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the role of an executive coach in implementing strategy.

Bosberaad to Strategy

The annual strategy bosberaad is usually eagerly anticipated as a time when the executive team refocuses and re-energises itself. Over two days, and using one of any number of strategic planning models they might look at the company’s Mission, Vision and Values, and either tweak them or completely overhaul them for the next chapter in the company’s life. Then they might identify the success factors that are critical to the achievement of the vision, putting some elaborate and challenging strategic goals in place for the coming period (anything from 12 months to 10 years or more).

The team develops renewed commitment to a compelling way forward, there is an intense sense of satisfaction after a grueling couple of days, and everyone is excited about the future. Everyone is focused and full of energy and excitement. The facilitator gathers up all the paperwork and sets off to compile it all into a record of the decisions made – the Strategic Plan. This is the blueprint against which all actions and decisions will be measured; against which everyone’s performance will be measured; it will guide everything anybody does. Or will it?

And there it sits – on your desk

A week or so after the bosberaad, the Strategic Plan arrives, and it’s a beauty! Beautifully laid out, elegantly bound, and thick! This is full of meaty information and clearly shows that we are serious about this business. And it has pride of place on your desk, and you can’t wait to get to work on it, but you’ve got to get the budgets finished! As soon as that’s done, you can get right to it. Actually, you can get to it once you’ve finished revising the incentive scheme.

Of course, while you’re busy with the budget, you need to concentrate on a host of other things – get the headcount right, trim a little fat from the expenses, look at the motor vehicle maintenance contract, etc. etc. You just have to get the current crisis out of the way, and then the strategic plan will be at the top of your list of priorities. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that you are not alone - virtually all executives are in exactly the same boat; they have a host of other priorities to attend to before they get to the implementation of strategy.

This happens time and again. Instead of getting on with the work of making sure that the people, the systems and the technology integrate to ensure that the strategic plan can work, we get distracted by habitual day-to-day ways of running the business. And of course our performance is measured on the way we perform against our budget so that the strategic plan comes unstuck. Here lies another jolly good idea. R.I.P.

So what does it take to make a Strategic Plan happen?

Relentless, uncompromising executive focus – nothing but complete single mindedness will do. Sounds simple, doesn’t it. Yet the day-to-day business of running organisation is filled with distractions that can take you further and further from your company’s chosen path – away from that compelling vision you and your colleagues designed at the bosberaad.

the role of an executive coach in keeping the focus.

The assistance of a good executive coach is one way of ensuring that your hard-won strategic plan takes its first breath and comes to life. The coach’s role is to keep you focused and moving forward towards your vision. The coach will remind you that everything you think, say and do will either move you towards or away from your vision. Your strategic coach will be a sounding board for your ideas, stretching your thinking and helping you to find innovative and exciting ideas to circumnavigate the inevitable obstacles and tackle the many surprises that are part of your strategic journey.

Your coach will help you find ways to bring out the full potential of the people around you. You will be able to explore the best ways to exercise influence in order to win the support of your colleagues and employees, and you will have a vital opportunity to plan how you will resolve the conflict that is an inevitable part of any process of change – which your strategic path certainly is. A good executive coach will make sure that you outperform all your expectations and achieve the regular and sustainable breakthroughs that will take you to peak performance and make your strategic plan achieve the results it was designed to – and more. And you will have the support of an insightful, intelligent, like-minded person whose only agenda is to make sure that you succeed.

about the authors.