All too often the strategic planning process becomes an academic exercise, producing a stack of notebooks that take up shelf space. The analysis contained in those notebooks, however sound, will be futile if your employees are not enthused and capable of executing it.

It takes people to breathe life into your business plans. People who are fully engaged and aligned around where the business is heading. People who have the needed mix of skills and talents, supported by effective leadership, business processes and operational systems.

We assemble a multi-disciplinary team of seasoned consultants to facilitate the assessment, design/refinement, and implementation of the following key components of successful strategy implementation. We say “facilitate” because a distinguishing characteristic of the redkey approach is our commitment to involving members of your organization – at all levels – in this implementation process. This can’t be just your strategy firm’s new strategy or even your new strategy; execution won’t take hold until the new strategy is owned and embraced by a critical mass of your employees.

1. Leadership – the essential element
As the senior leader, you are the force needed to set change in motion. It is you who will ensure that your plans don’t stagnate in PowerPoint presentations. You will play the vital roles of creating context and meaning to inspire your organization, of sustaining focus and momentum, and of serving as a role model for upholding your organization’s values. Our consultants will act as trusted advisors and confidantes to support you in crafting the roadmap for change in a way that engages your entire organization.

2. Culture – the invisible factor
By “culture,” we mean the beliefs and norms that operate, generally outside people’s awareness, to influence your leaders’ and employees’ actions. Strategy execution requires that your corporate culture be aligned with where your business is heading, and a change in strategic direction frequently requires a corresponding change in culture. Strategic plans rarely fail because they are ill-conceived; they fail because they are overtaken by the existing culture. As the saying goes, “If you think like you always thought; you’ll get what you’ve always got.”

3. Operational Systems – the levers for sustainability
Strategy and culture are reinforced – or undermined – by your core operational systems. These include systems that provide a ‘line of sight’ for your employees so they can see how the outcomes they produce contribute to your company’s overall goals and objectives. Also included are systems to measure results, reward performance, and ensure that employees have the skills and talents needed to be successful contributors. Communication systems ensure that needed information flows freely up, down and across the organization. Each of these sustaining systems is interdependent with the others as depicted below.