In these hard pushed times, I’ve heard people in many organisations say something along the lines of “Now isn’t the time for navel gazing, we just need to get on with it”.  Whilst there may begood intentions behind this statement, it is worthwhile stepping back for a moment for further consideration. Whilst it is undoubtedly true that doing nothing is highly likely to lead to failure, going in the wrong direction can be even worse.

I had the opportunity to observe a “motivational” management conference over in the US a few years ago. You could see that some of the teams that were there from the UK found it difficult to buy into the whole “Happy Clappy” approach that was taken. But one team didn’t; they seemed right at home with it, and got thoroughly involved in every activity that was planned for them. This team came back ‘fired up’ and went to work on their business. 6 months later they went into administration. This really brought home to me one of the most important points that needs to be understood about Strategy and Execution.

 Simply put, if you have the wrong strategy, the more enthusiastic or rigorous you are in its execution, the more likely you are to go bust; if you have the wrong strategy, the last thing you want is a well aligned team that are executing it flawlessly – it is not going to end well. Poor execution will at least lead to a slow death, so you might have time to do something about it.

 It always strikes me that the development of a successful strategy is about the leadership team’s ability to identify and assess the key external variables that will have an impact on their business, along with those factors that are at least potentially within their control internally.

 In the case of the company that I referred to earlier, what was their issue? Well, the “Happy Clappy” conference had spent a long time on teamwork, the psychometrics of the management team, employee satisfaction, and even some qualitative customer feedback, but they had not considered either the competitive market, or the economic outlook. In the end, like almost all businesses that fail, their competitors served the needs of their customers better, their sales and profits dropped, and they could no longer service their debt.

 So, be sure that the strategy that is being executed across your business is right. A lot of things have changed in the last 24 months, and if you haven’t fundamentally reviewed your strategy in recent months, you’d better hope it isn’t being executed flawlessly by highly motivated managers at the moment....

Instead, make sure that you are convinced that your business strategy fully reflects the reality of the outside world, as well as your organisation's capabilities, and ability to execute the strategy. Then make sure your teams are aligned and motivated and get ready for success.