Strategic Planning and Strategy Execution

Strategic planning is vital to an organization's ongoing success, but many executives aren't happy with their company's approach to the strategic planning process.

In an online survey of 800 executives conducted by The McKinsey Group consultancy, fewer than half of respondents reported satisfaction with their company's development of strategic planning.

Key findings:

• Of those who reported that their company implemented a formal strategic process, 79 percent were satisfied with strategy execution.
• Only 23 percent of respondents said that a formal strategic process drives important decision making at their company.
• The majority, at 52 percent, credited small senior groups with making critical strategic decisions.

Notably, there's a strong correlation between monitoring of strategic plans and executive approval of those plans, according to the study.

• Still, only 56 percent of respondents overall reported that their company monitors its strategic initiatives.