Implementing strategies within an organization is a vital motion in the process of growth and change necessary to keep any organization afloat. Unfortunately, there are often many obstacles standing in the way of successful implementation. Often time the companies beginning to lose the ability right towards the top of the organization.
Beer and Eisenstat share with their readers that senior management often does not following through on their fundamental tasks. Their inability to handle conflict, show direction and align priorities causes them to fail in their delivery of any substantial results. This is not to say these leaders are not working, but they are usually using too much time to focus on singular issues and handle administrative problems (2004).
These problems within senior management are only magnified by the fear that exists within lower-level management. Many managers at the lower level are inclined to keep their heads not and avoid talking openly about true problems hoping they will avoid and hindrance of performance (Beer & Eisenstat, 2004).
The breakdown of communication and results from strategic implementation does not stop at these two levels of management. Even a well-built task force of managers pulled together from throughout the organization can fall to complete failure if the development team does not properly construct the task force. If the task force feels that it is part of yet another failed attempt to gather information that will never be used to actually change any positioning for the organization, their involvement will be apathetic at best.
Having pointed out the failures in which many organization collide with when trying to bring about strategy through management teams, I see that it is an even larger failure to attempt none of the above processes and simply forge ahead in a new direction without consulting the organization. If this change comes blindly from the top down, the organization will likely meet strong resistance from the influential members of the organization that were unaware of the new strategy. Beer and Eisenstat show this process frequently leads to top managers being inundated with concerns later in the process (2004).
In order for a company to overcome these potential downfalls and properly implement strategic change, they must take the proper time necessary to focus on what is truly most important to the organization. There must be an understanding of the company’s mission and vision, strengths and weaknesses, threats and opportunities, capabilities and needs, and its ability to hold up a competitive advantage (Beer & Eisenstat, 2004).
This process must start with senior management developing goals and mission for the strategic direction. A full day should be devoted to this process, and focus should be kept on the task at hand. There is no time for deviating into side projects and individual goals. This process will then lead into the proper usage of a task force. In order to resist the rebellion and apathetic response mentioned earlier, the task force must consist of some of the best managers within the organization. This team must receive a clear and concise message that they must uncover the truth and changes will be made (Beer & Eisenstat, 2004).
Once the task force is up and running, they can take a few weeks to canvas the organization and interview members from all modalities. This process must lead into an information consolidation process where general themes are formed. This will avoid the fear anybody may have of being negatively impacted by his or her individual comments. These general themes can properly be passed to senior management by holding a meeting of the task force, which is observed by management watching from the outside (Beer & Eisenstat, 2004).
Once the steps have been properly taken to build the strategic plan, senior management can now properly introduce the strategic plan to top members of the organization and let the message travel through the organization that has taken time to properly. After the strategy is implemented and rolling, the senior team must not turn its back on this properly instituted plan. Periodical check-ups are necessary to avoid any slippage back into those failed management practices referenced earlier.
Reference
Beer, M., & Eisenstat, R. (2004). How to have an honest conversation about your business strategy. Harvard Business Review OnPoint, 11.
