Corporate leaders have been seen as the backbone of the organisation for creating and implementing strategies. Amid the complex management issues, the importance of leadership increases day by day to make profitable decisions. According to Strategy + Business, companies need to identify the departments and create an implementation team of all representatives to ensure all the necessary issues are covered during the process.
To stay ahead of the competition, many organisations hire strategic leaders to revamp their operational and other kinds of strategies. However, there is still a lack of clarity regarding the vitality of leadership, and various small and medium-sized businesses ignore it. The right leader can align the company’s goal with its mission and vision by framing and implementing the required strategies. In this blog, we discuss the importance of outstanding leadership to implement corporate strategy correctly.
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Understanding Strategic Implementation In Organisation
Simply put, strategic implementation is the process of turning strategies into actions that fulfil the organisation’s primary goal. In every organisation, different professionals engage in the process of strategy creation and implementation. The whole process of strategic implementation is divided into several steps, which range from defining the key variables to assigning the leadership role to who understands the organisation’s strengths and weaknesses.
During the final stage, the top management usually takes the responsibility to review the drafted strategies and creates an implementation plan. That is why the importance of leadership in strategic implementation becomes more critical, as it directly affects the outcomes in the future.
The process of strategic implementation can be complex and needs proper team management while saving resources and time. It is also crucial for organisations to identify future leaders for preparing the long-term strategy. However, it is also important to note that every organisation has a different process for implementing a short and long-term strategy. The perspective of the strategic leaders largely influences the final outcome. The role of leaders at the time of strategic implementation is as follows:
- Determine the right strategic plan
- Select the right organisational controls
- Manage the resource portfolio efficiently
- Creating a Blueprint for strategic implementation
- Emphasise ethical practices during the implementation
Importance Of Leadership In Strategic Implementation
The successful implementation of business strategies largely depends on the quality of leadership. It requires a dedicated professional who understands the organisation’s core values and can seamlessly work with a diverse team. Following is the role of leadership in strategic implementation:
1- Influence The Human Behaviour
Strategic leadership is the ability to anticipate, influence, and empower others to create a change as per requirements. In any organisation, the importance of leadership while implementing strategies largely influences human behaviour. The leaders engaged in this process manage the different teams and use their ability to envision the future while influencing human behaviour. It includes making the final decisions, collaborating with the industry leaders, and guiding the juniors in creating a strategy that meets the organisation’s main goal.
2- Attract And Manage Human Capital
A great leader attracts and manages the talent that can prove an asset for any organisation. The leader’s role during the strategic implementation is to identify the right talents and use them efficiently for future benefits. With the complex strategic issues, the importance of leadership in strategic implementation can’t be ignored and bring positive outcomes. That is why large organisations primarily focus on educating their executives about the required leadership roles that can be needed during strategic implementation.
3- Communicating The Right Plans
The primary step of implementing the corporate strategies is, to begin with setting goals and establishing a seamless communication channel. When organisations have staff that lack leadership skills, most strategies go in vain and result in huge losses. At this time, the role of the leader is to create and communicate the right plans with their team members. Whether it’s an implementation strategy for software or other products, the right communication channel can make a huge difference. All those chief strategic planners must know how to build confidence as a leader to communicate the implementation plan correctly.
4- Monitoring the Execution
The importance of leadership in strategic implementation also involves the ability of a leader to monitor the execution of multiple organisational strategies. In the absence of leadership, most organisations struggle with properly monitoring the implemented strategies. In the corporate world, the outcome of any strategy is measured based on the outcomes. When top-level executives have leadership skills, they can identify the key performance metrics and easily monitor the success of various strategies. It is considered one of the important aspects of leadership when it comes to completing the implementation process strategically.
5- Facilitate Changes In the Strategy
Creating and implementing strategies is a complex process and needs qualified team members. With time, the organisation needs to change its corporate strategies per the requirements. During this stage, the importance of leadership in strategic implementation becomes huge, as managing the team while making changes requires profound skills.
Without great leadership, most organisations struggle to make a small change that disrupts their whole strategic plans for the future. At this stage, a great leader saves the organisation from making errors and lays out the working plan.
With the fast-paced corporate growth, it is vital for every organisation to have leaders who have a better understanding of implementation principles. It allows them to have better strategic plans aligning with the company’s goals. The above points sum up the importance of leadership in strategic implementation and why it is the need for every organisation. We hope you have a better idea of the role of a great leader while implementing strategies. If you have a particular view of how leadership can influence strategic decisions, feel free to mention it in the comment section.
