The 5 Things You Need to Consider for a Successful Start of Your Strategy Execution Efforts

Dear Change and Transformation Leaders,

I'm excited to share some valuable insights I've gathered from recent strategy review exercises with world-class organizations and mature practices. Through conversations with CEOs, Chief Transformation Officers, Data Officers, Technology and Operations leaders, and transformation and change teams, I've distilled five critical lessons for successfully initiating your strategy execution phase.

1. Strategy Work Exhaustion

During the strategy formulation process, there's often a lot of research, decisions, and meetings, which can be exhausting and draining. This fatigue can cause the next phase to focus solely on "Let's do it and let's go," overlooking the need for the strategy execution design work and thinking space before delivery.

This oversight often leads to rework, frustrations, and subpar results. Ensure you bring renewed energy to the strategy execution phase to avoid unnecessary busyness and frustrations.

2. The Assumption that the Strategy is Right

When teams are handed their strategy, there's an inherent assumption that it's correct and unchangeable. However, strategy should evolve through strong feedback loops and continuous refinement.

A learning organization will enhance its strategy realization efforts by being open to adjustments and improvements along the way.

3. Looking Way Too Far

Measures like KPIs and OKRs often look too far into the future, leading to surface-level solutions, assumptions, corner-cutting, or overcomplicated portfolios. True success requires holistic design and the development of a "breadcrumb path" to guide the program toward achieving outcomes at every step.

4. Do We Have What It Takes?

It's essential to assess whether you have the necessary capabilities to execute your strategy. Often, assumptions about processes, systems, talent, and resources lead to firefighting, stress, and burnout.

Ensure you have a clear understanding of your current capabilities and dependencies to avoid these pitfalls.

5. Lead the Change, Not Just the Program

Execution mode often focuses on program leadership, but the change leadership is equally important. Where focus goes, energy flows. If the program's technical aspects overshadow change leadership and adoption, you risk missing critical components of successful transformation.

Avoid common assumptions that undermine change efforts and ensure you have dedicated change talent to support the program.

Conclusion

Staying competitive requires impactful change and transformation, not just more of the same or slow continuous improvement. It's about making significant strides in the right direction and building towards the future.

Remember, the enemy of growth is settling got good enough

New Offerings for APAC and MENA Regions

Starting July, I will bring my signature "Strategy to Future" workshops to APAC and MENA regions. These workshops have been highly popular with my USA and Europe clients and are now available to a broader audience, including the public.

If you want to upskill your transformation and change teams or grow your capabilities as a leader, reach out for a conversation.

Here are some of the of workshops and facilitation days, these are customizable to fit in with your organization size, specific pain points, the ,maturity of the practice and if this is something new you are doing or have been doing for some time…

• The Success Pathway: Design an integrated success path to ensure your team clearly understands what success looks like at every stage. Empower them to proactively change direction or redefine their approach, avoiding reactive measures through governance meetings and client feedback.
• Program Designer: Collaborate with teams to co-design change and transformation programs that have a higher chance of success and truly fulfill their promise.
• Talent Landscape: Conduct a deep dive to identify the right talent necessary for realizing your strategy effectively.
• Future Forward Thinking Applied: Integrate critical thinking into your strategy execution efforts to uncover blind spots, hidden opportunities, and new ways to fulfill your customer promise, breaking free from status quo burdens.
• Lead Change First: Prioritize change in your program design and seamlessly integrate it with existing efforts. This ensures change is managed effectively from the outset, preventing last-minute frustrations and team burnout.

Navigating Transformation: Unlock the Secrets to Effective Change & Transformation

If you haven't already, here is my recent podcast episode on "Leading Change," where I had an in-depth conversation with Lauren Ryder about the nuances of translating strategy into actionable outcomes.

Some of the common questions I hear from change and transformation leaders and executives:

• What should you do once handed a strategy document? What initial steps should you take, and what potential blind spots should you consider?
• As a member of the executive team, how can you elevate your strategy execution to the next level?
• What is the role of mindset in elevating your change initiatives and creating a healthier, more resilient organization?

This episode is packed with insights that will help you navigate the complexities of change and lead your organization towards a successful transformation. Don't miss out on these valuable lessons!

🔗 Listen to the full episode here

Event updates

The "Relevant, Not Redundant" event last week was a smashing success, with over 50+ attendees joining us both face-to-face and online! 🎉 Most importantly, everyone got value, and I left fulfilled... My heart is full 💚🧡💛

I’m thrilled that everyone found it insightful, timely, and thought-provoking.

We dove deep into staying ahead in our careers, navigating the complexities of accelerating career growth, and ensuring we remain indispensable in a rapidly evolving landscape.

The discussions were rich, the networking was vibrant, and the energy was palpable.

Here's a sneak peek of the event in action! 📸

Stay tuned for more events.

👉 If you want to get the event replay and some insights on how to future-proof your career and stay relevant, DM me or comment “Replay” below, and I will send it. 🌟

Stay tuned for more events coming your way!

Till next week

Jess Tayel

Founder of the People of Transformation membership & community.

Elevate Change & Transformation high-performing leaders to soar above the sea of sameness and achieve new heights in mastery, influence, & impact without the drag of going solo or slow progression.