As the client of a strategy execution process, you have a delicate but decisive role. You are ultimately responsible for the direction and results, and at the same time dependent on your team for implementation. How do you find the right balance? In this article, Paul van Bekkum, co-founder of Summiteers, and Thijs Venneman, management consultant, share practical insights for clients into strategy execution processes.

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The client: decision maker and framework setter

Like we do in our previous blog discussed, there are four key roles that make the difference in strategy execution. Let's zoom in on the first role: the client. “Clients are the ones who ultimately make the decision in terms of content,” Paul explains. “They usually have the mandate to make decisions and provide capacity and budget, and are, as it were, at the helm.”

It often involves board members or directors — busy people with full agendas and limited time for a strategy execution process. “That's why you want to involve them effectively and have them at the table, especially in decisive and well-prepared work sessions. Ultimately, they are the ones who make the decisions, so their effective involvement is essential.”

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Tips for clients

Are you a client in a strategy execution process? These five tips will help you fulfil your role effectively:

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1. Use your gut feeling, but validate it

As a (often) experienced driver, you often have a well-developed instinct for the right course. This intuitive compass is valuable. Give your intuition a place in the process by naming and validating it: “I have this gut feeling, but let's thoroughly investigate that and back it up with data.” This way, you can make your intuition productive without blindly trusting it.

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2. Create healthy time pressure

A tight schedule creates energy and prevents procrastination in decision-making. Healthy pressure on the process encourages everyone and provides traction. However, watch out for unrealistic deadlines that lead to rash decisions or an exhausted team that is completely overrun. Encourage your team to take a critical look at the planning so that they can actively contribute ideas and feel involved and responsible in meeting the deadlines.

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3. Build support (and detail) layer by layer

Don't develop your strategy in isolation. After all, it is quite a challenge to still create support afterwards, we know from experience. Above all, set the frameworks and leave the design to those responsible and experts from other layers of the organization. We strongly believe in an approach where you do this top-down and (organizational) layer by layer. Don't hesitate to then deepen concept plans at a detailed level with stakeholders. Large organizations sometimes have to go through this process up to two or three times to be successful.

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4. Empower middle management

Middle management itself also plays a key role in strategy execution. In some cases, as a client, you have been working on a strategy for weeks to months. Don't expect middle management to achieve the same level of understanding and commitment with one presentation. This is unrealistic and unsustainable. Middle management is essential because they and their teams actually bring the strategy to life and implement it during the execution phase. Give them time to live through the strategy, or even better: involve them early so that they can translate into their departments themselves.

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5. Take time and space for the whole process.

Successful strategy execution does not happen overnight and is not an everyday activity. In fact, we believe it really is a profession (separate). Think early in the process about who within the organization has the capabilities to help with this. Make them available and consider whether it makes sense to also call in external help. An external party can not only help with implementation, but also with assessing what you can do yourself and where extra support is needed, taking into account your budget. By arranging this in time, you prevent external experts from having to jump on a moving train that has already been delayed. This not only increases the chances of success, but also prevents unnecessary costs and loss of time.

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Take control of your strategy process

Thijs concludes: “Are you the client of a strategy execution process or are you about to start one? Take control in a timely manner. Start by setting realistic timelines and engaging the right people at the right time.”

In the following blogs in this series, we discuss the other three key roles: the content expert, the director and middle management. This gives you a complete picture of who you need to successfully implement your strategy.

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Need help with strategy and execution?

We are Summiteers, we create movement, make something that is complex understandable again, something big achievable, a - vague - idea concrete and make something difficult succeed. We call that strategy execution. Can you use help with this? Take contact with us.

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