Three Key Ingredients That Make a Successful 'Strategic Recipe'

Every award-winning chef has a book of winning recipes that is chock full of extensive ingredient lists and detailed step-by-step instructions. That’s how they build success—they create their recipes using a gameplan they can count on. Growing companies aren’t so different.

In the Shepherd GAMEPlan methodology, our “recipe for success” combines both strategy and a detailed playbook for executing that strategy. Our three-phase process integrates strategy and execution from the start: first, Set the Destination, then Strategize, and third, Prep to Execute.

This post focuses on the Prep to Execute phase, where we work together with management to fully integrate execution into their strategy.

Set Up for Strategy Execution Success

Execution needs to be an integral part of strategy, not an add-on. It’s easy to assume execution will just happen, that the team will “figure it out.” All too often, this is a poor assumption. Delicious recipes require high-quality ingredients. So, what are Shepherd’s key ingredients to execute a successful strategy?

Compelling Growth Initiatives
Comprehensive Action Plans
Crucial Strategic Imperatives

Compelling Growth Initiatives

Successful strategy execution starts with having attractive growth initiatives to implement. During the Strategize phase, we help management consider a broad set of viable growth options and then ask: Which growth options are we going to prioritize/focus on in order to drive growth?

Management identifies and prioritizes 10+ growth options and then advances

three to five particularly attractive Growth Initiatives. These shortlisted Growth Initiatives are generally both distinct and complementary in how they build success. Like a perfect meal, all elements must work together.

Once management chooses Growth Initiatives, we work together to outline needs for successful execution. To do this, we ask:

Who owns this initiative, and who is on their team?
What markets/customers/value propositions are each initiative targeting?
What are the specific goals that define success for each initiative?
For each initiative, what are its critical success factors, key activities, and additional investments needed for success?

We need to understand what success looks like for each Growth Initiative and what is needed to achieve it.

Comprehensive Action Plans

For each Growth Initiative, we next work with the initiative owner to create a detailed Action Plan that outlines step-by-step instructions for execution. We then coordinate with management to refine all of the Action Plans and integrate them into a single comprehensive "execution roadmap" to successfully implement the agreed strategy.

To create an effective Action Plan for each initiative, we ask each initiative owner:

What are the initiative’s goals?
What are the key metrics and milestones to achieve and by when?
What key actions need to be taken, who will do them, and by when?
What key decisions need to be made, who will make them, and by when?
What additional budget is needed, by when, and for what?
What key assumptions underlie this execution action plan?

With these inputs in hand, we lay out an integrated Action Plan that clearly tells a story for each Growth Initiative of what success looks like, what needs to be accomplished, who is going to get it done, and by when.

Action Plans provide a clear and integrated visual map of how the strategy will be executed, enabling each team member to understand, prepare for, and commit to their specific responsibilities from the start.

Crucial Strategic Imperatives

Once the Growth Initiatives and their execution needs are outlined during the Strategy phase, we then take a big step back with management and ask: What is strategically imperative for the company to get done over the next 9–12 months for these growth initiatives–and the overall strategy–to stay on track?

In our experience, this question is crucial. Negating factors are always present– and if not addressed, they will undermine successful strategy execution. These factors can be organizational, technological, resource-related, and even include outdated practices that need to be identified and addressed.

We help management identify, clarify, and prioritize Strategic Imperatives (typically 4–8) that need to be focused on and addressed for the emerging strategy to stay on track. Each Strategic Imperative is assigned an owner and time-bound goals to be met. When needed, we’ll work with management to conduct additional - problem solving and planning to ensure that each Strategic Imperative is tackled right up front.

Prepare for Successful Strategy Execution

Top chefs first create–and then have to deliver–new recipes to ensure their diners keep having exceptional culinary experiences. Creation by itself is not enough, and delivery does not happen on its own.

Same with strategy. To make the difference, after you set the right destination and strategize, your strategy must be well-executed. Three key ingredients to strategy execution success: build compelling Growth Initiatives, work out detailed Action Plans, and address crucial Strategic Imperatives to offset negating factors.

Let us help you avoid a strategic “recipe fail.” Reach out to us to learn more about how we set leadership up for successful strategy execution.