Five Key Elements to Building a Strong Strategic Plan
Company X gets it now! They realize how important it is to focus on the execution of the plan as much as it did on the creation of the plan. In fact, they hired a well-respected team to come in to help them with the execution phase. But when the team arrived and saw what they were working with, they realized they were in trouble.

As some of you might know, since the release of my latest book, 7 Elements of Strategy Execution, I have been ramping up to a major branding shift from the project management guy to the strategy execution guy. And I am close.
My journey over these past few years, leading to this new phase of my professional life, has been revealing and somewhat surprising. Back to Company X.
What did they quickly learn? You cannot make something work that was not built properly in the first place.
Company X thought they had a plan, but in reality, it was not going to work.
Before you read my new book, before you bring in the big guns to help you execute the plan, please make note:
Five Key Elements to Building a Strong Strategic Plan
Engagement
Get everyone involved who should be involved in the visioning and planning,
Then look at the people who you don’t want involved and ask yourself if they
should be involved? Better to have your
enemies and nay-sayers involved from the start.
Connect
Connect your plan to the big picture – to the organizations’ overall strategic plan.
Innovate
Use the planning process to become more innovative – making sure to manage the
risks appropriately.
Plan
Create a realistic and manageable plan – get a project manager involved
Culture
Build a culture around the vision and the plan.
You absolutely need a sound strategic plan to be able to execute well. Build from a good foundation and your chance of success is definitely better.