Strategic Facts

95% of a typical workforce doesn’t understand its organization’s strategy.
Middle management has the most resistance (51%) to implementation initiatives.
30% of leaders say the biggest challenge of executing their organization’s strategy is the lack of coordination across units.
Only 42% of managers and 27% of employees have access to the strategic plan.
73% of successful companies have a formal mechanism in place to communicate their strategy to their workforce.

90% of organizations fail to execute their overall strategy.
Only 10% of companies achieve at least two-thirds of their strategic objectives.
54% of companies achieve less than 50% of their initiatives.

74% of executives don’t have faith their companies’ transformative strategies will work.
86% of executive teams spend less than an hour a month discussing the organization’s strategy.
Only 35% of executives believe their company’s strategic plan is going to lead to success.
64% of successful organizations build their budget based on their strategy, rather than on past behaviors.

In organizations that successfully execute their strategy, 76% limit the number of initiatives they focus on.
When an individual and/or organization focuses on more than 3 priorities at one time, their effectiveness is reduced.
You lose 7.5% of strategy potential when the right resources aren’t in the right place at the right time. Prioritization is crucial.

80% of organizations fail to start their strategic plan on time.
60% of companies don’t connect their strategic initiatives with their budgets.
98% of leaders think implementation of a strategy takes longer than the formulation of that strategy.

In organizations that successfully execute their strategic initiatives, 77% translate their strategy into operational mechanisms and monitor day-to-day progress.
There are two types of outcome indicators: lagging (where you measure the success or failure of a goal at the end) and leading (where you can measure potential success or failure before the ultimate outcome).
25% of leaders say that measuring a strategic plan’s implementation is the toughest challenge.
92% of organizations don’t track key performance indicators that let them know how well they’re doing.

80% of company leaders feel their organization is good at developing strategy, but only 44% believe they’re good at its implementation.
75% of successful organizations have a formal, pre-established system to inform on and manage their strategy.
72% of executives say that strategy formulation based on lessons from successful strategy implementation is essential to stay competitive. … But only 40% say their organization is “good or excellent” at doing so.
29% of companies react so slowly that they can’t seize opportunities — or mitigate threats.
24% of organizations react quickly to opportunities — but lose sight of the organizational strategy in the process.
89% say formulating a strategy appropriate for changing market conditions is “very important or essential” to remain competitive.