Do you know that feeling? That something needs to change, but you do not know how to approach it? You are not alone. Every day, Summiteers helps entrepreneurs who struggle with the complexity of change. The new direction has been determined, but what comes next? In conversation with Paul van Bekkum and Dolf L'Ortye, founders of Summiteers, we zoom in on what we call strategy execution.

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How beats what

Dolf: “In the consultancy industry, the focus is often on what needs to change. And that is usually where the advice stops. A sketch of the point on the horizon, the summit of the mountain.

But that often leaves organizations thinking: ‘so… what now?’ Boards and managers know how to run the day-to-day business, but they are often in the dark when it comes to actually realizing change. This is a profession in its own right, and that is where we regularly see things go wrong.”

This happens because the how is much more complex than the what. Hence: how beats what.

Why execution is so complex is rooted in the ambition for change itself.

Paul: “We regularly see a mismatch between the strategy on paper and the execution power of the organization that has to deliver it. When we provide strategy advice, we make sure the strategy is rooted in the current organization, taking into account the people, capabilities, and resources available today. When we work on the execution of an existing strategy, step one is often to reconnect it to the current organization. What is the ‘fit’, what is the ‘gap’, and how can those gaps be closed?”

Ultimately, strategy execution comes down to one central question: how do you turn the idea in your head into reality?

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Asking questions and listening

Whatever the request, we always start by asking questions and listening. What is really going on? What challenges is the client facing? What plans already exist, and how concrete are they? What future does the organization envision? What do employees want and feel capable of doing themselves, and where do they need our support?

This phase is essential to the entire trajectory.

Paul: “By speaking with many people, we immediately start building support among the employees who will eventually do the work. Your PowerPoint may be excellent, but people do not live a PowerPoint. It is far more effective to find ways for people to arrive at solutions together. Only when employees fully understand a plan and stand behind it, do you create real commitment, and that is what leads to lasting change.”

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Personal development

From the intake onwards, we observe how a team collaborates as professionals and how individuals behave. In traditional management consulting, the focus is often on content: the puzzle, the analysis, and a process or plan that moves from A to B. That is important. But alongside content and process, there is also behavior.

Dolf: “During change trajectories, people display both effective and ineffective behavior. Using coaching techniques, we can make that behavior visible and help individuals and teams become more effective.”

Personal development is an integral part of those conversations. By asking what drives people and what behavior they want to display, you create involvement. “I notice that by combining substantive conversations with genuine attention, you can significantly increase a team’s motivation. In addition to helping the organization move forward, we also offer employees valuable personal insights and advice around behavior. From a change perspective, that cuts both ways.”

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Making decisions

Another key condition for successful execution is making conscious choices. Paul: “It makes a difference whether you decide to do two things or five. You have a limited number of people and a limited amount of time. By making well-considered choices upfront, you increase the chance of success and maintain momentum.”

Dolf: “When things go wrong, it can often be traced back to this moment: not choosing. That is when complexity and chaos slowly emerge. It simply becomes too much.”

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Letting go

When is a project successfully completed? When can you say execution has truly worked?

Paul: “Part of success lies in being able to let go when a trajectory comes to an end. If we can leave the building with confidence, knowing the organization is executing its strategy independently, then it is a success for me. I also think it is really special that we are trusted to help with this in the first place.”

Dolf: “By constantly monitoring how things are going, you know when the moment has come to hand over the baton. When I see people starting to behave in the intended roles and wanting to take responsibility, you can begin to step back. I love that moment, because that is when something truly changes. And that is exactly why we do what we do.”

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Need help with strategy execution?

We are Summiteers. We create movement, make complexity understandable, make large challenges manageable, turn a vague idea into something concrete, and help difficult things succeed. We call that strategy execution.

Could you use some help with this? Get in touch. Contact Graham at graham.osullivan@summiteers.nl or 0867022319.

Interested, but not ready for the journey yet? Follow our LinkedIn page and get inspired.

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