Why Don't Strategıc Plans Work?

Look around you! You will notice that the word strategy is often used, especially in trainings, meetings or seminars. Of course, we can't help but put the word “strategic” in front of our routine work or between our conversations, based on the sources we are inspired by. When we add concepts such as strategic human resources instead of human resources, strategic marketing instead of marketing to our procedures and presentations, we make ourselves even more convinced of how important the work we do is.

Have you ever thought about the performance of the implementation of the “strategy” that has become the indispensable part of business life? As you seek for the answer, I would like to share an important statistic that I think will help you. According to a research, only 10% of organizations can implement the strategies they have prepared. More than that, only 5% of the employees fully understand the strategies identified. Just think that the expected outcome of the months-long strategy meetings is 10% or less implementation success!

What the definition of Management tells us is that the approach of “effectively and efficiently utilize/exploit the scarce resources of the enterprise and achieve the stated goal” has collapsed from the outset. It may sound strange, but the boss whose decisions are associated with money, the managers who receive multi-digit salaries, and great amounts of money given to strategy consultants can go to waste! So why can't strategic plans that are so important find life in organizations? Countless justifications can be listed, but I want to share some observations from my experience, looking at the dozens of strategic planning applications I've done one-to-one.

1-Senior Management's Perspective

It is said for many issues, but I think this is a must for the success of strategic plans: “senior management perspective”. My experience with a boss who has important brands in our country reveals this very well. In our mutual conversation, when I emphasized the importance of strategic planning, the boss turned to me and said,” yes, strategy is a very important issue, but our sector is very fast, we do not even have time to make strategic plans" which was enough for me to stop talking. As in this example; if there is no strategic thinking or strategic management perspective in the owners or senior managers of the business, the success of the strategic plans prepared will be quite low, no matter which implementation is used or which consulting firm does the work.

2-Company Culture

When describing the word culture, I make use of an example known by everyone: you know, it's always told. As soon as our citizens living in Europe pass the customs gate and enter our country, while abiding by the rules of the country they live in, they open the window of their car and throw the banana peel they ate to the side of the road or empty the ashtray they filled along the road into the middle of the road.” The issue of strategic management culture in businesses is similar to this case described.

If managers who emphasize the importance of strategy in countless meetings, trainings or workshops and explain it repeatedly continue to do the same thing just after they walk out of the door, it means that there is no strategy culture in that company. If the culture doesn't fit, you assume that just as when a ball comes in front of you while driving your car, a running child will come after you, the failure to implement the strategy will follow the lack of culture. I love the words of Peter Drucker- master of management-; “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. This is really the case. Strategic plans prepared without regard to the culture of the society, the company or the employees disappear in a very short time or are left to dust on the shelves.

3- Not Giving the Work to the Competent

I regret to share a fact of our country: most professionals or company owners think that the strategic plan is a format, and that the company’s strategic plan is prepared by filling in the strategic plan format downloaded from the internet (such is the approach used especially by public institutions). Don't say no way, there are too many people around who have not majored in strategy, who can't blend theoretical and practical knowledge, who play the “strategist game” with fancy phrases learned from a few presentations. If strategic plans and corporate strategies are not made by experts, the effort is unfortunately wasted. Of course, when the results of the implementation of the strategic plans are not as expected, the perception of “strategic plan cannot work, let's go back to the old system” emerges. Of course, those who say this do not even analyze how the world succeeds in doing this.

4-Poor Communication

One of the most important reasons that employees ' prepared strategies are not fully understood is that these important studies are not adequately communicated within the company. In particular, the academic language used in the studies, formal terms, quoted sentences or words never heard in the institution cause employees to think differently on the subjects they want to be told. It is even more important to focus on a single goal, to speak the same language, to communicate the strategies determined by the senior management in order to align the employees with their thinking approach at all levels. Never forget that there is a correlation between effective communication and success in implementing strategic plans.

5-Leadership Problem

Leadership, which is defined as the soft element of management, also appears in the execution of the strategy. At the core of the strategic point of view is vision. Vision, on the other hand, cannot be considered separate from leadership. The indispensable element of achieving strategic goals in enterprises is the leadership of the senior management towards the employees.In order to achieve success, senior managers - who are behind the wheel - should always be able to focus on the goal, to stir up excitement in their employees and to inspire them. No senior manager or company without a leader who is not excited about achieving the goal will be able to motivate their employees to achieve their goals. Many factors can be mentioned in the implementation of strategic plans, such as the culture of the country, the conditions of the country in which they operate, the culture and the maturity level of the company, and the quality of the employees.

In order for the organizations to survive in a fierce competitive environment, they have to keep up with the future, adapt to changes, and have the ability to take the necessary actions before their competitors. Well, how will they be able to do this? The answer is: by exploiting the blessings of the strategic management approach. Of course, if you pay attention to what is written above! I wish you all strategic businesses.

Authored / Compiled By Dr. Abdulrezzak ÇIL / Management Consultant and Executive Coach