BTS
INSIGHTS
The Secret to Accelerating Strategy
Execution and Delivering Results
Written by Rommin Adl
Companies are grappling with changes in
their business environment like never before.
Technology advances, regulatory shifts,
new competition, and changes in customer
preferences now compel organizations to
make broad strategic shifts. As a result,
senior leaders are increasingly challenged
to align, motivate and develop the skills and
capabilities needed for effective strategy
implementation. In fact, a recent Conference
Board Survey of 2,000 senior executives
identified strategic alignment and speed
of execution as the most pressing CEO
challenges.1
Effective strategy execution starts with
engaging leaders and employees to make
strategy come to life. Over the last few
years, senior leaders have increasingly used
learning and development initiatives as a
critical means of building the alignment,
mindset, skills and capabilities necessary
to execute their strategies. A recent study
by Bersin by Deloitte revealed that overall
spending on learning and development
rose 12 percent in 2012, the highest growth
rate in the last eight years.2 In the midst
of a challenging economic environment,
organizations increasingly recognize that
engaging employees to implement strategy
and arming them with capabilities needed
to accelerate execution are mission critical.
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Connecting Learning
Engagements to the Bottom Line
Surprisingly, despite rising investments in
this area, a McKinsey Quarterly report found
that just eight percent of organizations
actually measure the impact of learning
and development initiatives.3 Not only are
companies investing in initiatives that may
be entirely ineffective, but the opportunity
cost may be significant as companies miss
important chances to convert on learning as
a means to drive strategy implementation.
Measuring its impact is truly the only way to
understand if an investment in learning and
development drives successful execution of
the company’s strategic agenda.
Investments
in
effective
learning
engagements can yield real improvements
in company performance. High performing
organizations that have continually invested
in their leaders have “generated nearly 60
percent improved business growth, reported
a 66 percent increase in bench strength,
and showed a 62 percent improvement in
employee retention.”4 These organizations
recognize that learning and development
initiatives result in employee promotion
and retention. They also increase skills,
capabilities, and knowledge that lead to
better organizational performance and
speedier strategy execution.
BTS
INSIGHTS
The Secret to Accelerating Strategy
Execution and Delivering Results
Measurement can include a range of metrics:
employee engagement, talent retention,
customer engagement, productivity and
profitability, among many others. Many
organizations use Kirkpatrick’s Training
Evaluation Model that targets four key areas
of learning impact:
1. Reaction: How well was the program
received by the audience?
2. Learning: How has participant
knowledge increased as a result of the
engagement?
3. Behavior: How have participants applied
the new learning?
4. Results: What are the business results
of the program? This includes a look
at key performance indicators that the
organization determined prior to the
engagement.
In our experience, while senior executives
often care about a combination of these
factors, they are particularly concerned
that employees understand their strategic
priorities and they “get it.” Have they
gained the critical skills needed to execute
the strategy and are they taking action as
a result?
Do They “Get It”? Measuring
Alignment to Strategic Priorities
Often senior leaders care first and foremost
that employees “get it.” Employees must
know the what, why and how of where the
company is going. They must understand
how they play an integral part in executing
the strategy. This alignment is a huge
value-add to leadership, because it reduces
the need to repeatedly communicate the
same messages and rally people to what is
“obvious” to the executive team.
Take for example a leading cloud software
company who used learning to align
management to its new strategy. The new
CEO and his senior leadership team needed
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the top 450 leaders to execute it. Yet the
company was already highly successful. This
fact challenged leaders to create a sense of
urgency to change as the market evolved.
It called for a mindset shift. To engage the
organization, the company used a custom
business simulation at its annual leadership
off-site. The immersive experience aligned
leaders to the strategy, shifted mindsets
and drove personal commitment to execute.
To ensure the intended alignment, a
comprehensive survey was conducted to
measure behaviors before and after the
program. The survey demonstrated that
prior to the engagement, only 55 percent of
employees believed in the necessity of the
new strategy. After the engagement, this
number grew to 88 percent. Only 62 percent
understood the evolving partner ecosystem
and the vital role of various players to the
company’s success; post-program, this rose
to more than 90 percent. Sixty-three percent
of participants recognized how various
functions contribute to the company’s
success, but following the engagement,
this number increased to 88 percent. And
finally, while 76 percent of participants were
excited and confident about the company’s
future success at the start of the program,
94 percent were optimistic after.
Skills/Behavior
Pre-Program Post-Program
Understand the
Necessity of the New
Strategy
55%
88%
Understand the
Evolving Partner
Ecosystem and Vital
Role of Various
Players to Company
Success
62%
90%
Recognize how
various functions
contribute to the
company’s success
63%
88%
Feel Confident and
Excited about the
New Strategy Moving
Forward
76%
94%
BTS
INSIGHTS
The Secret to Accelerating Strategy
Execution and Delivering Results
In this case, the experience built alignment
and a deep sense of ownership of the new
strategy. It dramatically helped senior
leaders move the organization in the
direction they needed to go to be successful
in the future. The CEO commented that the
benefit of using an experiential learning
approach was that it “enabled people to
fish better for themselves as opposed
to providing a fish that would only last a
day.” The initiative not only got everyone
on the same page and speaking the same
language, it also allowed participants to
make up their own minds to commit to the
strategy and its successful execution.
senior leadership team recognized that
executing its three-year plan would require
breaking through boundaries, changing
the internal culture and adopting more
innovative, collaborative thinking.
How Are Employees Applying
the Knowledge? Measuring the
Financial Impact Each participating high potential leader
completed a Strategic Action Plan targeting
key imperatives and initiatives. The value
(anticipated profit improvement) of the
118 action plans was $1.8 billion, an average
of $15 million per leader and $355 million
per workshop. Conservatively, a mere one
percent success rate on execution of these
action plans would yield $17.7 million in
increased profits directly attributable to the
intervention.
The behavioral impact is critical. But
how can organizations effectively link
learning initiatives to bottom-line results?
Measuring the financial results of learning
engagements is challenging, yet achievable.
A Fortune 50 telecommunications company
recently faced this challenge head on. The
The company launched a highly customized
strategic initiative for all directors and above,
starting with high potential vice presidents.
The centerpiece was a business simulation
that incorporated its strategic imperatives
and key performance measures. It enabled
leaders from across the business to practice
successful execution of the company’s
three-year plan.
Leading Telecommunications Company’s Strategic Action Plans
Anticipated Value (Profit Improvement)
$2,000
No. of Action Plans
= 118
Value per Leader
= $15 M
Value per Session
= $355 M
1% Success
= $17.7 M
1% Success
per Session
= $3.54 M
Anticipated Value ($Millions)
Anticipated Value
= $1.8 B
$1,800
$1,600
$1,400
$1,200
$1,000
$800
$600
$400
$200
$0
copyright © 2013 bts | [email protected] | www.bts.com
K 6/16
K 5/19
K 4/28
K 4/7
K 3/31
BTS
INSIGHTS
The Secret to Accelerating Strategy
Execution and Delivering Results
This level of anticipated results was
presented to senior leadership, who had
close involvement in the customization
of the program and contributed to its
delivery. They were sufficiently convinced
of the value of the initiative and elected to
increase their investment in it. As a result,
the company expanded the target audience
to all vice presidents and then mid-level
leaders, each of whom committed to a
strategic action plan.
In this particular case, the initiative included
a follow-up process to catalyze, track and
measure the outcomes of the action plans.
This process, which was implemented
internally, entailed an initial follow-up
questionnaire two to three months after the
workshop and then again six to nine months
later. Once an initial set of results were
compiled, the follow-up process included
quarterly reports on results to date. The
results measurement process served
two purposes: (1) To capture feedback
proactively from participants on how they
were applying their learning and uncover
opportunities to make the program more
effective for future audiences, and (2) To
quantify the profit improvements directly
resulting from the initiative.
The following are examples of results from
several similar initiatives yielding a direct
impact on business performance:
• A major financial services company
brought nearly 500 senior, clientfacing participants together. Almost
400 cross-divisional client service
opportunities were shared, ultimately
bringing in more than $300 million in
revenue.
• A survey following a major retailer’s
learning and development initiative
showed a revenue increase of
approximately $5 million in one business
unit that was directly attributable to the
program.
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Critical Missed Opportunities
Imagine that the leading telecom company
cited above was among the 92 percent of
companies that do not measure the impact
of learning engagements, according to
McKinsey’s report. What if they had not
been able to gain full commitment from
senior leadership for the engagement?
The opportunity to create significant
results from the program would have gone
unnoticed. Or what if the leading software
company missed the opportunity to engage
employees before or after the off-site event
to gauge the alignment and commitment
to the three-year growth strategy? How
successful would they have been not
knowing if their people were on board or
not?
The missed opportunities are extensive, with
valuable insights lost. Without consistent
follow-up and measurement, too many
organizations neglect to track alignment to
the strategy, share best practices in strategy
execution across the business, communicate
model behaviors for effective execution, and
build the capabilities required to execute.
In both cases above, to prove measurable
results it was critical that the organizations
designed a results process prior to the
program.
To accelerate strategy execution for
better business results, organizations can
benefit by applying the following four best
practices:
• The learning initiative should be
highly customized and closely tied
to the company’s strategic priorities.
Generic initiatives may build some
skills and capabilities, but if not done
in a strategically relevant context, the
learning will be difficult for people apply
back on the job.
BTS
INSIGHTS
The Secret to Accelerating Strategy
Execution and Delivering Results
• Senior leaders must actively
contribute. Without strong leader
engagement, the intervention will
not be strategically relevant and the
organization will not be motivated to
apply learning back on the job.
• The delivery mechanism should
be highly experiential for the
biggest impact. PowerPoint
presentations increasingly fail to
engage today’s audiences and garner
their commitment. Companies are
discovering the impact of innovative
approaches like experiential learning
and customized business simulations.
When done right, these approaches
deliver significantly better results than
traditional lectures and case studies. In
fact, recent research from BTS and The
Economist Intelligence Unit revealed
that the use of business simulations is
expected to increase by 140 percent
within five years’ time, while lecturebased approaches are expected to
decline by 32 percent.
• Measure the impact. It is critical to
design a follow-up and measurement
process upfront and hold leaders and
employees accountable for results.
Celebrate, reward and recognize those
who deliver measurable results.
As investments in human capital continue
to rise, measuring the impact of learning
engagements will be top of mind for many
senior decision-makers. Yet too many
organizations continue to miss a great
opportunity to connect learning to the
bottom line. Measurement can, indeed,
be a challenge. However, with the right
process, it can be done. The reward is worth
the effort. Results gleaned from learning
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initiatives provide essential information for
senior leaders. Knowing if they are making
the right investments in the right places will
ultimately help executives accelerate their
strategic priorities.
1
2
Linda Barrington, “CEO Challenge 2010, Top 10
Challenges”, The Conference Board, February 2010
“The Corporate Learning Factbook® 2013:
Benchmarks, Trends, and Analysis of the U.S.
Training Market”, 2013
3
“Putting a Value on Training”, Jenny Cermak and
Monica McGurk, McKinsey Quarterly Report, 2010
4 Bersin & Associates, High-Impact Leadership
Development for the 21st Century, 2011
______________________________
BTS is a world leading strategy implementation
firm that accelerates execution by building the
alignment, mindset and capability needed to
deliver superior business impact. The company
leverages customized business simulations and
experiential learning initiatives to help clients
achieve better results, faster.
For more information,
please visit www.bts.com.
About the AuthorRommin Adl is an
Executive Vice President
at BTS.
ContributorsDave Ackley is a
Senior Vice President
and Managing Director
at BTS.
Jessica Bower is
Senior Marketing Manager
at BTS.