We have a very sharp set of directors. Clever, knowledgeable. Different levels of creativeness, practicality, and diligence through the team. All in all – it is looking outwards and forwards – which is great.

However – it seems a bit insulated from change delivery to provide the strategy execution. Our domain heads are really focused on their domain Targets and how to achieve them. For example, the Head of Sales and Marketing is driving our brand and growing sales. Head of Engineering is developing and deploying excellent people. Head of Manufacturing has a world class facility and efficiency. Innovate and improve – we can do locally, quite well!

The problem seems to be anything cross domain. For example. the Head of Products is innovating and sustaining our core offerings. We have good working teams consisting of reps from S&M, Engineering and Manufacturing – but coordinating delivery – let’s just say the integrated plan is a PowerPoint slide deck. Common priority? Well – it’s hard to tell, and I’m pretty sure that each domain head makes sure their Targets are met before helping other areas.

So back to the Board. Strategic initiatives are mostly cross domain. For example, Digital Transformation. There is a great set of wording on our Annual Business plan for shareholders. Sounds great - lots of good ideas from innovation platforms to meeting management solutions to data and analytics capability for manufacturing to automated testing in engineering and greater work from home facility for all staff. But it seems that directors lose interest once a goal or an imperative have been agreed. One even said “we hand over to our managers and let them get on with it”.

For example, finding an executive sponsor to really engage in delivery is hard. I don’t know if sponsors understand what sponsorship is. They begrudgingly attend meetings and often send deputies who won’t make decisions and say ‘this is not their day job’.

Another example – integrated plans. With all domains planning differently, with resource planning ranging from ‘hope’ to allocation spreadsheets to detailed project plans – it is hard to know if the right priorities have been applied to deployment of people on this initiative or that – as a whole yet alone domain by domain. Every date presented is inherently unreliable and accountability avoidable. How can this be culturally accepted?

Another example – direction change. Our directors look outside the organisation, and are planning shifts in strategy emphasis long before we hear about it. Months can go by before something is communicated, and even then – it is not clear where we need to slow down to enable us to speed up in other areas as our planning models are so unreliable. And crisis management? Out teams have dropped everything recently seized the challenge to modify how we work internally, with customers and suppliers – but where do we pick up where we left off?

So is execution a bad word? Within director domains, probably not – but on cross domain initiatives – lack of sponsor interest, lack of investment in coordination toolsets, late in the day priority change communication - it seems to be! Worse still, I have no way of tracking stats on outcomes from our strategic initiatives. Funny that – or is it?