How to Ensure Your Strategy Can Be Implemented

In talking with executives in the fire and rescue service, I hear a recurring theme: they cannot seem to implement the strategies they so painstakingly have developed. They are not alone in their frustration: this issue is common to all industries, public and private sector alike. The fact is that writing a strategy is the easy part. Most strategic plans fail in the implementation. How can you make sure that your plan succeeds?

There are two critical success factors to strategy implementation: (1) an executive champion for implementation and (2) a detailed implementation plan.

Without someone who has both the responsibility and the authority to make things happen, your strategy will not be implemented. There are just too many things that, by default, take priority, particularly in organizations charged with keeping the public safe. When resources are scarce, implementing a strategy tends to slip to the bottom of the agency’s priority list. So if you are not willing to select AND support a champion who has the ability and willingness to drive the implementation process, don’t waste your time and resources on developing a strategy that also will damage your credibility when it’s not implemented.

The second critical success factor is a detailed implementation plan. This is different than an action plan, which some agencies develop in the mistaken belief that implementation will follow. The problem is that action plans often are simply task lists that are given to people who normally don’t do those tasks, yet who are expected to complete them effectively and in a timely manner. Implementation plans, on the other hand, contain very detailed information that allows almost anyone to complete each task.

Let’s say that you are throwing a party and you know the guest of honor loves carrot cake. An action plan for the party would list “Make a carrot cake” as one of many tasks; the assumption is that someone would be able to figure out how to make it exactly as you picture it. An implementation plan, on the other hand would go beyond merely listing the task. It would include the recipe, which contains step-by-step instructions that indicate the size of the cake, its shape, number of layers, ingredients, and all the details necessary to ensure the guest of honor gets the carrot cake of his/her dreams.

Does developing an implementation plan take a lot of time? Absolutely. Consider the return on your investment though: your agency achieves its goals because your strategy is implemented as intended. Only you can decide whether that outcome is worth the effort required.

By the way: implementation plans are not just for strategies. When I helped a large urban fire department develop a succession process, a detailed implementation plan was part of that project, just as it had been when we developed the agency’s strategy. The fire chief understood that having the “how to” along with the “what” was critical to moving the department forward quickly and effectively to achieve the desired outcomes.

Are you willing to waste precious time and resources by having your members figure out on their own how to implement tasks they normally don’t do? Are you willing to gamble that when they do take action – and they will do SOMETHING – the outcome will be the one you envisioned? If not, then develop an implementation plan to go with your strategy, and ensure there is a strategy implementation champion who is able and willing to make the right things happen.

© 2013 Pat Lynch. All rights reserved.