The value of strategy implementation - why does the ability to implement distinguish winners from losers?
I remember a situation from a basketball court years ago. We had been practicing offensive patterns for weeks. Without defenders, the patterns worked, the shots sank and the playbook seemed to work, until a real game situation with defenders came up and the patterns really didn't work.
The coach announced after the game that we are lazy p****a because we don't do the things we are asked to do with the right intensity.
It felt unreal. We've trained, we've trained a lot and we've trained a lot. But only seemingly.
The value of implementation in the business world
The same moment comes up surprisingly often in the management team. Strategy has been carefully thought out. The direction is clear. Decisions are sound. Yet at some point, the CEO realises that the organisation is not moving as expected. Not because people aren't trying - but because the work isn't coming together well enough.
In basketball, they say that offense wins games, but defense wins championships. In business, attack is strategy. Defence is implementation of the strategy. It's what happens when no one is looking. It's how people do their work on a Monday morning without a reminder. It's whether they stick to what they've agreed, or whether they slowly slip away in the rush of everyday life.
Many CEOs recognise this moment. Early in the year, the strategy will be energetically launched. Discussions take place, objectives are implemented and there is a sense of common direction. During the spring, the focus starts to break down. After the summer, it becomes apparent that some things have moved forward, but the overall picture has not changed. Not because the strategy was wrong, but because the implementation capacity did not go far enough.
On the ground, this is simply this. Each player can play his role well, but if the five doesn't defend together, the opponent will always find space to make a basket. In business, the same means that individuals can be excellent, but without a common rhythm and discipline, the work remains disjointed. In the end, execution is a team effort, not an individual effort.
The value of action from strategy to everyday life
One of the best insights I have seen in management teams comes from moving the discussion from strategy to everyday life. No longer talking about what should be done, but looking honestly at what is actually happening. Where do things that have been agreed upon fall by the wayside? Where is the focus lost? These are not big dramatic moments, but small recurring situations, just like on the defensive end, where one step late is enough to make an opponent's basket.
Ultimately, the value of a strategy does not come from the plan, but from how consistently it is implemented. The most important question for the CEO may not be whether the strategy is the right one. It is, whether the organisation is playing the same game or five different games at the same time.
Because as my coach said at the time: you can win games with a good attack. But championships are only won when the whole team commits to doing the right things together, time after time.
