Strategic Facts

Here are some of the top stats and facts about organizational strategy: why it fails, why it succeeds, and how they have inspired specific steps of the CAPTAIN methodology:

C

C — Compass [Alignment System]

  • 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.

A

A — Aspire [Goal System]

P

P — Plan [Strategy System]

  • 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.

T

T — Trim [Focus System]

  • 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.

A

A — Act [Launch System]

  • 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.

I

I — Illuminate [Measuring System]

  • 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.

N

N — Navigate [Learning System]

  • 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.