STRATEGY AND LEADERSHIP | M6 | 6.6.1 | WORKED ANSWERS

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