Successful Strategy Implementation with cplace

The successful implementation of a business strategy presents a significant challenge for many organizations. However, with the right insights and experience, this process can be effectively managed. In this article, our partner Selcho Consulting shares insights and experiences on how companies can effectively implement their strategies.

The Challenge of Strategy Implementation

Why do companies often fail to implement their strategies? The real speed of implementation is often too slow, inconsistent, and lacking in transparency. Many underestimate the multitude of implementation facets, the scope of tasks, and, most importantly, the time required. Strategy implementation does not happen “at the push of a button.”

It is a long-term implementation and change process that must be anchored in the organization. 

Success Factors for Effective Strategy Implementation

The implementation of a corporate strategy begins with strategy development, where the market and competitive situation are analyzed, goals are formulated, and initial rough implementation plans are drawn up. A critical step is the early communication of the new strategy and vision to all employees to secure their engagement and support. 

The transition step to strategy implementation is very demanding, as it involves translating strategic and operational goals into executable activities and measures. It is also important to adjust established processes and rethink ingrained behaviors to integrate new strategic themes into the company. Concerns and resistance from employees or teams must be actively addressed, requiring persuasive efforts at all company levels. 

Effective strategy implementation requires that operational activities and daily challenges do not overshadow the strategic direction. Therefore, the implementation processes must be goal-oriented but also pragmatic and streamlined. 

An engaged strategy team consisting of management representatives is useful to closely monitor the strategy implementation process and ensure consistent execution. This is best achieved through strategy meetings where progress is regularly reported. This allows cross-departmental dependencies to be managed, priorities to be continually reviewed, and adjustments to be made as needed. The continuous commitment of management can significantly support the successful implementation of the strategy. 

The described strategy process is often supported in practice by spreadsheet solutions and extensive presentations. However, ensuring data consistency, timeliness, and thus information quality requires significant effort. In our search for effective improvements, the excellent usability of cplace, especially for the “Strategy Implementation Measures Portfolio,” has been evident to us for years. Proven methods and tools such as the Balanced Scorecard or Objectives & Key Results (OKR) can be implemented with cplace. 

The Advantages of cplace

The use of cplace can be tailored precisely to the unique circumstances of a company. The entire bundle of necessary implementation measures can be represented consistently and clearly. The integration with strategic and operational goals can be consistently mapped in the system. The individuals responsible for the measures are transparent, as are the expected time frame, the required resources, the planned scope of solutions, and the current status. The progress of implementation in achieving the goals can be assessed comprehensively over time for the entire company.

Based on our experience, the key advantages are summarized as follows: 

The individuals responsible for implementation measures:

• Professional Tool: They have a professional tool for managing their activities and teams. 

• Visibility: They always have a view of the agreed-upon goals, the associated measures, and their implementation status; plausibility checks are easily possible, i.e., daily. 

• Insight: They quickly recognize differences in the maturity levels of participants concerning successful strategy implementation; necessary qualification or coaching measures can be derived. 

The management:

• Efficient Reporting: They have a comfortable, management-appropriate reporting system through a dashboard and seamless “drill-down” to organizational units or topics. 

• Consistent Overview: They regularly have a consistent overview of the progress in strategy implementation. Neglected topics are quickly identified, and based on this knowledge, targeted actions can be taken if needed. 

And beyond?

• Project Derivation: If a project arises from the measures, e.g., due to complexity, project managers have a proven tool with cplace to manage cross-departmental activities on a common platform. 

• Flexibility: Company-specific new requirements and insights can be quickly incorporated and represented in the system. 

• Seamless Integration: Other important corporate management topics, such as risk management or innovation management, can be seamlessly integrated. 

Conclusion

The development of corporate strategy first requires a detailed view of the conditions and, derived from this, a clearly formulated strategic direction. This forms the basis for a well-thought-out medium-term plan for strategy implementation. Successful implementation then ensures the active shaping of corporate development. The cplace software solution can support this process very effectively.