12/04/2024
To generate and execute strategy successfully you need several types of people involved. But who and what is their role? Make sure you have at least these four in place.
One important cause of the high failure rates in strategy is that the right people are not involved. They lack the right skills, get the wrong role, or they are not present at all.
To counter this problem and increase your strategy success rate, it is recommended to have four types of people involved: Experts, Executives, Managers and Employees—and each with the right role, focus and skillset.
As a starting point we can think of the strategy playing field in terms of two dimensions: strategy and implementation. The simple logic is that some people need to be good at one, others at both, and still others at none of them.
Accordingly, these are the four roles for successful strategy and implementation:
EXPERT (High strategy, High implementation)
• Name: Strategy professional, consultant, CSO, strategy officer
• Role: lead a complete strategy and implementation project, as well as ongoing monitoring and updating the strategy
• Level of skill: deep, mastery, proficiency
• Involvement: critical for success, either internally or externally
• Decision-power: low, mostly informal influence or on process
EXECUTIVE (High strategy, Low implementation)
• Name: CXO, director, boss, board member, top management
• Role: formal responsibility for the organization’s strategy, provide overview, develop vision and make decisions
• Level of skill: broad, informed, understands importance
• Involvement: essential for mandate, support and budget
• Decision-power: high, both formal and informal
MANAGER (Low strategy, High implementation)
• Name: middle manager, team leader, department head, supervisor
• Role: participate in corporate strategy and lead strategy project in their own unit (with or without Expert)
• Level of skill: focused, to fulfill their role in the process
• Involvement: important for smooth implementation, cascading, and progress
• Decision-power: medium, limited to their responsibilities
EMPLOYEE (Low strategy, Low implementation)
• Name: employee, staff, worker, operator
• Role: participate in strategy project and provide input; execute their part of the work during implementation
• Level of skill: shallow, enough to appreciate strategy
• Involvement: useful for detailed knowledge and lasting change
• Decision-power: low, limited to their own job and role
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