This episode explores how mid-level managers can effectively execute a strategy, even if they have reservations or limited input. Learn how to gain clarity, address employee skepticism, and keep everyone engaged in the process.
Imagine this scenario: Your company’s executive team has just announced their new master plan for growing the business. Now it’s your job, as a mid-level manager, to put it into practice. So where do you start?explains how to make the most of a plan that you may or may not agree with and that you may or may not have had any input into.
You’ll also learn what questions to ask yourself before taking action, how to handle resistance from people you manage, and what to do if the plan isn’t working well.from Harvard Business Review. I’m Amy Bernstein. When I think of what I do every single day in my work, it really comes down to moving the teams I oversee toward our strategic goals. I make decisions about priorities and about how people are spending their time, I give guidance on which direction to take on any given project.
ANDREA BELK OLSON: I think it’s often underutilized, and that strategy execution really is this bigger, greater opportunity, especially for women to elevate their business acumen, diving into actually how the broader business operates on a higher level. And I think this means really learning the economics behind, let’s say any corporate strategy, understanding why certain decisions were made and how they drive that bigger picture success.
The third thing I think is a trap that we fall into is being stuck in the proverbial, “This is the way we’ve always done it,” mindset. And we’re all susceptible to status quo bias, but a new strategy might require us to have new activities and perspectives that the old strategies or the old approaches really aren’t suitable for this new situation. And it might require a new way of thinking or entirely different approach.
ANDREA BELK OLSON: It’s very important to not assume certain things. Your approach of getting a litmus test from your boss of, “This is how I interpret this, what do you think about this? I’m looking for feedback,” is fantastic. I also think it’s very important to start with questions, showing that you’ve read it, you understand it, and that those questions are again, very business minded.
Thirdly, another way to do it is, you can ask to participate at key times. So, maybe there’s points in the strategic development process where leadership really wants to keep this amongst themselves, but there’s surely certain milestones where they’ve crossed a threshold that maybe you can attend and provide the opportunity to give key observations and insights.
AMY BERNSTEIN: And that’s a great conversation to have with someone who was closer to the strategy making. I have been there in the past and I’ve learned that if you’re not super enthusiastic about it, chances are you’ve missed something and it’s up to you to figure it out.AMY BERNSTEIN: I would say, if someone asked me this question, don’t just sit with this dissatisfaction.
AMY BERNSTEIN: It sounds as if you need to have the deeper conversation to understand where the resistance is coming from, if it’s in fact resistance and not simply apathy.AMY BERNSTEIN: Well, which we all have, we are human beings. I was talking to a colleague a little while ago about her feeling that women feel a particular responsibility to sell, to persuade their teams, their direct reports, that the strategy is sound.
AMY BERNSTEIN: I have sometimes veered a little too far into taking on my teams, upset their fear, I get why people are resistant to change, I have felt it myself. And one thing I’ve learned to do was, before I make a serious commitment one way or the other, I give myself a chance to walk away and think about it and think about the implications. I don’t agree to push back immediately if I can identify that that agreement is coming from a place of empathy and not something more strategic.
AMY BERNSTEIN: I sure hope so. I got to read your article, Three Reasons Why Every Department Needs Its Own Strategy, and yes, yes, I wanted to stand up and cheer. You’re absolutely right, and I wonder if you could just show us how this has played out in real life.
AMY BERNSTEIN: You’ve been given a new strategy, you’ve done the work to understand it, you’ve gotten your team to help articulate what the strategy means for their work, buy-in all around, enthusiasm even, and six months, a year into it, it’s not working, what do you do then? I, because I’m built the way I am, would immediately blame myself. But maybe that’s not the right way and not the most constructive way forward.
ANDREA BELK OLSON: Well, I think you have to put yourself in the shoes of that upper-level manager. And so, it’s important first to try to identify the problem as early on as possible before it becomes a massive problem. Now, your communication is, “This isn’t working that great, but it’s not the end of the world.
ANDREA BELK OLSON: Oh, I can tell you from firsthand experience as a twenty-something year old that’s eager to try to accomplish so many things that I overstepped my bounds.ANDREA BELK OLSON: There was times where I was in a broader management meeting and I wanted to share all the accomplishments my team had done. And so, it was my turn to speak, and I had this very long laundry list of, “We got this, we got this, we did this on time, this came under budget.
And so, there’s an effort to not throw the strategy out, but reshape it. Reshape it in a way that would allow us to go faster and still maintain. But when this new strategy was first presented to me, I was not on board with it because I was so excited about the original vision. I just felt like we were losing some of the specialness, losing some of the exciting differentiating ideas that we were working on.
JENNIFER LONG: Totally bought in. Now I’m actually more excited about the new strategy. And what was good about taking the time to step back and sell myself and dig into it, is that now I’m in a much better position to help my team pivot. Because they have been running on the same track I was running on, and now I’ve got to help them shift to a new track.
JENNIFER LONG: Well, that’s what happened to me. I had to get excited about it and then conveying that excitement to the team and hoping they…
STRATEGY EXECUTION GROWTH STRATEGY MANAGING PEOPLE MANAGING UP BUSINESS ACUMEN
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