What else do we want to learn about strategy execution at Summiteers? In short: a lot! At Summiteers, we see learning as part of our profession. Whether it's about strategy execution or our personal development, there is always room for growth. We challenge each other to continuously work on development and deepening. To inspire others in this as well, we decided to make a blog series. In this first blog in the series, Dolf L'Ortye, co-founder of Summiteers, and Thijs Venneman, management consultant, share what they would like to learn more about.

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A fresh look at the unknown

Thijs: “Recently, I read an article in the Harvard Business Review about avoiding strategy myopia (myopia). The article discusses how strategic plans often only take into account what is already known and possible. But as an advisor, how do you ensure that you and your client look beyond what is currently feasible? We are the best at refining strategy plans together with clients, but incorporating unknown factors requires a different way of thinking. People tend to focus on existing patterns and what is already there and forget to think more broadly. But there are always “unknowns” and even “unknown unknowns.” I would like to consciously include them in discussions with clients. And that requires a broader context approach and a fresh, open view. How to give that a place every time, I would like to learn even more about that.”

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Press the brakes

Dolf would also like to learn more about the importance of context, especially how he can convey this to customers: “In that regard, we can still learn something from Einstein. He once said: 'If I had 60 minutes to resolve a problem, I would spend 55 minutes understanding the problem and only 5 minutes resolving it.“Understanding the problem is context and, together with our customers, we often take too little time to do that. Customers want to work towards a solution as quickly as possible. We would prefer to press the brakes for a moment. But sometimes we get carried away in that rush. I would like to learn to make even more space for this, in dialogue with a customer. To maintain sharpness. First, delve deeper into the key question. What are we talking about now? What are the real underlying factors and how are they affected by the organisational context? You have to learn to be comfortable with the discomfort and to trust that the solution will present itself once you have the context clear.”

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Professional letting go: a new challenge

Thijs: “We want to help our customers get started with their change goals, but it is not always possible to predict how this will go in advance. And I always really want it to go perfectly. The plans are being made, we help the team get started. We work very closely together. I understand that it's part of my job to let go at some point. But I sometimes find that quite difficult. Dealing with this with confidence and comfort is something I want to get better at.”

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Behavior as key to success

Strategy execution is not only about processes and content, but also, above all, about the behavior of the people behind them. Dolf: “Behavior is vitally important for strategy execution; it is often the key to success. It is of unprecedented importance, but at the same time very difficult to catch. This is often not in words, it is not on paper. It's really about the undercurrent, which you have to see from people's faces, that's not something they say or write. If you know how to respond to that, you will make teams even more effective. That focus on behavior is all we're dealing with distinguished, but I think there is still an incredibly large unexplored area. We are barely scratching the surface. If we pay even more attention to that undercurrent and team dynamics, we will make even more impact. Of course, in the hustle and bustle of an assignment and the joint focus on the result, we see the people, but that could always be better. If we know how to get our finger on the mutual dynamics in an organization even more explicitly and more, and discuss it together — that takes courage and makes you vulnerable — then we will achieve even more. Sometimes that can mean throwing the original schedule into the trash, and making room for what's really going on. I know what needs to be done, but I'm far from finished learning how to do it properly under the pressure of deadlines.”

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Need help with strategy and execution?

We are Summiteers, we create movement, make something that is complex understandable again, something big achievable, a - vague - idea concrete and make something difficult succeed. We call that strategy execution. Can you use help with this? Take contact with us.

Interested, but not ready for the trip yet? Follow our LinkedIn page and get inspired.

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