Knowing what risks your strategy needs to tackle (see Better Boards and Better Strategy) is a brilliant start. But what about executing on your strategy?

Recently I was training a strategy and change team in project benefits realisation. If you want me to sum up in a sentence the outcome I sought from the training, it is this; “You need a relentless focus on benefits realisation throughout the project life cycle.” (See Figure 1).

Check out these four steps to maintaining this focus:

1. Ensure you know the problem you are solving, the ‘why’ – tick we have tackled that.

2. Shift your focus to articulating the measurable and tough-to-measure benefits – tangibles and intangibles i.e. the ‘what’.

3. Next, focus on the steps you need to take to deliver the benefits i.e. the ‘how’.

4. And finally, focus on ‘what if’ we nail these benefits, what must have changed? Refer to the ‘what’ and focus on making sure they are delivered. The behaviours you sought are occurring and soon you will be able to measure the benefits as per the plan!

Figure 1: Project Benefits Lifecycle

Always keep in mind that better execution relies on a relentless focus on benefits. And that means keeping a risk lens on the how to identify risks that will shift you away from achieving the ‘what’ to deliver on the ‘why’.

Are you using a risk lens to nail strategy execution? I’m keen to hear about it.