Implementing strategy is a team sport

Image source: Strategy Implementation Institute

Experience delivers results

I am an experienced consultant but I learn new things every day because I make an effort to do so. Being active in professional associations helps me mix with experts at home and across the world. Last month I joined a workshop where we all talked through better ways to operationalise a mega project. This was a real scenario and people around the world brought their experience to the table. There was no AI, just hard-won experience and perspectives. It was a buzz. It highlighted how much people with real expertise offer when you are trying to get hard things done.

Projects can deliver but not achieve desired results

Tools and methodologies are useful but they can also get in the way. Most projects aim to improve operational performance or customer experiences and perception of value. That in turn drives market share, revenue and profitability. In the public sector, your project should create happiness and strengthen the social contract. Technical excellence in delivery is important but it does not guarantee the results, outcomes and benefits that justify major strategic investments. Too often there is a misalignment between methodology and strategic intent that creates a gap between achieving delivery and realising opportunities. Getting the right outcomes and realising benefits is often a lesser focus. How many times have you gone through a business case and ticked off every promised benefit a year after the project ended? Don’t let your benefits be lost.

Leadership drives the right results

Lead with the discipline to identify the right direction, the courage to take the right actions and the good sense to baseline current performance and measure progress towards higher performance. Be realistic about what can be achieved but relentless in your pursuit of that achievement. Make sure the resources are available, obstacles are removed and the right expertise is on tap – to get the work done and to achieve the strategic intent, including excellent governance.

Strategy Implementation needs the right team

The Strategy Implementation Road Map at the top of this blog comes from extensive research by the Strategy Implementation Institute – much of it from very experienced practitioners. Anyone who has had to drive change can see the different areas of expertise required. Different experiences and perspectives also play a part. Exposure to different organisations, cultures and best practices can present ways of thinking that may be the difference between success and failure. Our experience is a strength but also a constraint. Use a mix of insider knowledge and outside expertise to succeed.

Seven steps to help your team deliver your strategy

1. Engage and support leadership
2. Communicate a clear path to the value you seek
3. Don’t just align strategy to the business model – drive it!
4. Engage and manage stakeholders coherently
5. Support the evolution of culture consistently
6. Engage and include employees in the change
7. Track operational and strategic performance from baseline through the project to ongoing operations – change that has no long term, proven impact on performance is not strategic.

Phil Guerin, Consultant/Director, Hague Consulting Ltd. © Hague Consulting Ltd 2026. If you like this content, subscribe to our blog – it’s free! Enquiries@hague.co.nz

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