What else Lidia and Jurre want to learn about strategy execution. Strategy execution is what we do and what we are good at. Nevertheless, we believe that there is always room for growth and we see development as an ongoing process. This is how we keep challenging ourselves to get better at our job. To inspire others to keep developing, we started a blog series about what else we want to learn about strategy execution. In the first blog, Dolf L'Ortye and Thijs Venneman shared their thoughts about this. Now it's time for new insights. Lidia Swinkels, co-founder of Summiteers, and Jurre van Gool, management consultant, talk candidly about their personal learning points and the challenges they face in their work.

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Floor

“Strategy execution is our job,” Lidia begins. “But at Summiteers, we see it as our responsibility to continuously encourage each other to grow. We want to keep developing ourselves and each other and thus become better at what we do.” She refers to the previous blog in which her colleagues Dolf and Thijs shared all their learning points. “Now it's our turn to tell us what else we want to grow into in our profession. Strategy execution is about three essential elements: the what, the how, and the doing. This is a nice framework, because we still have plenty to learn in each of these areas.”

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Clarity first, then eight

“My first learning point is still before the 'what',” Lidia continues. “It starts with really understanding a client's core question. Only when you have the question very clearly can you be sure that you have the same goal in mind and that you can help properly. So you want to take the time to understand the context properly. At the same time, we live in a world full of haste and hustle and bustle, where everyone wants everything done yesterday, which causes a certain tension. This also applies once we are working on the 'what' and 'how': you want them to be razor-sharp to make sure that everyone is heading to the same top of the same mountain. In parallel, there is also often pressure to start the change. How long do you take to clarify the 'what' and 'how', and when do you start the realization? A client quickly says: Good to take a moment to consider what we want to achieve and how to get there, but can't we do something in advance? Because we are well aware of how important it is to have the 'what' and 'how' in focus, we already take enough time to do this. I am also often eager to get started. Sometimes I fall into the trap of assuming too quickly that we have the same idea of where to go and how. Personally, I would like to learn even better how to take that important time for the 'what' and the 'how', how to involve a client, and when is the right time to say: now we're going to get to work.”

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The hidden power of support

For Jurre, an interesting learning point lies in promoting the value of support and working together. It's about involving employees from the start, instead of making plans in splendid isolation And then imposing it. “This often involves a delay at the start,” he explains, “but that delay has a clear purpose: it creates support and understanding for the change, and then you can accelerate enormously later in the process. And yes, as a result-oriented person, I also need to consciously slow myself down in this. But that joint creation of support ultimately determines the success of your implementation.”

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Dare to question the context

Lidia: “When we look at the 'how' of strategy execution, I come to another important learning point. The 'how' includes what you can do within the context of an organization. However, we see it — too — often as a given. We think: this is the organization we find, these are the people, these are the processes, these are the other projects that are underway, this is the capacity for change. But in that, we should challenge the client a little more sharply and suggest ways to change that context. Such as expanding internal capacity, pausing projects or adjusting processes. I want to learn even better which parts of the context you can question, where you can think outside the box. What other suggestions can you make to optimize that 'how' by adjusting the context? I see that as a learning point for me.”

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The inextricable link between what and how

“We regularly see that the 'what' is defined without the 'how',” observes Jurre. “A view, an ambition, a vision statement are being drawn up without a reality check on how to get there as an organization. This creates a risk: if you later have to adjust your ambitions based on what is practically feasible, it feels like a weakening. What I still want to learn is how to better intertwine the 'what' and 'how' from the start. How do you introduce that reality check early in the process, without taking the energy and enthusiasm out of an ambition? Because you don't want to ride an air bike, but you also don't want to fall into just seeing restrictions. Finding that balance is something I want to further develop in.”

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Behavior as key to sustainable success

“Strategy execution is about content, process and behavior,” emphasizes Lidia. “While organizations often focus on content and processes, the human side remains indispensable. It requires different interventions and conversations than when it comes to something tangible such as content and process. I want to learn even more how to properly incorporate that into conversations and how to permeate the environment with that importance.”

Jurre sees a great opportunity here: “By working on behavior and personal development, you enable people to take steps themselves. This increases their execution power and ensures lasting results.” The challenge for Jurre? Again: finding the right balance. “How do you divide your attention and time between increasing executive power and developing employees, while working in an environment driven by deadlines? But it is precisely this combination that makes the work valuable. Of course, it's nice to achieve results together, but giving people a push so they can get up that mountain one step higher is the most valuable thing. And that brings me back to what Lidia said at the beginning of this conversation: the importance of making sure everyone is heading to the same top of the same mountain. This once again highlights why the initial delay, creating support and attention to behavior are so important for successful strategy execution.”

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Need help with strategy and execution?

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