I promised an update of some of Dr. Norton's materials from his presentation in Mexico back in July. One of the first topics he spoke about is the concept of "managing strategy." It doesn't sound very revolutionary, but most organizations go through a process of developing a strategy every 3 to 5 years and then putting that strategy on a shelf. They may look at the strategy annually and then go through the strategy refresh process again in 3-5 years. Best practice organizations, according to David Norton, spend time managing their strategy.

As the co-creator of the Balanced Scorecard concept, David Norton spoke about the need for a strategy map, strategic themes, initiatives linked by theme, and a dedicated budget linked to this portfolio of initiatives. That can be seen as the common Balanced Scorecard approach. The themes are relatively new to this approach, but much of it has been used for over 10 years.

The new aspect is the appreciation of having a "system" for managing strategy, and since most strategy involved change--I have not seen an organization whose strategy is to be the exact same 3-5 years from now--an organization must have a system for managing change. The Execution Premium book outlines a model for managing this change. The model includes Developing the Strategy, Planning the Strategy, Aligning the Organization, Planning Operations, Monitoring & Learning, and Testing & Adapting. In the Execution Premium, Dr. Norton shows that organizations with a process model like he describes get better results than those that do not. They are more likely to execute their strategy.

Dave then shows how leadership is the biggest barrier to effective strategy execution. He talks about the need for both left-brained and right-brained leadership skills. In the left-brained, or structured nature, you can use tools like strategy maps, budgets, and scorecards, but from a right-brain perspective, you also need tools that help with the "unstructured leadership behaviors." These are tools like creating a quantified vision or a strategic change agenda. You also can put environmental scanning and risk analysis in the right-brain list of activities. Without these, you will struggle to execute your strategy, according to Dr. Norton.

Dave argues that using a management process allows for the change to happen at an expedited pace, thus improving the chances of executing strategy. I have to agree, and I think that while the Execution Premium process seems complicated at first, you only have to look at the many case studies to see how each organization adapts the approach to meet their needs. It is a great starting point and a good guide for leaders when thinking about managing all aspects of change in their own organizations.