The A.R.M. of strategy
Dr. Seleem R. Choudhury
Recently, my organization went through system-wide strategic planning sessions. Too often, even the best of strategic plans are not implemented successfully because organizations do not consider strategy execution in these discussions, neglecting to ask themselves how their organizations can prepare to implement the plans crafted (Cote, 2020). Our facilitator, Costin Jordache of Adventist Healthcare, lead us through our planning session, taking care to define the ingredients of execution. The following article explores his format for successful execution.
More than strategy
A strategy specifies how you are going to get things done (Center for Community Health and Development, 2023). However, to implement, sustain, and succeed in a strategy you must attain Critical Success Factors (CSFs), a term initially devised in the 1960s by Ronald Daniel in his classic Harvard Business Review contribution, “Management Information Crisis.” (Daniel, 1961). Essentially, “critical success factors or CSFs are the elements of an organization or project that are vital to its success” (Mind Tools, 2023). This idea was further developed twenty years later by John F. Rockart. More specifically, Rockart asserts that “Critical success factors are…the limited number of areas in which results, if they are satisfactory, will ensure successful competitive performance for the organization. They are the few key areas where ‘things must go right’ for the business to flourish. If results in these areas are not adequate, the organization’s efforts for the period will be less than desired” (Rockart, 1979).
The following are three key CSFs:
Actionable
A 2016 survey discussed by Harvard Business Review indicated that 67% of well-formulated strategies fail due to poor execution (Carucci, 2017). Organizations must understand what actions are necessary to implement their strategy and reach their goals. Author Bill Welter, in his book How to Turn Strategic Concepts into Actionable Strategy, describes actionable strategy as “vision with action” (Welter, 2020).
Strategy and plan are not synonymous terms. As Ann Latham explains, “a plan is comprised of actions, assignments, and dates. Plans are actionable. A strategy is not. Not until it is translated into plans” (Latham, 2018). Therefore, while the first step is to devise the strategy, the second step must be to outline the plan to implement it. An organization should study the business environment and react accordingly to ensure that plans are laid and followed, not derailed (Kabeyi, 2019). Studies continually show that the alignment of a strategy and its actionable implementation is “positively related to firm performance” (Elbanna, Al Katheeri, & Colak, 2020).
Resourced
Many organizations conduct a SWOT analysis as part of their strategic planning, examining their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This allows an organization to assess how they match up to their competition (Teoli, Sanvictores, & An, 2022). Considering available resources illuminates various organizational opportunities.
The term resource has many different uses in common language and the business world. Strategic resources are distinct from these other meanings (Edwards, Ketchen, & Short, 2014). Generally, there are three standard strategic organizational resources: a company's financial strength, its enterprise knowledge, and its workforce (Malik, 2019). The exact approach to assess each of these resources is unique for any organization. For hospitals, however, it might involve examining clinical service line, surveying its volume, and determine its role in increasing market share. Organizations should also specify where these resources are located, whether from capital investment, additional FTEs, or marketing, for example. Allocating these resources should “strengthen competitive positions and heighten competing priorities” (Sadq, Ahmad, Faeq, & Muhammed, 2020).