How Ready Is Your Team to Execute Strategy?
When it comes to turning strategy into results, words aren’t enough. Is your leadership team — and their direct reports — truly committed to winning? Too often, leaders talk a good game, yet falter when assessed against core strategy execution readiness benchmarks. Where does your team really stand?
Corporate Strategy Execution Readiness Research
The data on corporate strategy execution readiness is pretty sobering.
- Our research on organizational alignment reveals a striking gap: CEOs often believe their corporate strategies are twice as clear as the vice presidents and directors directly below them.
- This disconnect matters. IBM reports that fewer than 10% of well-crafted corporate strategies are actually executed successfully across organizations.
The Biggest Mistakes Leaders Make in Strategy Execution
The biggest mistakes stem from overemphasizing strategy communication over true stakeholder involvement — and overestimating how aligned their peers really are. To drive consistent implementation, ensure every key stakeholder not only understands the strategy but genuinely believes in it and is committed to its success before you formally “roll it out.”
7 Strategic Execution Readiness Questions
A strategy that isn’t executed is just words on paper. Effective leaders know that success comes from translating strategy into the few critical attitudes, beliefs, actions, and behaviors that drive results. Ask these seven questions to determine whether the people responsible for delivering your strategy are truly committed, engaged, and ready to see it through.
- Is Your Strategy Clear Enough?
Strategic clarity drives 31% of the performance gap between high- and low-performing organizations. For a strategy to succeed, every priority and plan must be understood, credible, and actionable by all stakeholders.
Can everyone charged with execution clearly articulate the plan — and explain why it makes sense for your organization’s unique context?
- Are Your People Fully On Board?
Change doesn’t happen through announcements, slogans, or town halls alone. Change management simulation data shows that people adopt new ways of working only when they are actively involved in shaping the strategy and when their environment reinforces those changes.
You’ll know you’re on the right track when every key stakeholder isn’t just ready and willing — but motivated and capable — to execute your strategy successfully. Leadership simulation assessments provide a proven way to measure the leadership capabilities needed to drive strategy forward.
Where do your leaders stand?
- Is Your Culture Driving — or Derailing — Your Strategy?
Strategies only succeed when they flow through your people and culture. Corporate culture — how work actually gets done — accounts for 40% of the gap between high- and low-performing organizations. The way people think, behave, and collaborate will either enable or obstruct your strategic goals.
Any meaningful transformation will fail without a deliberate plan to shift mindsets, beliefs, and business practices in support of your strategy.
Have you evaluated your organizational culture to determine whether it aligns with — and accelerates — your strategic ambitions?
- Are Your Leaders and Key Influencers Ready to Walk The Talk?
Project feedback data confirms that employees emulate leaders they trust and high performers they respect. To drive strategy, leaders and key influencers must model the behaviors that support it — visible, consistent, and credible. Talking about the desired behaviors isn’t enough; leaders must demonstrate them in both words and actions for others to follow.
Are your leaders truly setting the example?
- Is There Enough Transparency and Accountability?
When strategies evolve, so must employee behaviors — and changing behavior is never easy. Success requires clarity, commitment, and a culture that pairs high accountability with strong support.
Ensure that both leaders and employees are held accountable for progress while providing the resources, time, and guidance they need to succeed.
Have you built a culture of transparency and accountability that truly supports your strategic priorities?
- Do Employees See How Their Work Drives Strategic Objectives?
When employees understand how their daily efforts connect to broader organizational goals, they become more engaged and gain the context needed to make informed, strategic decisions — especially during periods of change.
Can every employee clearly articulate how their work contributes to both organizational and personal success?
- Is the Definition of Success and Failure Clear Enough?
It’s surprising in executive strategy retreats how often executives and teams can’t clearly articulate what high performance looks like — or how it’s measured. While OKRs can be a valuable framework, strategic objectives are often either too abstract to guide action or merely baseline expectations. The right balance of performance pressure, incentives, and consequences can be the difference between average outcomes and exceptional results.
Are your performance expectations set high enough to meet your strategic objectives?
The Bottom Line
When you and your stakeholders can confidently answer “yes” to these questions, your organization is poised to move from strategy design to strategy execution. If not, there’s critical groundwork to address before taking action — ensuring your strategy has the clarity, alignment, and support needed to succeed.
To learn more about strategy execution readiness, download 3 Big Mistakes to Avoid When Cascading Your Corporate Strategy
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