{"id":47680,"date":"2023-08-12T10:59:43","date_gmt":"2023-08-12T08:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turner.nl\/uncategorized\/agility-is-indispensable-for-successful-strategy-execution\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T11:19:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T09:19:25","slug":"agility-is-indispensable-for-successful-strategy-execution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turner.nl\/en\/blog-en\/agility-is-indispensable-for-successful-strategy-execution\/","title":{"rendered":"Agility is indispensable for successful strategy execution"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Strategy = Execution<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Agility is indispensable for successful strategy execution<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

In modern strategy execution, you can forget about success without strength, agility and speed (SAS). What is the effect of agility?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Strategy execution in the digital age won\u2019t succeed without effectiveness, agility and speed (EAS). Effectiveness and speed are pretty self-evident, but what is the impact of agility? Let\u2019s start by doing away with one major misconception, namely that agility is inherent to hip, young internet startups. It isn\u2019t. It\u2019s indispensable for any organization to survive in the digital age.<\/p>\n

There are many methods and schools of thought that operate under the banner of agility and whose intention it is to increase flexibility. And that\u2019s a key notion in Strategy = Execution<\/em>, too. Innovation and strategy professor Michael Wade, from IMD in Lausanne, writes in his blog that world-class athletes can still afford to use classical strategy execution. After all, athletes know which race to prepare for; they know the distance, location, their competition, the date and time. Organizations, by contrast, are facing increasing uncertainty about all of these criteria. Classical strategy-setting requires the same information that athletes have, so you can cascade your strategy, prepare and implement your strategy step by step.<\/p>\n

In the new normal, this is a luxury few businesses can afford. Uncertainty is the name of the game. VUCA plays a big role in the digital age. Wade illustrates this by asking why it took Volkswagen so long to respond adequately to the emissions scandal. And how many taxi companies saw Uber coming and had any strategy at all to deal with it? Wade argues that a long-term strategy can act as a pair of handcuffs that rapidly leaves you handicapped. In the new normal, it\u2019s all about effectiveness, agility and speed (EAS). We need iterative strategy-setting and execution. The burden of proof for a strategy lies with its execution.<\/p>\n

Hyperawareness<\/strong><\/p>\n

Enacting this vision of strategy execution requires the highest degree of self-awareness, or what Wade calls hyperawareness. This is a capacity to make a timely assessment of changes in your context, of what will and won\u2019t work in that context, and to change course based on your assessment. Wade doesn\u2019t see many businesses that possess this quality. \u201cMost organizations are mainly just hyperaware of themselves,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

This vision also requires informed decision-making. And that, in turn, is only possible if your organization routinely and systematically gathers, analyzes and interprets data to make informed decisions. That\u2019s how you know which interventions to make. But even then, this will only work if the intervention is executed rapidly enough. Execution must be targeted, and those who carry it out must learn quickly from what doesn\u2019t work and rapidly scale up what does. Our research revealed 12 factors that determine agility; these can be found in the figure below. Next to each factor, we have listed 12 practical ways of checking the agility level in your organization<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"