Why Do Business Strategies Fail?

I recently attended a forum of executives from Global 1000 companies that explored some answers to this question - so I thought I'd share them:

• Strategies fail when they aren’t customer driven. Enough said. When strategies focus on internal power structures, they don’t support the people that really write your paycheck

• Strategies don’t pull the right levers. You may have an ambitious (and admirable) strategic vision (be the biggest PC manufacturer in the world) but do you have the right assets to make it work? Moreover, are you pulling the levers that take advantage of your best assets? If your strongest asset lies in customer intimacy and you're pursuing a strategy that requires strength in product excellence - you're not pulling the right lever. 

• Strategies think functions, not assets. Companies tend to develop weak strategies by focusing on their marketing, sales, and engineering functions vs. the assets best suited to deliver their goals. Is your best asset an existing customer base in an adjacent market, product leadership, or a superior service model? Lead with your strongest asset (which may not always align with your strongest function).

• Strategies aren’t operationalized. Most organizations put their time and energy into the strategy document, overlooking how they will identify, fund and source the projects that will make the strategy deliver. Until you extend the strategy into your operational model, you haven’t executed.

• Strategies aren’t communicated. If your strategy is to become the best in service, what does that mean to the everyday employee? Get managers to “lead from behind” and show by example those things you’re doing everyday to become better at service. For example, if a suggestion to improve a process doesn’t link to a customer, or isn’t backed by data that represents needs expressed by real customers, do some additional homework.

• Strategies become shelfware. While documents are important, the process of engaging the business in strategy is where the real value lies. The more you get the business and its intelligence involved – at more levels and intervals – the better chance you have realizing the goals of strategy.

• The word strategy is hugely misused. See the first bullet. Have you ever noticed how a project suddenly becomes “strategic” or “transformational” when it goes for funding?