The Challenge of Execution

Professor Lawrence G. Hrebiniak, Wharton Business School, identified the following issues related strategy execution in his book "Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution and Change."

All four of the problems mentioned below are people-related issues:

1. Managers are trained to plan, not execute.
2. Some top executives do not see themselves as responsible for implementation of the strategies they formulate.
3. Strategy execution happens over a much longer time frame than strategy formulation.
4. Strategy execution involves more people than strategy formulation.

BOTTOMLINE: Strategy Execution issues are mainly about People Alignment. The execution of a strategy very often fails because leaders do not focus on the critical issue of aligning the people to the strategy and the processes.