Why Quick Wins During Strategy Execution Are Critical to Success

Why Quick Wins During Strategy Execution Are Essential
At strategy retreats, leaders often focus on big, transformative goals to get the company where it needs to go. While strategic big bets are essential for high performance, we know from project postmortems that strategy execution stumbles when employees cannot see tangible and meaningful progress along the way. That’s where quick wins come into play.

What Are Quick Wins in Strategy Execution?
We know from change management consulting projects that quick wins, defined as targeted, relevant, and visible milestones, are essential to help those affected by change to be:

• Ready to engage.
• Willing to commit.
• Able to do what it takes.

The Top 4 Benefits of Quick Wins for Better Strategy Execution
To move strategies forward in the early phases of strategy execution, effective quick wins can help to accelerate progress, reinforce strategic priorities, increase strategic believability, and promote learning.

1. Quick Wins During Strategy Execution Build Momentum and Engagement
   Successful strategy execution typically requires changing the way people think and work. We know from change management simulation data that both large and small organizational changes are inherently disruptive.

   Because your strategy must go through your people and your culture to be successfully implemented, even well-crafted strategies can stall if employees perceive the effort as just another “flavor of the month” or disconnected from their daily work.

   Research on organizational change demonstrates that people are more likely to commit when they are actively involved in the process and can experience positive results firsthand. Without quick wins, Harvard Business School professor John Kotter emphasizes that skepticism grows, change resistance strengthens, and strategy execution loses traction.

   Quick wins during strategy execution generate visible proof points that energize teams, inspire commitment, and demonstrate that progress is both possible and underway.

2. Quick Wins During Strategy Execution Reinforce Strategic Clarity
   We know from organizational alignment research that strategic clarity accounts for 31% of the difference between high and low performing teams. To make an impact, strategic aspirations must be translated into visible outcomes and tangible actions that people can rally behind.

   For example, a company aiming to grow a nascent sales channel to meet growth targets might add a new sales partner. Even if small, that change validates the larger direction, helping employees see how strategy comes alive in real terms.

   Strategic clarity is especially important in large or matrixed organizations where decision making often suffers from misalignment. A visible quick win communicates, “This is what the strategy means for us right now,” anchoring abstract goals in concrete behaviors and outcomes.

3. Quick Wins During Strategy Execution Build Credibility and Trust
   Strategies often fail not because of poor design but because employees don’t trust leadership to follow through. Recent Bain research found that 65% of initiatives fail due to lack of confidence and insufficient follow-up. Quick wins counteract that by showing stakeholders that leadership is serious, focused, and accountable.

   When employees see a leadership team deliver small but meaningful victories early, it signals competence, alignment, and commitment. This builds trust, which is the foundation for mobilizing larger and riskier strategic moves down the road.

4. Quick Wins During Strategy Execution Encourage Continuous Improvement
   Quick wins aren’t just about optics. They also provide rapid feedback loops about the accuracy of your strategic assumptions, the alignment of your culture, and the capabilities of your people . By testing strategy in controlled, smaller-scale initiatives, organizations can learn what works and what doesn’t before committing to broader rollouts.

   Research from McKinsey highlights that companies that incorporate iterative learning into their execution processes are 2.5 times more likely to outperform peers. Why? Because prototyping change creates safe spaces for experimentation and adjustment.

   Leaders can refine their approach, adapt to shifting realities, and recalibrate investments — all while avoiding potentially larger missteps.

A Warning: Avoid the Pitfalls of Shallow Wins
While optics matter to gain credibility and create momentum, we know from organizational culture assessment data that not all wins are created equal. If quick wins are just for show or disconnected from the core strategy, they risk becoming distractions or, worse, superficial gestures that breed cynicism. Leaders must ensure that early victories are strategically relevant, visible to stakeholders, and meaningful enough to generate momentum without diverting energy from the bigger picture.

The best quick wins are those that reinforce the core priorities of the strategy while proving that meaningful change is both possible and underway.

The Bottom Line: Quick Wins as Catalysts for Strategy Success
We know from change management training that quick wins are vital catalysts that accelerate momentum, reinforce clarity, build trust, and provide opportunities for continuous improvement. Done right, quick wins transform abstract goals into visible progress thereby converting change resistance and skepticism into buy-in and action. Without quick wins, strategies risk stalling before they have the chance to take root.

To learn more about how to raise the odds for successful strategy execution, download The Top 3 Things to Do After Your Strategy Retreat