80% of business leaders feel that their company is good at crafting strategy but only 44% at its implementation. In addition to this, 85% of teams spend less than 1 hour a month discussing strategy. (Source)

So like most small business owners, you probably put a lot of time, effort and resources into your company’s strategy but potentially struggle when it finally comes to executing that strategy. Sound familiar?

It doesn’t matter what industry or sector your business is in, if you have a great strategy, it won’t actually bring you any success unless you execute it correctly. Ideas without action are just that – ideas!

Without strategy, execution is aimless. Without execution, strategy is useless. - Morris Chang

Execution gives you the chance to put your big plans into play and see them change from just ideas into reality. Making the move from strategy to execution can sometimes be a huge leap for companies. Companies will spend a fortune at times on developing a strategic plan looking 3 - 5 years down the track, and everyone walks away feeling very motivated. And yet, 12 months down the road they are rarely much further along on the business growth journey than when they started - still struggling with the same internal issues, financial challenges, or customer retention.

So, Why Do Businesses Fail To Execute?

First of all, let’s think about why businesses fail to execute. There could be a number of factors for this, but some of the main ones are as follows:

Not linking strategy to budget – This is an essential first step to ensure the strategy is able to be implemented. Having a good handle on what is possible financially, with some detailed reporting to work with (or a good advisor) will help you overcome this challenge.

There’s not enough manpower – Internal capabilities need to be properly assessed during the strategy stage so that if there are gaps these can be addressed immediately. People are an essential part to you having the ability to execute effectively.

No accountability – Once the strategy is established, the key players who are responsible for its execution need to be clearly identified and given targets and timelines for action. Breaking this down into step-by-step procedures can result in less overwhelm and more commitment to action.

Fear of failure – As strange as this sounds, often the fear of venturing out into unknown territories can hold business owners back from forward movement. Having an advisor who can work with you on a monthly basis to help steer the ship can help build confidence during times of uncertainty.

How The Nine Pillars Of Success Can Help You

Here at Nine Advisory, we are able to help businesses ensure that they never fail to execute on a winning strategy again. We work with a strategic framework called the Nine Pillars of Success.

This framework has helped many small business owners go from wandering around in the wilderness to successfully going after the lifestyle or performance business they envisioned when they first started out.

When you work with us at Nine Advisory, we are proactive in our approach to helping you execute on each piece of your strategic plan. We do this by helping you to:

Develop a strategic plan to build out the road map for the next 3 years
Decide on what you are going to do when, with monthly board meetings for accountability and review
Creating a product that brings value to your customers
Build on partnerships and focus on cooperation
Work on sales systems
Put financial frameworks into place
Document key activities and offer a consistent customer experience
Work on creating greater efficiencies within the business

There are a lot more resources on the Nine Advisory site that should help you make your execution a success. You can check out our resources page HERE, or for further help and support, reach out to the team – we are more than willing to chat through some of your strategic challenges.

Your First 90 Days With Nine Advisory