Planning for the Real World

Developing a strategy is one thing-executing a strategy is quite another. Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution and Change (2005, Wharton School Publishing) by Lawrence G. Hrebiniak, management professor at the University of Pennsylvania's esteemed Wharton School of Business, demonstrates that while most quantitative formulas for strategic planning are simple to follow, it's the qualitative methodologies that ensure a plan's success.

The author's key message is that execution is a process-the result of a series of integrated actions over a balanced period of time. Speed can kill a good plan, or too much time can increase unforeseen problems, resulting in increased pressure on managers and missed opportunities due to stress.

Hrebiniak has adapted Jack's Welch's "Work Out" philosophy for intensive team problem solving. Welch's template demands that all individuals necessary for problem definitions and solutions be brought together, and no one can leave until an agreement is reached. Hrebiniak has a definitive, systematic and self-appreciating approach to explaining the nine success factors for strategic execution: organizational structure, coordination, information sharing, incentives, controls, change, management, culture, and the role of power and influence in the execution process.

"All too often the focus in corporate-business discussions is only on the numbers," Hrebiniak writes. "The real issues deal with what is behind the numbers details." Mining these details reveals the crucial roles incentives play in motivating management's behavior to keep the plan on track, as well as the importance of an executive's attitude toward strategy implementation.

-Lois Bolin