Some studies suggest that roughly 9 out of 10 Companies fail to properly execute strategies. Identifying common roadblocks will help increase your chances of successful strategy implementation. The Four common Barriers to implementation:
The Vision Barrier: Only 5% of the workforce understands their company’s strategy. The Company’s vision should be clearly communicated to all levels of employees. Often, employees don’t understand how the strategy affects them and how their decisions impact others.
The Management Barrier: 85% of executive teams spend less than one hour per month discussing strategy. The management team should meet frequently (often weekly), with consistency and with an appropriate allotment of time. Care should be taken that a given strategic endeavor is not so concentrated at high-levels that it isn’t clearly translated into the actions that each and every manager has to take in order to deliver in its regards. Quite often, managers focus on their own projects and their own priorities, which may not be tightly linked to the specific strategy at hand.
The People Barrier: Only 25% of managers have incentives that are actually linked to a strategy. Incentives for lower-level employees are often non-existent. Incentives linked to a strategic plan will help boost the likelihood of successful implementation.
The Resource Barrier: 60% of organizations don’t link budgets to strategy. A well formulated budgets should adequately dedicate resources to and anticipate results of, the strategy. The company may fall short on its performance targets, generating less cash than expected, but not have the budgetary-linkage to drive adaptation of the strategy and/or necessary modifications.
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