Why is it so difficult to make strategy happen?

As with business design, this is another topic where there is the "science" part and the "art" part. In this topic even more so, because the execution of strategy involves the implementation of strategy and management after implementation.

And both activities depend much more on people than the process of formulating strategy.

I'm talking here about companies with some size and history, I'm not talking about startups.

Again, it is critical to master the "science" in order to be able to apply the "art"; and generally speaking, only the science can be discussed; the art can only be applied case by case.

Even when the strategy was well formulated and has a solid business plan (or strategic plan), the vast majority of companies struggle to execute their strategy. There are several reasons, and I like to think of them in a sequence.

What is the great challenge in the process of strategic execution? I joke that the great challenge is "to surround the crabs," that is, making everyone get on the same boat, row in the same direction, and do so synchronously.

To do this, leadership skills and functional skills are necessary, unlike the skills needed to formulate strategy, which are more analytical and even intuitive.

In addition to skills, to execute the strategy it is necessary to structure an implementation model and a management model. 

To implement, we need a set of objectives that derive from the formulated strategy, to know the intentions, a set of indicators, to measure performance, goals for each indicator, without which it is not possible to quantify the indicators, in addition to the necessary initiatives to coordinate the activities of people in the search for the achievement of goals. After this, it is essential to have mechanisms to involve, commit, control and evaluate people. Essentially, these mechanisms involve:

Watch the video of Gian Filli talking about strategy and the challenges of its implementation.