2005 Q4 Book Review
Making Strategy Work
by Timothy J. Galpin
As indicated by the title the thesis of this book is a dialogue of how to make strategy work within a company. Until a company’s growth strategy (whether acquisition, internal growth, new market penetration, new products, etc.) and the people within the organization (skills, competencies and behaviors) are aligned, no plan will ever be fully realized.
As noted by the author, the most important aspect of any strategic effort is the implementation. Traditional approaches to strategy implementation fail for several reasons. First, implementation is usually an afterthought of the process. Second, once strategies are set, management usually falls back on rudimentary implementation activities such as issuing memos from the president or gathering large groups of employees. Third, implementation activities usually occur only during the first few months following the finalization of the strategy.
Successful implementation requires the realignment of the organizational influence system consisting of twelve influencers discussed extensively in the book. Companies that have taken an integrated approach to realigning their influence systems have enjoyed better-than-average performance.