Strategy Execution Heroes: Business Strategy Implementation and Strategic Management Demystified

That glib little line sets the tone for the book. "Strategy Execution Heroes" is refreshingly different. But don't think the author includes a lot of waffle to make us feel good. This book is full of highly useful and practical insights for improving execution. And the author draws on the experience of senior executives from some of the world's largest organizations.

All told, there are over 250 execution tips and tricks in here. Readers also get 27 free downloads when they purchase the book, ranging from exercises and best-practices to training material. So, there's definitely a lot of value to be had here.

"Strategy Execution Heroes" is for future and current managers who want to get better at execution. And, most of us know that managers who can actually deliver will go far in today's organizations. After all, companies are full of people who talk the talk, but are too lazy or inexperienced to walk the walk. If you have the integrity and skills to step up to the plate and get the job done, you're going to get noticed.

The author, Jeroen De Flander, is a seasoned international Strategy Execution expert and executive coach. He's worked with over fifty of the world's largest organizations, and helped more than 15,000 managers worldwide master their execution skills.

So, keep listening to find out what you should be thinking about when designing your strategy; one common problem that often dooms strategies to failure; and why you shouldn't assign performance-based goals to your team.

The book has eight chapters, and is divided into three sections. The first chapter contains more than enough tips to make up for the cost of the book. Here, the author goes into why managers, in particular, need to focus on execution skills. He lays out the statistics, and they're pretty sobering.

For instance, after polling over 1,100 companies in 36 countries, he found that about one in three people receive no information on how to execute their strategies. 27 percent don't receive any feedback on their efforts, and only 27 percent believe that the strategic initiatives in their company are being managed correctly.

The numbers are pretty grim, but there's plenty of hope to be had. The author next lays out 12 strategy execution insights that many readers will find useful.

A good example is number four. Many teams and leaders focus on creating the strategy first, and then work out how to implement it once it's finished. But the author says that teams need to think about implementation challenges at the same time that they're designing the strategy. The two go hand-in-hand, not one after the other.

No matter what kind of strategy we're trying to implement, there are always going to be some common challenges we need to address. One is our existing corporate culture. The author says strategies that demand a large cultural shift are bound to fail, simply because making large-scale cultural change is very hard.

Another common problem has to do with your organization's existing power structures –the unwritten rules that everyone knows about. These are going to influence your ability to execute successfully, so it's vital you identify what they are, and analyze how they'll impact your execution.

The author also uses this first chapter to lay out his strategy execution framework, called "The Eight."

"The Eight" framework looks exactly like a figure eight. The top circle illustrates tasks at the organizational level. The bottom circle illustrates individual tasks. The author has designed it like this for several reasons. First, it shows the importance of aligning individual and organizational performance during execution. And, it gives managers a visual tool for making sure they're covering the most important building blocks of their execution.

The author bases the rest of the book around concepts and tasks shown in "The Eight."

Part two of the book is called "Act Within the Eight." And there are some truly brilliant ideas in these chapters.

The author says that setting goals is one of the keys to strategy execution success. This concept may not be a new one to many of you, but he's included some fascinating insights from goal-setting theory that can be applied to strategy execution. We thought this was a highly-useful list for managers.

For instance, the author says that if your people are facing a task that's particularly complex, you should set learning goals instead of performance-based goals, if you want them to do well.

Why?

Because performance-based goals can make people so anxious that they fail to look for solution strategies – and they fail to learn what's effective. They're focused on reaching an end goal, not on finding the best or most efficient way to get there. Many opportunities can be missed with performance-based goals.

Chapter three focuses on communication. When it comes time to execute a strategy, managers often neglect to communicate with their teams. This chapter is chock-full of highly practical tips for improving communication with your team. The author pulls tricks from copywriters, teaches us how to inspire an audience, and gives us 19 tips for improving strategy communication in our organizations.

If you've had problems communicating strategies and goals to your team in the past, this is a chapter you won't want to miss.

Chapter five deals with coaching. Now, some of you might think that a chapter on coaching is a surprising addition to a strategy execution how-to book. But once you've read it, you'll fully understand why coaching your team is so vital to a successful implementation of strategy.

One of the reasons why coaching is so important is that, once you boil down any strategy, it all comes down to hundreds – if not thousands – of individual efforts. Coaching, the author says, creates engagement, which gets things done.

And, like all the chapters in this book, there's some great advice here. Especially if you've never coached your team before. There's also a free download that goes with this section, containing high-quality coaching questions you can use with your team.

The author says it's vital that managers don't confuse coaching with counseling. Counseling is non-work related, and often deals with core beliefs and issues. And traditionally, counseling is hands-off.

Coaching, on the other hand, is a way to unlock someone's true potential to maximize their performance.

So, wondering how you can be a better coach? By the time you're done with this chapter, you won't be asking that question.

The author gives us thirty tips to be a better coach, five actions we can take to push coaching to the next level in our organizations, and he teaches us how to use the best-known coaching model in the world with team members.

One of the tips we liked best was that you can go undercover if you want to coach someone on your team. You don't need formal coaching sessions, and your coachee doesn't even have to be aware of the process. You can coach gently, in every conversation you have with them.

Another useful tip is to focus on the positive. The author says that when you're coaching someone, it's easy to focus on negative behaviors you need to change. But you also need to spend time identifying positive behaviors, so your coachee can leverage them to reach goals.

The third and last section of the book focuses on organizing "The Eight." Chapter six deals with processes, and why it's so important that they're kept as simple as possible.

So, how can be we improve the strategy execution process in our organizations?

Well, one of the first things we should do is find the right people to manage the processes. We need to look for people who have a passion for performance, the courage to challenge existing practices, and the guts to admit when they've made a mistake. We also need to have a clear understanding of how best to use automation. The author says that often, managers are very ambitious when it comes to automating a process. And with good reason. Automation can save an incredible amount of time.

But, jumping the gun on automation can be incredibly costly. For instance, imagine you want to automate a part of the individual objective-setting process. You pick a software package and launch a costly IT project to customize it for your needs. But once it's installed, you start hearing complaints from team members about its lack of user-friendliness. Over time, no one wants to use it.

Now you've got to make even more expensive IT changes.

The author says managers should think about postponing automation until they're completely happy with the underlying process. This helps avoid costly mistakes in the future.

Chapter seven deals with initiating your strategy. In the author's framework "The Eight", this is where the top circle of the figure eight touches the bottom circle. It's the point where the organizational level meets the individual level.

Or, according to the author, it's the part where strategy translates into practice. And, this is where we need to learn initiative management.

The author says that initiative management is the weak link in the strategy execution chain. So how can we get better?

One thing we can do is make sure we're selecting and prioritizing the right initiatives. Many times we'll have plenty of initiative ideas. But, we can't use them all. So, we have to pick.

The author urges us to aim for 100 percent connection. This means that our initiatives should fully link to our overall strategy. Fortunately, there's a tip in here that shows us how to do this.

Another way we can improve our initiative management is to optimize our resource allocation and planning.

We need to start by making sure our initiative aligns with the budget. Organizations often keep these completely separate. But only by making sure our initiatives are fully funded, year after year, will they succeed long term.

We also can't be afraid to reassign a project manager if we need to. Just because someone has worked on a project for years, or supposedly can't be moved, doesn't mean they shouldn't go somewhere else if we need them to. Rotation boosts a project manager's learning curve. And, it can be the saving grace of a project to have new blood. We thought this was an excellent point to bring up. So many managers face opposition when they try to move key players around. And often, the opposition wins, and project managers stay stuck where they are. If you need a key manager to help with your strategic execution, then don't be afraid to fight for them.

There was far more in this chapter than we can cover here. And all the information is highly useful and relevant for readers in management positions. For instance, the author tells us about a crucial step in implementing initiatives that's almost always forgotten. Skip this step and it's very likely that your efforts, even using "The Eight" framework, could break down entirely. So, this is a timely and crucial addition to this chapter, and you shouldn't miss it. It's on page 161.

The last chapter focuses on skills development. Our skills, and those of our team, are what set us apart from our competition. And, they're what will make our strategy execution successful. So it's vital that we spend time continually developing them.

The author says most companies spend way too much time assessing skills. A better rule of thumb is to invest 15 percent of the available time on skills assessment, and 85 percent on skills development.

In this chapter we get the eight most common mistakes managers make with skills development. And, we learn 37 tips to help us with successful skills development.

So, what's our last word on "Strategy Execution Heroes"?

We loved it, for several reasons.

First, this book is full of really practical tips and strategies that managers can really use in their organizations. This is information you can start using immediately. It's easy to understand, and the author gives very clear directions on how to follow his advice.

The book is also well-organized. The author did a masterful job keeping this information easy to get through. Each chapter is short and punchy.

But, don't think it's going to be a quick read. This is one of those books that you'll probably want to go through several times. This book is just under 200 pages, but it's packed with information. You'll definitely need a few read-throughs to digest it all.

The book was also a surprisingly interesting read. There's no fluff, and not a lot of banter in here, but it's not boring. The information is so good, and presented in such a logical fashion, that you can't help but keep going.

Overall, we thought it was a gem for managers who want to improve their execution skills. If this is you, then don't miss this practical little book. It'll be well worth your time.

"Strategy Execution Heroes," by Jeroen De Flander, is published by The Performance Factory.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Thanks for listening.