„We spent millions developing this new business strategy with one of the top management consulting firms… and it is NOT working! It feels as though we are hovering just above ground, unable to close the gap to where the rubber hits the road and we finally get the required results.”
I frequently hear such stories from business leaders who feel frustrated by the lack of traction and overwhelmed by the complexities they face when trying to implement these strategies.
We help our corporate clients to elegantly close this gap.
One of the main reasons for the difficulties they face is often a result of the traditional strategy development process, in which the business is required to transition from the current AS IS into a future TO BE state.
During the implementation process many additional requirements, objectives and complexities tend to get added to the roadmap, until the strategy turns into a monster.
A monster that has a life of its own, eating up huge amounts of time, money and resources – until the implementation process runs out of steam and stalls.
We have found that the key to avoiding such failure is to focus, manage and monitor the entire strategy development and implementation process with the help of an impact map.
This starts with a clear definition and
vision for the future
TO BE state and the respective effect on the business,
the organization and all of the key stakeholders.
As Steve Jobs said:
“You cannot connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect the dots looking backwards.”
With this clear end in mind, the required implementation steps are defined by backtracking from the future TO BE state, charting the most elegant and effective critical path to the present starting point.
This, we have found, is the key to closing the strategy implementation gap and creating better results much faster.