An Approach to Implementation

In the book, ‘The Lords of Strategy’, Walter Kiechal III notes how even great companies like Boston Consulting Group, Bain and Company and McKinsey struggle with implementing their brilliant strategies. It is true that without full execution, strategy is an illusion. So how do we make things happen? Abridge the gap between aspiration and reality? Remove the shadow between word and action so that companies and individuals can realize their visions.

Is there a stepwise process to organize implementation? To my mind, a five-step approach may be considered. I have tried to encompass this by using the vowels as a mnemonic. Much more can be added, of course, but these elements are essential to any strategy and its unrolling.

1)           A stands for awareness. Awareness of oneself, the world, the various forces around oneself and the process of time. This awareness is not a superficial sensation but is a wholesome awakening to what one is and one’s place and relationship with things. This is the time of not-doing, reflection and stillness. Out of this quietude ideas and formations arise of their own and a bigger picture is seen. It is essential to return to one’s awareness time and again, where one becomes a witness without trying to accomplish things. Insights about one own nature, svabhaav, and one’s way of being, svadharma, spring from this silence. One realize what one’s core is, what is it that one truly enjoys doing, what is it that one is really good at, and which activity brings highest return, creating a certain objectivity to one’s own appraisal of oneself. When one realizes what one’s core is, it is easier to formulate the vision for the future, the organization’s mission and its values. Step one is also being aware of others, their needs, their goals and aspirations and needs. As one practices stillness, ego tends to disappear and humility becomes more possible.

2)           E stands for education which seems to me to be the second step. Learning becomes constant and one’s own edification along with the upskilling of others becomes paramount. Being part of Knowledge Organizations in this rapidly changing world is the best protection against new opponents and disruptive forces. Education when it is non-hierarchical and playful creates a radically different culture and a stimulating atmosphere. Along with being heavy on education, if the team is unafraid to experiment, then the organization develops the Edge. Implementation is about micro-experiments, tweaking and constantly receiving feedback about the results along with self-education and education of and with others. Exponential organizations can only happen in when knowledge is open and freely shared and there is no authority. It is important that this new knowledge become a part of the DNA of each individual and the organization such that processes are inseparable from daily behaviors.

3)           I is for information-enabling or digitization of an organization. This conversion of analog into digital pertains not only to data but also processes, communication, reviews, reports and analytics. Without digitizing, artificial intelligence is not possible. More and more, as data crowds out our normal ability to handle loads and loads of information, we will need the assistance of algorithms and cognitive computing to gain insights about the matrix of the universe. Any organization wishing to be successful in today’s global challenges must be awake to the challenges of creating bits and bytes out of its processes. This is essential to make data accurate, timely, reliable and actionable.

4)           O stands for operational engineering and improvements. This operational tweaking will not be undertaken by one person but by the whole team. Once goals and objectives have been set, milestones can be created for the roadmap with clear timelines. Assignments of responsibilities can be made to project leaders or Directly Responsible Individuals and implementation of the strategy can be shared with the team on a regular basis. Success, challenges, failures and feedback can become part of the usual discourse. Workflows and management of time and space can be adjusted as needed giving the organization flexibility and cohesiveness.

5)           U represents upscaling. It is imperative that an organization move up the value chain for it to succeed. Only when an organization improves upon its offering to the client can it challenge its teams to excel in a positive way and help each individual too to move up the value chain by upskilling and gaining new expertise. Most organizations stagnate because they make their vision inflexible and because they are unable to reach the tabula rasa of awareness on a constant basis. In my perception, these five elements mentioned above are not separate from each other but are inextricably intertwined. Once these elements are brought together in a creative interplay and flowing structure, it is possible to transform the entity to a Unicorn in today’s dynamic and seismic world of business.