Strategic Control Meaning

Strategic control is a method of managing the execution of a strategic plan. It’s considered
unique in the management process, as it can handle the unknown and ambiguous while tracking a
strategy’s implementation and the subsequent results. In other words, strategic control is a way to
find different methods of strategy implementation by adapting to changing external and internal
factors to achieve strategic goals.

A strategy is usually implemented over a significant period of time during which two major
questions are answered:
a. Is strategy implementation taking place as planned?
b. Taking the observed results into consideration, does the strategy require changes or
adjustments?

The strategic control definition shows us that it’s an evaluation exercise focused on achieving the
strategic goals set by an organization. The process is crucial in bridging gaps and adapting to
changes during the implementation period.

The Strategic Control Process

Every technique of strategic evaluation follows the same method. Here are the six steps involved
in the strategic control process:

1. Determining What To Control

Prioritize evaluation of elements that relate directly with the mission and vision of the
organization and which can affect the organization’s goals.

2. Setting Standards

Past, present and future actions must be evaluated. Setting qualitative or quantitative control
standards help in determining how managers can evaluate progress and measure goals.

3. Measuring Performance

Measuring, addressing and reviewing performance on a monthly or quarterly basis can help
determine a strategy’s progress and ensure that standards are being met.
 4. Comparing Performance

Performance comparison is done to determine if an organization is falling short of the set

benchmark and if these gaps between target and actuals are normal for that industry.

5. Analyzing Deviations

If there are deviations, managers have to analyze performance standards and determine why
performance was below par.

6. Corrective Action

If a deviation is due to internal factors such as resource shortage, then managers can act to sort
them out. But if it’s caused by external factors that are beyond one’s control, then incorrect
actions can worsen the outcome.
Traditional control concepts have to be replaced by the strategic control process, as it recognizes
the unique needs of long-term strategies.
Importance Of Strategic Control

Let’s look at the importance of strategic control:

 Measuring Progress
Strategic control can help measure organizational progress. As a strategy is chosen or
implemented, an outcome is determined based on the likeliness. In strategic management, it’s
important to measure results during and after implementation. This allows timely corrective
actions as well.

 Feedback For Future Actions

Since strategic management is continuous, it helps in recycling actions that are essential for
achieving the objectives of an organization. This acts as inputs for making adjustments and
implementing them in other future processes.

 Rewards And Recognition Based On Performance

A reward system based on performance that recognizes employees throughout the

implementation period is crucial for performance, desired outcome and talent retention.
The purpose of strategic control is to let managers identify changes in circumstances and allow
them to modify strategies.
The Strategic Execution Framework

The framework consists of six domains easily remembered by the mnemonic: INVEST. It assists
companies in retooling their approach so that they select the most advantageous strategic projects
and execute them effectively.
The domains include:
Ideation: Where passion and drive originate, Ideation is your company’s understanding of what it
is and how it appears in the world, expressed through its purpose, identity, and long-range
intention.
Nature: Creating the conditions for strategic execution, Nature embodies the culture and
structure; in other words, the environment and context within which you operate.
Vision: The ultimate destination and route, Vision includes the goals, metrics, and strategy that
form the foundation for your business.
Engagement: Connecting strategy to project portfolio investments, Engagement is a clear
demonstration that your company is funding the right projects that will further the strategy.
Synthesis: Carrying out projects mapped to priorities, Synthesis is where Engagement meets
execution, ensuring you’re successfully executing projects and programs in alignment with the
portfolio.
Transition: Turning outputs into operations, Transition is the ultimate measure of success, where
you move the results of project-based work into the mainstream of your company’s operations.

What is strategy execution?

Strategic execution is the implementation of a strategic plan used to
achieve an organization's goals. Strategic execution uses processes,
systems or a series of decisions to clarify goals for employees and
define steps or actions the company needs to take in order to reach its
goals. It's helpful to consider which of these approaches is best to
implement your strategy.

What are the benefits of strategy execution?

Strategy execution can benefit a company and its employees in these
ways:
Provides clarity

Strategy execution helps a business to clarify and achieve its goals. It

does this by defining tasks and assigning each one to an employee,
with details on how and when to complete the task. Strategy
execution emphasizes communication and ensures that information
gets shared with everyone who needs it.

Increases engagement

Strategic execution engages shareholders, business executives,

managers and their teams in the planning process. This is beneficial
for accomplishing goals because more people are working toward a
common achievement. Engaging employees also aids in job
satisfaction by letting them play a role in the decision-making
processes that affect them.

Activates initiatives

Strategy execution helps activate company initiatives by implementing

plans to further goals. This helps companies with growth and
innovation. For example, an initiative may be to diversify the
workplace and a strategy can help activate this initiative by including
processes that require the company to hire more talent.

Mainstream approaches to strategy execution

There are three approaches to strategy execution:

Approach strategy execution as a process

One approach to strategy execution is to view it as a process. A

process can help identify important aspects of strategy execution and
define the steps a team needs to take in order to implement the
strategy. When you approach strategy execution as a process, it's
important to identify the following:

 People: Determining who the strategy involves is an

important step in planning the strategy. Consider who
 your shareholders, employees, business owners,
executives and consumers are and how they fit into your
strategy.
 Strategy: Developing a strategy with the goals you want
to accomplish and steps to accomplish them is key to
strategy execution.
 Operations: Determine what software systems, teams or
workflows to involve in the strategy. Identifying the tools
that your team needs to implement the strategy is a
benefit of using a process that helps ensure
preparedness.
Approach strategy execution as a system

You can also approach strategy execution as a system. A system is an

organized set of procedures or principles and managers can use these
to guide the execution of strategy. This approach outlines these six
stages to implement the strategy:

1. Develop the strategy. When you develop a strategy,

decide on a method for implementing your plan. This
involves channels for communication, identification of
those the strategy affects and the goals a strategy seeks
to accomplish.
2. Create a plan for the strategy. The second stage of the
strategy execution system is to outline the plan for how
to accomplish the goals. This plan defines tasks and
identifies the employee or team responsible for
completing them.
3. Align the strategy with company goals. It's important
that business strategies align with company goals to help
the business further its overall goals. You can ensure the
strategy helps achieve company goals by choosing
performance metrics associated with the goal you want
to accomplish.
4. Coordinate business operations. Coordinating operations
means scheduling regular meetings to discuss progress
 with strategy implementation. It's important to discuss
the progress at each stage of implementation in case the
strategy needs adjustments.
5. Monitor performance of the strategy and the team. While
strategy execution is in progress, managers can monitor
the progress of goals and of each team member. Consider
using task management software to help track employee
progress and receive updates on task completion.
6. Test and adjust the strategy. The final stage in a strategy
execution system is to test the strategy in your company.
It's helpful to implement a new strategy in one
department at a time because the small scale helps
reduce risk and shows how successful the strategy is.

5 key pillars for effective strategy execution

Corporate strategists can bridge the strategy-to-execution gap and drive aligned execution in five
ways.

Pillar No. 1: Strategy formulation

83% of strategies can fail due to faulty assumptions. Test assumptions about the executability of
strategy during formulation.
History is littered with examples of organizations that hit severe growth stalls because of
strategies based on flawed assumptions about customers, competitors or internal capabilities. A
lack of clarity leads to unwanted surprises during execution and reduces managers’ ability to
monitor uncertainties and respond accordingly. To get execution right, clarify and test relevant
assumptions. This includes using mechanisms to both identify and challenge strategic
assumptions so your organization can avoid unanticipated issues that derail implementation.

Pillar No. 2: Planning

67% of key functions are not aligned with business unit and corporate strategies. Align
objectives to strategy by clarifying the objectives for those tasked with execution.
It's not unusual for large organizations to conduct strategic planning sessions that cost millions
of dollars and hundreds of employee hours each year. Despite these efforts, strategic goals are
often unclear or misaligned, which then creates resourcing challenges that limit execution
success.
Focus the planning process on vertical alignment between the corporate center and the business
units (BUs), and horizontal alignment across BUs and functions. To avoid confusion, begin by
clarifying objectives and roles for those in the business tasked with execution.
Pillar No. 3: Performance management
58% of organizations believe their performance management systems are insufficient for
monitoring the performance of strategy. Ensure accountability for actions critical to strategy
execution and monitor performance.
Markets can shift between a firm’s strategic planning cycles, thus invalidating assumptions and
the strategic plan. Without an effective system to monitor the performance of the strategy,
organizations may execute the wrong plan for months — or even years — before correction.
For timely course-correction, use performance management systems to hold employees
accountable for key metric goals. Frequent reviews of the plan can determine if
underperformance was the result of a bad market assessment, wrong strategy or poor execution.
Also consider a more adaptive approach to strategic planning.
Pillar No. 4: Strategy communication
67% of employees do not understand their role when new growth initiatives are launched. Foster
a two-way dialogue about the strategy to ensure organizational buy-in.
To effectively implement a new strategy, employees must understand and support it — both
before and during execution. Lack of buy-in only reduces employee commitment and motivation
for action and messages that lack credibility increase organizational resistance to change.
What’s needed is a cohesive communication strategy. Without it, employee motivation goes
down and resistance goes up, increasing the cost of execution.
Engage critical employees with targeted communications to win support for the strategy. Start a
two-way dialogue or take a page from your organization’s PR playbook to keep employees on
board and actively engaged in achieving the company’s objectives.
▶

Pillar No. 5: Organizational capacity

Organizations that are able to successfully unlock capacity to execute new growth strategies
increase profitability by 77%. Strategists must focus on unlocking capacity to ensure strategy
execution success.

Watch now: The Gartner Top Strategic Predictions for 2022

Many organizations fail to allocate resources (assets, time, people, etc.) for the actual
implementation of new growth strategies. They rely too heavily on strategy creation, planning,
performance metrics and communication.

Strategists must locate areas where the organization loses the ability to execute due to poor
coordination. The net result of poor coordination is a reduction in the total capacity of the
enterprise.
 Practices for unlocking organizational capacity:
 Deploy diagnostics to test organizational capacity before launching growth efforts.

 Use new tools for clarifying mid-manager trade-offs about resourcing growth bets.

 Construct new frameworks for freeing trapped resources.

 Create support structures for integrating growth projects into existing businesses.

leadership influence organisational

culture
Effective leadership is one of the greatest fundamentals to building great organisational
cultures. A leader can be anyone who has influence or authority, regardless of title, and
leaders set the tone for organisational culture.

Leaders can reinforce values while simultaneously holding people accountable. This
influence over others can be either positive or negative based on the leadership style and
execution of strategy, but both effective and ineffective leadership will influence and
build organisational culture in the workplace. SHRM advises leaders to be deliberate in
creating a culture where employees can thrive. Failing to build a strong culture is
detrimental to employees and the bottom line.

Why Is organisational Culture Important?

When the above aspects of culture are instilled by a leader in a workplace, the workforce
becomes more engaged. Some benefits of higher employee engagement include:

• Higher quality and safety. Engaged employees are committed to meeting a standard of
quality and excellence. Because of this, they make smarter decisions, pay closer attention
to detail, and approach their work with thoughtfulness. These same actions also go far in
promoting and maintaining workplace safety.

• Better work/life balance. When a company encourages and supports a healthier balance
for employees, they don’t just work harder, but smarter. Being able to better juggle these
two important parts of life makes way for motivation and efficiency to take hold. It also
decreases absenteeism and increases loyalty to the organisation.
• Excellent customer service. Employees who are valued end up valuing their customers,
clients, team members, and everyone else they come into contact with each day. When
more care is taken to answer questions, address concerns, solve problems, and generally
be of help to others, soaring sales are sure to follow.

• Greater retention rates. All of these benefits aren’t only enjoyed by the employer.
Employees of companies that cultivate such a culture are apt to stay put for the long term.
Why? There’s simply no reason to leave when you’re feeling appreciated, heard, and
allowed to advance.

• Growing profitability. With an upward trajectory of engagement that fuels these benefits
comes a general growth in profit, due to impressive productivity delivered from every
member of the workforce.

What contributes to a strong organisational culture?

A positive culture should be the foundation of an organisation. Meaningful work,
appreciation, wellbeing, leadership, and connection are all aspects that contribute to your
culture.

1) Meaningful Work
Employees spending nearly 1/3 of their lives at work should feel a deep and personal
connection with the work they do daily. Hopefully, they also have a sense of opportunity and
motivation to be the best they can be in their role.

Having a vision within their role allows people to develop and feel more connected to the
work they do. Seeing new and additional opportunities at work helps employees stay
engaged and contribute in an impactful way.

2) Appreciation
Don’t let top talent leave because of poor company culture. Invest in your employees
by celebrating career milestones and achievements. Personal recognition makes
employees feel valued by peers, friends, leaders, and family members.

3) Wellbeing
Wellbeing is more than just physical fitness and healthy eating habits. It also encompasses
emotional and social wellness that can be felt when people are part of a strong support
system. While your organisational culture should reinforce a healthy lifestyle, it should also
foster a healthy sense of community.

4) Connection
Our research shows there has been an increase in isolation and burnout at work in recent
years. Interactions have been replaced by social media tools that were created to connect
us. However, employees are still not as connected to their organisation or sharing as many
experiences collectively as in times past. This lack of connection inhibits collaboration and
can lead to a decreased sense of belonging and purpose at work.

5) Leadership
Leadership influences company culture heavily. Leaders can reinforce organisational values
by helping their people grow and develop through goal setting, opportunities, and
recognition. Elevate employees through frequent one-on-ones and regular two-way
feedback. When employees have open and ongoing dialogue about their work, their trust in
their leader strengthens.

What is Leadership culture?

Leadership culture is important to building organisational culture. Leadership culture is how
leaders interact with one another and their team members. It’s the way leaders operate,
communicate, and make decisions. And it’s about the everyday working environment: their
behaviors, interactions, beliefs, and values.

Is the way leadership influences culture contributing to your desired culture? Are the ways
they hire people, create high-performance teams, execute business strategy, and engage
their employees for the long term helping you build a strong corporate culture?

Leaders must understand their role in shaping an organisation’s culture, and organisations
must make intentional efforts to help develop their leaders. Effective leadership
development goes beyond training classes, adding on to your organisational structure, or
even determining the right cultural fit when hiring new leaders. The best way to ensure your
leadership culture is positively contributing to your organisational culture is to create modern
leaders.

What Does a Good Leader Look Like?

At a high level, a good leader cares about and brings out the best in others through
coaching, mentoring, and listening. The best leaders are modern leaders.

Modern leaders are leaders who mentor and coach rather than micromanage and gatekeep.
They advocate for their people and empower them to do great work rather than trying to do
it all themselves. They appreciate their employees, provide opportunities, and share
success. Modern leaders are naturally inclusive and build connections for their teams.

Modern leaders help people grow by connecting employees to three pillars:

• Purpose
• Accomplishment
• One another

When leaders connect their people to these pillars, employees are 373% more likely to
have a strong sense of purpose and 747% more likely to be highly engaged while at work.

Leaders can help their people feel connected through frequent one-to-one conversations.
One-to-ones allow leaders to regularly check in with employees, provide mentorship and
coaching, show appreciation, and reinforce culture. Tools like O.C. Tanner’s Culture
Cloud can help you show appreciation, connect with employees, and reinforce and
strengthen organisational culture.