Executing strategy in turbulence and uncertainty
The traditional approach assumes stability.
Traditional execution models assume stability. They rely on linear processes, predictable cause-and-effect relationships, and the assumption that organisations can control their external environment.
This may have worked at some point, but with increasing uncertainty and unpredictability, traditional approaches to execution don't just fail; they actively increase fragility.
How can we effectively execute our strategy in an environment where conditions change rapidly, competitors adapt, and external shocks cause ongoing disruptions?
The key to adopting a systems approach to execution is to seamlessly integrate the strategy with the organisational structure and the ability to adapt to emerging risks and opportunities.
The reality of execution in uncertainty
Interdependencies, feedback loops, and emergent properties define complex and uncertain environments. Unlike simple or complicated domains, where organisations can predict outcomes with some degree of certainty, complex environments require organisations to respond dynamically.
Traditional execution approaches create an artificial separation between strategy development and implementation. This 'old-style' approach assumes that strategy can be designed in a vacuum and executed as planned. The execution process is, in reality, not just about following a roadmap; it's about continuous adaptation.
The Patterns of Strategy framework offers a more effective model by recognising that strategy and execution must be deeply intertwined. Execution is not a passive process of rolling out plans. It is an active process of sensing, responding, and adapting in real-time.
Dynamic execution a systemic approach
Organisations must replace rigid, pre-defined execution plans with an approach that allows continuous iteration. To achieve this approach, it requires:
Defining Structural Couplings: Identifying and understanding the key relationships, partners, competitors, regulators, and market forces that shape an organisation's ability to execute strategy. Structural couplings define how organisations are coupled to external actors and the degree of interdependence. By mapping these relationships, organisations can understand where influence, leverage, or constraints exist.
Assessing Value Exchange: Assessing Value Exchange means recognising and leveraging asymmetric value flows between actors in the ecosystem. Value exchange is not just transactional but systemic, involving tangible and intangible elements like trust, reputation, knowledge and resources. Effective execution means understanding what each actor in coupling values and ensuring that the organisation also accounts for this during execution.
Integrating Mission Command and Freedom of Action: Execution requires decentralised decision-making, ensuring individuals at all levels have the autonomy to act within strategic intent. Mission Command is a leadership philosophy that clarifies intent while allowing individuals the freedom to determine how best to achieve it. Its foundations are built on trust, mutual understanding, and decentralised execution, ensuring that those closest to the problem can take decisive action. The Freedom of Action Model highlights the balance between constraints and autonomy. Execution is most effective when individuals have clear intent, defined constraints, and the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience to have the freedom to act to changes whilst executing. By structuring decision-making within these boundaries, organisations can create agility without chaos.
Embedding Feedback Loops: Adaptive execution relies on real-time sensing and adaptation, which require feedback loops from the external environment and organisation changes to ensure continuous learning and adjustment based on the impact of manoeuvres.
Measuring execution in terms of outcomes and outputs: Execution is often confused with just activity, but the impact of those activities is critical. The ability to distinguish between outputs (tasks completed) and outcomes (strategic effects) is vital.
Balancing agility and efficiency
A core tension in execution is the balance between efficiency and agility. Many organisations assume stability and prioritise efficiency, assuming that streamlined processes, perfect plans and strict control mechanisms will ensure success and reduce uncertainty. However, excessive focus on efficiency can lead to rigidity, making it difficult to adapt to external shifts. An overemphasis on agility without the necessary structure and clarity can create chaos, resulting in wasted resources and strategic drift.
To remain effective, organisations need:
Operationalise strategic foresight to anticipate shifts and risks before they happen, ensuring that decisions are not built on outdated assumptions.
Establishing organisational flexibility by designing structures that allow for rapid redeployment of resources without compromising the organisation's stability.
Increasing the speed of decision-making will enable the ability to make and unmake decisions faster than the competition and the external environment.
During execution, prioritising predictability over adaptability is a recipe for failure.
Measuring execution: outputs vs. outcomes
When executing, the organisation still needs to measure effectiveness, not just in terms of activity but by its actual impact. Key measures that leaders need to include are:
Output metrics track completed activities, such as initiatives launched, products developed, or projects delivered.
Outcome metrics assess the broader impact, such as competitive positioning, market share shifts, or strategic advantage gained.
Focusing solely on outputs can create the illusion of progress while ignoring strategic impact. Instead, execution should be evaluated to determine whether it delivers meaningful outcomes.
Building an execution-ready organisation
No execution can succeed without an organisation designed to operate effectively in uncertainty. Being ready means moving beyond rigid hierarchies to structures that allow rapid decision-making, autonomy at key levels, and continuous feedback loops.
Key enablers include:
Capability Shifts: Execution isn't about doing more of the same; it's about deliberately evolving organisational capabilities that align with the strategy.
Enabling Faster Decision Cycles: The traditional annual strategy process is obsolete. Organisations must synchronise Decision cycles with external change rates.
Aligning Output and Outcome Measures: Ensures that execution delivers on activities and real strategic impact.
Operationalising Mission Command: Embedding mission command principles, clarity of intent, decentralised execution, and trust ensures teams can make autonomous decisions in the face of uncertainty.
Leveraging Feedback Loops for Adaptation: Organisations must integrate decision cycles that allow real-time course correction, ensuring that strategy remains aligned with evolving external conditions.
Execution as a Living Process
Effective execution in complexity isn't about 'sticking to the plan.' It's about designing an execution process as dynamic as the environment in which it operates. Organisations that cling to old models will find themselves outpaced and irrelevant. Those who embrace execution as an ongoing, systemically informed process will create an advantage in the face of uncertainty.
Execution in uncertainty is not about control; it's about coherence. The ability to continuously adapt while maintaining strategic intent is critical for organisations to achieve strategic aims. The challenge for leaders is no longer about reducing uncertainty; it's about developing the organisation's capability to operate effectively within it.
Traditional approaches don't work. It's time to open a collaborative discussion and rethink execution.
