From Arrows to Action: The Missing Link in Strategy Execution

The whiteboard mirage represents the grand illusion in business where brilliant strategies developed during off-site meetings evaporate once teams return to their desks. I explore the critical gap between strategy as a concept and strategy as an operational reality, providing actionable frameworks to ensure your strategic vision translates into Monday morning execution.

• Distinguishing between strategy (the thinking) and plans (the tick list of outputs)
• The 5D framework: Define, Discover, Design, Develop, Deliver
• Why skipping the "messy middle" stages causes strategy implementation to fail
• The three R's of strategy execution: Reality, Rhythm, Responsibility
• Case study of successful IoT implementation in manufacturing through proper strategic execution
• The reality test: Can you explain your strategy to a new hire in under two minutes?
• Treating strategy as a daily practice rather than a special occasion

Take your current strategy and run it through the reality test. If you can't explain it to a new hire in under two minutes, if team members don't know exactly what to do differently tomorrow, or if you can't measure progress next week (not next quarter), it's time to turn that whiteboard wisdom into workplace reality.

Music by arnaud136 from Pixabay

Chapters

• 0:00 The Whiteboard Mirage Explained
• 1:51 Strategy vs Plan: The 5D Framework
• 2:51 The Three R's of Strategy Execution
• 4:03 Real-World Success: Manufacturing Case Study
• 6:41 The Reality Test Challenge

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:26

Have you ever left a strategy off-site, feeling like you've just solved all your company's problems, only to watch that brilliant plan vanish the moment you're back at your desk? You're not alone. This week, I'm to aim at the grandest illusion in business the whiteboard mirage. You know the saying the whiteboard's covered in arrows, buzzwords and big ideas. Everyone's nodding along, the energy's electric and for a moment it feels like you've cracked the code. But then the whiteboard gets wiped, and so does your strategy. What happens? Why was that well-articulated strategy not enough to survive the walk from the boardroom to the break room? Was it ever a real strategy to begin with? As Don Bish, a recent guest on the show, put it so clearly a strategy is not a plan. A plan is not a strategy. Dom's own initial business plan, while giving him confidence, soon showed that the true, enduring strategy needed to be far more flexible and deeply rooted. The strategy is that head-wrangling whiteboarding, conversational whirlwind, the thinking, while the plan is a tick list of outputs.

Speaker 1: 1:36

At Target State Consulting, we guide businesses through what we call our 5D framework Define, discover, design, develop and deliver. This structured approach is all about bridging that gap, taking your big ideas and making them stick. That's how we unpack that messy middle between strategy approved and technology delivering value. In this episode, I'm going to stick around that very first one, the define stage. Go back to that beautiful strategy map we drew at the start, those elegant arrows connecting your mission to your metrics. They are about as useful as a chocolate teapot, unless you can translate them into Monday morning action. I've seen countless leadership teams fall into this trap. They spend thousands on facilitators, fill rooms with sticky notes and create presentations that would make McKinsey proud. Yet months later they're right back where they started, wondering why nothing changed. This isn't just about a lack of a good plan. It's a fundamental gap in how strategy connects to operating model.

Speaker 1: 2:39

Consider this A tech startup I worked with once spent time mapping out their next three years. The slides they created were perfect, the frameworks cutting edge and everyone left feeling like tech's next unicorn. Fast forward two weeks and half the team couldn't remember their key priorities. The other half had different interpretations of what was decided and the CEO was already chasing the next shiny opportunity. Sound familiar? This happens when you have a great define moment but you skip the crucial discover and design stages that build the operational muscle needed for true deployment and delivery.

Speaker 1: 3:18

So what actually works? It comes down to the three R's of strategy execution. First reality your strategy needs to address your actual constraints, not just your imagined capabilities. This is where the define and discover stages of our 5D framework come alive. It's about unearthing your true pain points, getting data-backed confidence about your current state and challenging those assumptions we all carry. As Dom highlighted, strategy is a thesis you're trying to prove, and that means truly understanding your starting line. Second rhythm Create weekly and daily habits that turn big ideas into small, manageable actions. This shifts you from a one-off planning event into the continuous deliver phase that our 5D framework offers. It's about building in consistent, measurable check-ins, because strategy dies in the gaps between meetings. It's about ensuring that smooth launch and the ongoing support needed for value to be realized. That third R responsibility Assign clear owners for each initiative, with specific deadlines and measurable outcomes. This links back to unifying your team in the defined stage and truly empowering them to make tech adoption stick, as Dom and I talked about. When ego-driven decisions or an ivory tower approach take over, clear accountability gets lost, and so does your strategy. You need engagement from all levels, just like the push-to-chair manufacturer that we talked about, who went right to the source to truly understand the problem.

Speaker 1: 4:59

Let's have a look at another company, a rapidly growing manufacturing firm. Sarah, the managing director, understands technology is crucial. She's choosing to adopt IoT sensors across her production line for predictive maintenance. Their plan covered the technical installation, but their strategy encompasses so much more. They've clearly defined their value proposition. They've discovered their current state and identified the risks up front. They've designed a solution with input from the factory floor, ensuring it was feasible and had buy-in. Critically, they invested in upskilling and maintenance team before deployment, making in that responsibility and empowering people, and they established a clear rhythm for tracking value in the deliver stage. The result Not just sensors, but a leaner, more efficient operation, directly boosting their bottom line. For Sarah, this brought the clarity and confidence she needed, ensuring her tech investments truly fueled growth.

Speaker 1: 5:56

The most successful companies I've worked with share that common trait they treat strategy as a daily practice, not a special occasion. They'll bake big picture goals into daily habits and measure progress in real time, constantly seeking value. As Dom says, your business is an asset and you need to maximize that value through increasing cash flows or reducing costs, and that's where your strategy helps. These businesses are also not afraid to admit when something isn't working and adjust course, because a strategy fundamentally needs to be flexible. I've got a challenge for you.

Speaker 1: 6:34

Take your current strategy and run it through the reality test. Can you explain it to a new hire in under two minutes? Does every team member know exactly what they need to do differently tomorrow? Can you measure progress next week, not next quarter? If you answered no to any of these, it's time to turn that whiteboard wisdom into work-class reality. Remember, the best strategy isn't the one that looks prettiest on a whiteboard, it's the one that actually changes how your team works next Monday morning. That's all for this week. Tune in next week where I'm going to talk about another issue facing strategy the cult of the quick fix. Until then, keep it real, keep it actionable and, most importantly, keep that whiteboard market in your pocket until you're ready to draw a map you'll actually follow.