The reality of why it doesn’t happen might not be what you expect.
By Erin Templer
Credit unions have thousands of guides about developing a strategy, but very few on how to execute one. And the difficulty of achieving executional excellence is a major obstacle at most companies, according to Kathy Pearson, Ph.D., who recently spoke at CUES Symposium: A CEO/Chairman Exchange. Leaders often attribute poor execution to a lack of alignment and a weak performance culture. However, it turns out that in most companies, activities line up well with strategic goals, and the people who meet their numbers are consistently rewarded, according to Pearson, founder and president of Enterprise Learning Solutions and a senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Instead, for successful execution of strategy, companies must foster coordination across units and build the agility to adapt to changing market conditions. During her session, Pearson summarized research from “Why Strategy Execution Unravels--And What to Do About It” from the March 2015 Harvard Business Review, and shared five strategic execution myths and realities: Myth 1: Execution should be driven from the top. Reality: Execution should be driven from the middle, and guided from the top. Myth 2: Execution equals vertical alignment. Reality: Execution requires more coordination across units. Myth 3: Communication means being loud. Reality: Communication is about clarity and prioritization. Myth 4: Execution means sticking to the plan. Reality: Execution that’s successful will balance agility with alignment. Myth 5: A performance culture drives execution. Reality: For succession strategic execution, make sure you also reward agility, teamwork and ambition. Erin Templer is CUES’ director of marketing. Read "Don't Promote Experiments, Promote Understanding" about Pearson's 2014 session at CEO Institute I: Strategic Planning. Learn about the 2017 CUES Symposium: A CEO/Chairman Exchange, slated for Jan. 29-Feb. 2 in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. And read "Steering Through the Storm" from CUES' Credit Union Management magazine.
