Be more strategic – Strategy into Action (Strategy Implementation)

December 20, 2024|Kim's Blog, Marketing, Strategy|

It was a full house for December’s “Being more strategic” PM Forum – PM Forum workshop for marketing and business development (MBD) professionals. During the session we considered three key areas: thinking strategically, business strategy and marketing/business development strategy. What emerged from exercises and discussions was how to progress from thinking strategically to developing strategy to putting strategy into action. Whether this was from a firm’s overall position in the market, for a particular sector//team or for a specific project (such as key accounts, pitches or CRM). The challenge of moving from strategy development to strategy implementation. Be more strategic – Strategy into Action (Implementation).

What is the role of MBD in strategy development and implementation?

There are various levels at which strategy development and implementation takes place:

For the firm overall
For particular markets or sectors
For particular divisions, departments, services or teams
For individuals

The role of MBD professionals in strategy depends on a number of things:

Culture – Some firms have a culture that embraces a strategic and planned approach to the future. They have already cultivated strategic thinking throughout the organisation. Other firms may be less centralised, less disciplined and more reactive. We considered emergency models of strategy. So sometimes our role is facilitating cultural change.

Strategy sophistication – Some firms are sophisticated in their strategic thinking – their Boards and leaders understand strategy and have developed strategic plans for the firm and all markets and departments. Other firms may be at the start of their strategic thinking journey. Again, we assess the current situation and help move the organisation into a position where strategy is part of the conversation.

Established firm strategy – Some firms will have established strategies – at the firm-wide level, for each division, for marketing and business development and for individual fee-earners. MBD professionals will be engaged in implementing those strategies.

Marketing and Business Development strategy – A firm may have an established marketing and business development strategy. Sometimes the role of MBD people is to revise or refine these strategies. Sometimes it is to execute and implement these strategies.

Project strategy – Sometimes MBD professionals are responsible for bringing a strategic approach to specific projects whether these are for infrastructure (e.g. CRM systems) or to implement a significant goal (e.g. strategic account management) or to implement a new campaign (e.g. thought leadership in the media sector)

How do MBD professionals develop strategic thinking in their firm?

Some MBD professionals are required to work in a way that is reactive and tactical. For instance, they may be busy responding to fee-earner requests for help in implementing marketing and business development activities – e.g. organising events, preparing emails, posting on social media.

MBD professionals can help fee-earners step back and consider their goals – by adopting a coaching, challenging or consulting approach. Then we can contribute to the debate about how we might best meet those goals.

We might ask questions such as:

Analysis
- What is the current situation?
- What has happened in the past?
- Where have we performed well in the past?
- What could we have done better?
- What can we learn from past activities?
- How are we different from our competitors?
- What are the gaps or opportunities in the market?
- What are our clients saying?
- Who are the target audience and what are THEY interested in?
- What are our strengths and weaknesses?
- What are the main challenges?
- What weak signals might we be missing?

Goals
- What are we trying to achieve?
- What different goals do we have? (Retention, Acquisition, Revenue, Reputation)
- How will we measure our success?
- What would good look like?

Strategy
- What could we do to meet our aims more efficiently or effectively?
- Where should we focus?
- Which markets or services offer the best potential?
- What options do we have going forward?
- How can we be more innovative?
- How can we deliver more value to clients?
- What could we do that would really stand out from the competition?
- What assumptions are we making that impact strategy and action?
- What would be the impact of each strategic option?

Alternatively, MBD professionals may take the lead in collecting research, evidence and data that guides fee-earner discussions to tackle strategic questions. MBD might conduct analysis to understand and to raise awareness of strategic issues. For example:

Remind people of aims and goals
Scan the external environment Be more strategic – PESTLE, Positioning and Plans
Gather internal and external data to drive discussions
Direct attention to the needs of the target audience
Promote discussion on apparent opportunities and threats
Present evidence of competitor action
Include strategic questions – with supporting data – on agendas
Offer frameworks to analyse the situation and options systematically
Engage everyone in strategic debates

Once people are engaged in discussions, MBD are in a position to help fee-earners assess which techniques, tools and approaches might be most effective in helping them achieve their goals.

We looked at several tools:

How to assess our strategic thinking
How to promote strategic thinking within our firms

How do MBD professionals put strategy into action?

Once a strategy has been chosen we help prepare a plan to ensure implementation. This requires attention in a number of areas. And it leads us into the area of change management Change challenges – Culture, Communications and Clutter

Manage communication
Provide innovative and creative ideas
Assess impacts and risks
Assign and secure resources
Establish structures and teams
Arrange training and coaching
Prepare project plans and time-line
Establish monitoring systems and processes

Other views on strategy into action

How to Move from Strategy to Execution HBR June 2022

Three key steps to build the right execution system (One study noting that employees at three out of every five companies rate their organization as weak on execution)

1) Achieving Strategic Clarity

– Is your strategy set at the right level of ambition?

– Do you know what capabilities are essential for your strategy?

2) Achieving Organizational Clarity

– Have you specified which unit owns which part of your strategy?

– Have you built the right interactions between these key units?

– Have you assigned the right talent to the right roles?

3) Building A Management System

– How have you empowered your staff?

– How have you built self-corrective feedback into your system?

5 Keys to Successful Strategy Execution | HBS Online November 2020

Commit to a Strategic Plan
Align Jobs to Strategy
Communicate Clearly to Empower Employees
Measure and Monitor Performance
Balance Innovation and Control

A Manager’s Guide to Successful Strategy Implementation HBR Jan 2024

What Is Strategy Implementation?

Four Steps in the Strategy Implementation Process:

Handle Tension
1. Belief systems: Organizational definitions you communicate and reinforce to provide direction to employees
2. Boundary systems: Negatively phrased statements that tell employees what behaviours are forbidden
3. Diagnostic control systems: Formal information systems that help monitor organizational outcomes
4. Interactive control systems: Formal systems managers use to involve themselves in subordinates’ decisions that impact strategic uncertainties

2. Align Job Design to Strategy

1. What resources do employees have to get the job done?
2. What measure will we use to evaluate their performance?
3. Who must they influence to achieve their goals?
4. How much support can they expect when reaching out for help

3. Inspire Employee Buy-In

1. According to Strategy Execution, effective core values possess two attributes:
  1. Inspiration: They make employees proud of where they work.
  2. Guidance: They ensure employees know whose interests to prioritize when making difficult decision

Manage Risk

How to Turn Strategy Into Action | LLR GrowthBits

Five steps to turn strategy into action:

Translate and elaborate on the strategy
Confirm execution priorities
Define strategic initiatives
Engage and align the organization
Measure, Monitor and Adjust

The article contains some helpful examples:

Overall growth strategy – choose five priorities: expand portfolio of quality clients, increase client retention, drive differentiation, enhance end-to-end client experience, solidify and scale infrastructure

Develop each priority – e.g. identify the various initiatives, summarise the key actions inpr each as well as who is accountable and the timing.

Delegate goals

Our delegates had a variety of roles from all levels of seniority (International Operation Managers, Head of Marketing & BD, Head of Comms & Marketing, Business Development Manager, Marketing Manager, Senior Marketing Executive, Senior BD Executive, MBD Executive, Business Development Coordinator). Some had more focused roles (e.g. BD Pitch Specialist, Senior Manager Strategic Account Manager, BD Specialist (CRM)). Most were from law firms (including a barristers set) but there were some from accountancy practices.

Knowledge and skills
- Learn about being strategic and how to implement in my role to help progress the department
- Learn more about being strategic and implementing strategy
- Learn practical strategic skills that I can use for my day-to-day job
- To gain a better understanding of strategies
- I tend to think about tactics and I want to think more strategically and holistically

Confidence
- To feel more confident in coming up with and identifying the correct strategies for my practices
- I am looking to take away lots of practical tips and learn from others, plus feel more confident when helping the partners
- I would like to be able to input more into the strategic decisions of the firm internationally
- I would like to learn more techniques to adapt strategy when dealing with difficult people both at work and in my personal life

More strategic role
- I am working more strategically on our regional market presence with our HOO and more strategically on wider projects across the firm which impact the wider Marketing & BD function, so interested to learn more about how I can do this effectively
- I’m attending to keep my head in the game for any industry updates or thoughts on how to be strategic in our role. I’ve recently taken on a new role and want to make sure I am assessing my current position from all angles
- To implement strategy and strategic thinking into my marketing efforts more

Specific strategy project
- Starting to work on Marketing Plan – tips and new ideas
- I co-lead the Strategic Account Programme which has undergone and a review and refresh so trying to align fully the
- I am here to understand some Strategic tools and tips which we can use within our day to day role and Strategic Account Programme
- Strategy frameworks for use in pitches

Leadership and management
- How to make time and space for strategy in the midst of operational delivery demands; managing strategy for highly independent fee-earners

Delegate key takeaways and actions

First, get started
Use the portfolio model
Establish baseline measurables
Use the frameworks to help me think or approach things more strategically
Focus on vision and goals but outcomes (influence people and direct the team)
Establish a strategy that drives towards the same outcomes
Obtain clarity on sector goals
Work initially with one team to show value of a more strategic approach
Set time aside to think creatively
Check our segmented sector target using external data and the marketing models
Forecast our spend to check our turnover objective
Have specific measurables and don’t have too many
Identify responsibilities and assign them
Explore and consider client listening programmes and talk to the team and partners about this
Conduct more in-depth analysis – Data will give us more ammunition against objections/challenges on direction of travel
Look outward
Step back to see the full picture
Question certain activity to see whether it fits in with the overall direction of the firm

Delegate poll results

Delegates find it useful to review the poll results to benchmark their views and firms against comparable firms.

Which sector do you represent?

93% Legal
7% Accountancy, insolvency, actuaries
Property/engineering
Consulting

How would you rate your experience in strategy?

7% None
33% A little
47% Average
13% A lot

Which topic is of most interest to you?

20% Thinking strategically
20% Understanding business strategy/strategic analysis
60% Marketing and Business Development strategy

Where is your main strategic focus?

21% Firm overall
14% Sectors
36% Departments/Practice Groups
14% Territory
7% Campaigns or projects
7% Something else

Which area presents the biggest challenge?

31% Strategic analysis
13% Generate strategic options
6% Strategy choice
38% Strategy implementation
13% Something else

Do you have a marketing qualification?

47% Yes
40% No
13% Sort of

Have you completed a marketing audit for your firm/team?

19% Yes
81% No

Which element of strategic analysis do you think you most need to improve at your firm?

20% External analysis – far environment (PESTLE)
20% External analysis – clients
20% External analysis – competitors
13% Internal analysis – strengths and weaknesses
13% Internal analysis – past clients and sources of work
13% External analysis – sector issues and trends

Which of the following is closest to describing your goals?

13% Really well designed – objectives and KPIs for financial and other measures
31% Well defined – revenue, reputation and relationships
60% Partially defined – there are some goals and objectives
6% Poor – there are activity-based goals but not results-focused

Which segmentation approaches are used in your firm?

69% Market or industry sector
44% Size of business
31% Job function
63% Geography/region
44% Nature of relationship
31% Personas

How do you rate your firm’s measurement of MBD effectiveness?

Excellent
36% Good
36% Average
29% Poor

What is the role of MBD in strategy development and implementation?

How do MBD professionals develop strategic thinking in their firm?