Leveraging Strategy for Sustainable Business Results
A modest and quietly spoken CEO of a fast-growing FMCG I am working within SE Asia was recently bemoaning the fact that all functions in his business were not pulling in the same direction and this was starting to limit the business growth rate. It was clear from our discussion that this company has a clear Mission, Vision, Core Values and Strategy.
The problem seemed to be poor strategy alignment and the lack of a cascading strategy throughout the organisation. It is a common CEO lamentation globally but especially in the fast-growing SE Asia region where rapid growth is leading to many first-time management problems for young CEOs.
When a company is Scaling New Heights at a rapid pace, it is a challenge for the Board and the Executive Officers to ensure all the areas of the business are functioning efficiently. One reason is that rapid growth can take a lot of resources and, despite scaling, it means time for focus and strategy alignment is difficult or not deemed important.
Valuable Takeaways :
Strategy alignment and cascading through the whole organization is key to a leveraged strategy.
The Balanced Scorecard is one tool that can be used to set out key business perspectives and strategic objectives
A well thought out implementation and execution plan is required.
Communicate the strategic plan across all divisions and down through the business layers; altering the key message points as appropriate.