Strategy implementation

Leveraging people in adaptive strategy

Brett Hamilton

By Brett Hamilton

Researcher, Strategy

Martin Weiss

By Martin Weiss

Professor of Strategy

Carine Peeters

By Carine Peeters

Professor of Strategy

02 October 2023
insights-strategy-implementation

In today’s dynamic business environment companies find it increasingly difficult to plan and implement their intended strategies. In fact, studies show that as many as 90% of strategic plans are never fully implemented and 48% of organisations fail to reach at least half of their strategic targets. 

Our research and work within the Vlerick Strategy in Action Platform (SIAP) show that the traditional approach to strategy, where managers draft a detailed plan to reach well-defined goals, which is then implemented through top-down authority using pre-defined structures and control mechanisms, fails to consider how people make sense of and implement strategy in practice and how new information is incorporated into action.

To overcome these challenges, organisations must move away from strategy as a planned and practiced orchestra to something more like a jazz ensemble. This requires an adaptive strategy process that integrates strategy formulation and strategy implementation within an iterative process along with a rethink of how organisations leverage the power of people for successful strategy implementation.

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