A Simpel Response to Harvard Business Review
In Harvard Business Review’s article “How to Move from Strategy to Execution”, the authors introduce a vital and timely topic. However, instead of a discussion of what strategy to execution is, why it matters, and what you can do about it, the authors elect to focus on common-sense suggestions for improving only the execution side of the equation. For a piece with such an important title, we believe this represents a key flaw in the paper and a striking reminder of why organizations fail at change.
Specifically, the authors discuss “three key steps to building the right execution system” (Chamorro-Premuzic & Lovric, How to Move from Strategy to Execution, 2022). The high-level, abstract discussion that follows only serves to reinforce a common gap in current thinking and a stark illustration for why no matter how much organizations invest in change, they continue to miss the mark 70% of the time or more (Forth et. al, Flipping the Odds of Digital Transformation Success, 2020). Putting it plainly; by focusing so heavily on Execution, the author’s miss the proverbial forest from the trees and focus on common ideas without the context or practical “how to” that makes so many change papers like this benign and ultimately a catchy headline followed by forgettable prose.
To address these shortcomings, the team at Simpel and Associates wanted to provide more clarity around what Strategy ‘TO’ Execution is and how the three steps mentioned fit into the broader narrative. We focus this response on papers previously published by our CEO, Nathan Gampel, to illustrate how many of these ideas have already been surfaced years ago and how our proprietary technology, Kinetic Transformation Accelerator ™ (KTA), represents the embodiment of a response to the ideas raised in a paper 3 years too late. Let’s begin by first:
Defining What Strategy ‘TO’ Execution Is
Strategy ‘TO’ Execution are the steps that connect an idea to a tangible outcome. Like CRM 20 years ago, many of these steps are instinctual and performed in some manner by virtually any organization embarking on a large change effort like building a new product, digitally transforming ways of working or even a merger integration. Whatever the impetus for the change, Strategy ‘TO’ Execution represents the steps that occur after a business creates an idea, but before operations and technology teams deliver it in market as part of business as usual.
Simpel and Associates’ proprietary change methodology, Kinetic Transformation © instead looks at Strategy ‘TO’ Execution as a continuum that flows from step to step across people, departments, stakeholders and more (e.g. one part does not exist without the other and cannot be remedied in a vacuum). Kinetic Transformation © refers to this context as the Environment in which the program lives and without understanding basic ideas like why we are changing? and who is driving the change? Execution is meaningless. Afterall if one seeks a car but builds a plane, even if executed flawlessly, it still misses the point.
Going deeper, you can see how this lack of true understanding about what Strategy ‘TO’ Execution is plays out across the article and its three main points:
Achieving Strategic Clarity
Achieving Organizational Clarity
Building a Management System
Achieving Strategic Clarity
In the article, the author’s first suggestion is to achieve what they refer to as “strategic clarity”, namely “the strategy that both can and should be executed” (Chamorro-Premuzic & Lovric, 2022). The premise is that bridging the gap between strategy and execution requires us to tap into our inner Goldilocks and find the strategy that is just right and then figure out all the right materials to eat, so to speak, to ensure you can execute. Well, of course! These are the general steps for accomplishing anything. Think SMART goals.
In our view, while yes, strategic decisions during times of immense change are iterative, a successful change lead begins by providing context and structure. Without this, teams can revert to what feels good instead of what is right. As one of our seminal works “Agile for Transformations” states, understanding a change program begins with identifying you have a change in the first place. The Simpel Transformation Test states that a transformation event or initiative is a program that is “sponsored by management … adequately resourced … adequately funded … and a departure from business as usual (BAU)” (Gampel, Agile For Transformations; The basis of “Just in Time Staffing”, 2018).
It is the role of the lead to gather and organize this information to help the team reach the right strategy rather than establishing some arbitrary measure of ambition. This collaborative approach with strong direction deviates from the “feel it out” approach of the HBR article that frequently leads to confusion and the exact situation the authors seem determined to prevent. Indeed, “we further group transformation into 4 buckets: Forced Transformations, Market Transformations, Get-better Transformations, Digital Transformations” (Gampel, 2018) and breakdown each to provide specific considerations based on the type of program the organization encounters.
Again, the more data the change lead brings to the table as part of an integrated, directed approach to the initiative the greater the likelihood for alignment and success.
Achieving Organizational Clarity
The HBR paper continues on to suggest that “organizational clarity” (Chamorro-Premuzic & Lovric, 2022) can be achieved by building an operating model that considers governance, interdependencies between key units and appropriate talent placement. Commendably, the authors fully flesh out their ideas with a fair amount of detail regarding what seems to be their true passion; how to build an operating model rather than define Strategy ‘TO’ Execution. However, their discussion is a further illustration of how the lack of focus on Environment leads to frequent, often catastrophic wastes of effort. By focusing on the delivery-oriented components of accountability, cross functionality and capacity without properly aligning to pre and post change details in their process, the authors appear to suggest making large scale changes to the fabric of how an organization operates without considering the impact of said changes. This seems premature and misguided especially for what may be a laser-focused change event that does not require a new structure to get the job done. For example, an organization may opt for a temporary operating framework during a digital transformation vs. a temp to perm structure which may be more appropriate for carveouts or mergers.
Consider a frequent project where Simpel and Associates is engaged to rebuild an Enterprise Program Management Office, or EPMO for short. These “centralized change and delivery functions set standards for how work gets done” (Gampel, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the EPMO, 2019) and can be critical partners supporting ongoing business delivery from Strategic Planning to Project Portfolio Risk Management and even IT Project Management. This heavy type of structure may be appropriate for a global product company seeking to understand how it is investing its resources but would be wholly inappropriate for the deal situations described above. Rather than an operating model, we may prescribe a loose virtual team governed by an automated PMO instead of an operating model that will generate administration and actually slow the effort down, inhibiting its ability to achieve its goals. Whether temporary or permanent, the body governing a change is “accountable for ensuring proper execution of management’s vision…, empowered to act on leadership’s behalf, and [provide] coordination and oversight for teams across the organization. When constructed properly, [they are] in the flow of delivery, creating top down and bottom-up connectivity and momentum” (Gampel, 2019).
Exhibit 1: Illustration of the Kinetic Work Lane (KWL)
We posit that operating models are only relevant during change programs if they facilitate what we call the Kinetic Work Lane; the place where processes (like idea generation, prioritization, and detailed planning) that drive outcomes occur (Exhibit 1). The primary performance indicator of an operating model during a complex program is its ability to understand and react to traffic (i.e. risks and issues). If the Work Lane established during the change program is effective, the client can certainly extend it to business as usual; but unless an operating model change is the purpose of the program, a rash turn to changing how we do things seems like overkill before we know the facts. The Kinetic Work Lane is effectively the ‘TO’ in Strategy ‘TO’ Execution and the operating model essentially provides the road on which the program runs.
Building a Management System
The last suggestion the authors make is to build a management system that empowers staff and includes feedback for self-correction to “allow for successful adaptation of strategy to the local conditions and avoidance of bureaucracy” (Chamorro-Premuzic & Lovric, 2022). In this portion of the article, the authors once again attempt to pass off the obvious as insightful. Any modern system for work should offer robust reporting and data that is used as a source for feedback and correction in daily business life. This is not new. Instead, we posit that the program’s governing body should “employ tools and analytic capabilities to generate useful data and integrate this data into day-to-day work” (Gampel, 2019).
This is one of the differentiating tenets of the Kinetic Transformation © methodology and corresponding KTA solution. A change management system should not only produce data for feedback but also become a feature of the change program’s work. By integrating real time program data from different processes within the Kinetic Work Lane into a single system, KTA produces unique measures (what we call Kinetic Transformation Measures or KTMs) that not only inform but also guide the requisite action. Through our patent-pending algorithm, KTA creates a custom, guided workflow that, when combined with the KTMs, produces opportunities for proactively implementing change management and project management interventions.
A management system is more than simply empowering or informing; it is about communication, interconnection, feedback and so much more. A good management system is one that is capable of continuously directing and aligning people throughout the life of what may be a long-duration effort. When organizations understand the why of a system and how it will be used, they can greatly increase the likelihood of adoption and a positive return on investment.
Conclusion
It’s no secret that skills such as digital product management and transformation leadership are in hot demand. The ability to transform an idea into a successful in-market product is of paramount importance. That’s why we were initially excited when we saw HBR’s article. Strategy ‘TO’ execution has been Simpel and Associates mission for the past 6 years and any press is good. But after spending a little bit more time with this article we hope that this review of our earlier works provides some more context for this important process and contributes to the ongoing conversation about how we can collectively do better.
References
Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Lovric, D. (2022). How to Move from Strategy to Execution. Harvard Business Review.
Forth, P., Reichert, T., de Laubier, R., & Chakraborty, S. (2020, October 29). Flipping the Odds of Digital Transformation Success. Retrieved from BCG: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2020/increasing-odds-of-success-in-digital-transformation
Gampel, N. (2018). Agile For Transformations; The basis of “Just in Time Staffing”. Edison: Simpel and Associates.
Gampel, N. (2019). Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the EPMO. Edison, New Jersey, United States of America.
About Simpel and Associates
Simpel and Associates provides product development and complex change program solutions that helps leading organizations cut through the noise and bring winning ideas to life. Our Kinetic Transformation Accelerator (KTA) family of products is a suite of out-of-the-box solutions that use a proprietary algorithm to deliver scale and expertise for Product Masters and Program Leaders as they stand at the helm of the large programs that drive their organizations forward.
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