The best strategy won’t help you a bit if you can’t execute it well.

Have you ever been in a situation when your boss has an idea, which she/he thinks is very prospective to implement? The boss explains the goals to her/his subordinates, and directs them to follow the instructions and to start integrating the idea. Subordinates argue a bit describing disadvantages and potential problems... But she/he is the BOSS, so they finally go and pass the strategy statements to their subordinates.

And the company starts moving towards newly stated goals?..

No. Actually no. What really happens is the resistance that increases on each level of company hierarchy. Managers do not believe that the idea is really good. They pass it to their subordinates, but they add their own distrusts while describing the tactic steps. Even if they do not give any negative comments, for subordinates it still sounds like just some more extra work they have to do to satisfy "top managemer's whim".

Football is a game of strategy, but even more, it is a game of execution. The best strategy won ’t help you a bit if you can ’t execute it well.

© Eric Sink on Business of Software, 2006

That's true. If you have a good idea, and have thought over the strategy to reach the goal, make sure it will be executed perfectly! Otherwise, you'll just loose some of your employees' work time and reduce their motivation.

How can it be done? The answer is quite easy to say but yet much harder to do. The 1st thing is to make sure that your direct subordinates share you enthusiasm about the goal, understand and accept the strategy, and are allowed to provide their comments and thoughts about it.

Actually, giving the chance to participate in strategy development is important not only to rise people's enthusiasm. This feedback can be really helpful, because your direct subordinates know more than you about people who is on the next level of company hierarchy. The people who report to your have different information flow, so they can and do know something that is not included into the picture you see yourself.

The most natural learning center for most organizations is at the level of that much-maligned institution, middle management.

© Peopleware. Productive Projects and Teams. 2nd ed.
Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister

I was participating in several discussions where people were arguing about the meaning of middle management term. As used in this article, middle management means the next level under your own position in the company hierarchy. Just don't forget that these people knows something that you do not know, and their knowledge can be really useful to improve and execute your strategy in the best way!