Bring Strategy to Life: Shift people’s mental model
Why is implementing strategy so difficult? How can leaders implement a new strategy more quickly and effectively? What does it take to make the strategy stick?
Strategy is about altering the future—putting the organization on a new trajectory. Why do so few strategic initiatives deliver? Excessive attention is focused on strategic decisions: What markets, investment, products, services, and business model? While initiating a strategy is based on such decisions of senior managers, the success of strategy depends on the daily actions of many people. So, the key to effective execution is having people internalize strategy as a new mental model of the business and then to change their daily thinking and actions, making decisions about priorities, consistent with the strategic direction.
Success depends on strategy taking on a life of its own with many people. Until strategy is enacted, it is just an idea. How can we enable people to internalize sensible ideas, stop taking old actions, and start taking new actions.
Six Elements of the Game :
1. The Game
2. Playing Field
3. Winning and keeping scores
4. Rules
5. Playbook
6. Players
When using the framework and language of The Game, people internalize what needs to be done to succeed with the new strategy, new ways of doing business, the new model. How decisions are made, and how the implementation of the new strategy will benefit all.
To realize its full potential, any strategy must take on a life of its own with all players. Contrasting the old strategy (old game) with the New Game enables people to internalize the shift. The new game requires an emerging environment, a new definition of winning and keeping score, new rules, new ways of doing business, new ways to succeed, and new opportunities.
