The 4 A’s of Strategic Execution: The First 2 — Alignment and Ability

To re-cap, the 4A model of strategic execution is a system of interrelated and interdependent factors. Here we have looked at alignment and ability. But executional capability also requires infrastructure, processes, structure, and systems to make things scalable and repeatable. And the ability to shift rapidly in response to change.

For an introduction to the 4A strategy model, please see Strategic Execution: Performance Excellence With 4 A’s.

A few years ago, fast-food behemoth McDonald’s attempted to broaden its customer base. Introducing things like salads and wraps to its menu in an effort to woo health-conscious customers (who almost never ate there), the company started to neglect its core: making great burgers. After losing $500 million over a five-year period and seeing newcomers break into the market with better, gourmet burgers, McDonald’s announced it would re-embrace its identity as a fast-food chain and worry less about customers it was never likely to win over.

The lesson learned? The importance of alignment.

The First A: Alignment

If you are not fully aligned around your core strategy, your organization is in danger of getting sidetracked, distracted and diverted. Your priorities run the risk of becoming dispersed and your resources scattered. This can lead to a continual shift in focus and diffused impact.

Misalignment can see your leadership divert attention from mission-critical objectives and goals and strategic investments. Just as McDonald’s was sidetracked by the gravitational pull of the latest industry trend, it’s only too easy to lose sight of long-term priorities. And once your organization starts to lose traction, spinning its wheels and dropping forward momentum, your employees may get disheartened and start to disengage.

Alignment can be improved when organizations do three things:

Step 1: Establish a Clear Strategic Intent

Step one is to get everyone on board through a compelling focus on strategic intent. Why? A clearly articulated strategic intent can energize your organization around an ambitious vision of the future. Interestingly, evidence suggests that it often inspires the organization to set off toward a goal that, at the time, they may not be fully capable of achieving. But it engages collective ambition and higher aspiration. It can be a stretch experience for sure, but one that provides the emotional and intellectual energy for the journey to the future.

So have you established clear strategic intent? Ask yourself the following questions:

• How well is your strategy understood and supported by all managers?

• Are your strategic goals clearly prioritized by your leaders and regularly communicated throughout the enterprise?

• Does your executive team model all the behaviors necessary to translate strategy into performance?

Step 2: Raise Shared Expectations

Establishing clear intent alone isn’t enough. You need to bring the strategic intent to life, give it energy and build collective ambition and aspiration. The key is to convert energy from the top leadership to the rest of the organization through shared expectations for excellence.

As one senior executive we work with puts it: “It’s all about managing expectations.” So is everyone aiming high in your organization? Ask yourself the following questions:

• How do you establish and reinforce shared expectations for high performance throughout our organization?

• Which values, behaviors and norms of excellence are embedded in your culture?

• How does your culture encourage employees to challenge one another and bring forth new ideas?

Step 3: Ensure Mutual Accountability for Results

Too many organizations don’t have a solid foundation for making accountability explicit. And even fewer expect the collaboration and shared accountability that drives alignment. In many organizations, performance management is perfunctory.

In well aligned organizations, teams take ownership for their performance and share clear, candid feedback with each other. So how does your company compare? Check yourself against these questions:

• How are your managers held accountable for actions and achieving results that support our strategy?

• How are rewards connected to both individual and team performance?

• To what extent do individuals hold themselves and others accountable for results across the entire enterprise?

Building alignment is crucial to your firm’s success in executing strategy. But it’s only part of the story.

The second of the four primary factors that determine execution excellence — the Four A’s — is ability.