One of the key challenges businesses face regarding effective strategy execution is being able to visualize current performance against the organization’s strategic objectives. Doing so allows the executive team to easily identify the size of any gaps and where they lay. In turn, this informs decision-making on where investment and change should be made. A solution is to develop ”playbook dashboards,” which help visualize key metrics and actionable insights to enhance strategic alignment and close performance gaps. This blog looks at the benefits of playbook dashboards for enabling effective strategy execution and how they can be used alongside your Integrated Business Planning process.
Key features of a playbook
A playbook has two key features:
- A digital dashboard of visualizations for key metrics to quickly assimilate strategy and performance data into intuitive graphics.
- An inventory of best practices tailored for effective gap-closing actions. These actionable insights serve as a roadmap for addressing performance disparities and realigning with the strategy.
Creating a playbook
Developing a playbook begins with a segmentation process, including markets, geographies, categories, product families, and sub-families. Each segment is then assigned strategy attributes using established frameworks such as Ansoff, BCG, and GE McKinsey. This segmentation not only facilitates visualization of any performance gaps but also reveals the impact of individual functional strategies on volume and value.
The role of Integrated Business Planning (IBP)
The purpose of Integrated Business Planning (IBP) is to deploy the business strategy. IBP is a decision-making process used to align strategy with portfolio, demand, and supply plans. The result is a single operating plan over a 24+ month rolling horizon, to which the senior executives hold themselves and their teams accountable. With the aid of the playbook, this plan is reviewed and adjusted through the monthly IBP cycle to ensure it still meets the company’s overarching objectives. When done well, IBP becomes the formal way the business is managed, connecting strategy to execution and thus facilitating better decision-making and resource allocation.
Closing the gap with playbook insights
Armed with visual insights from the playbook dashboard, performance gaps vs strategy can be identified promptly during IBP reviews. The playbook provides clarity on critical questions, such as:
- Where are the gaps in the desired performance?
- Are the key strategies delivering the expected value?
- How do these gaps tie to strategy and tactics?
- How to best prioritize the issues and link actions to ownership and accountability?
Then, leveraging best practices to methodically realign strategies and investment priorities through the IBP process, ensures business objectives will remain within reach.
Realignment for profitability
The playbook may reveal whether there is any misalignment between the functional and business unit strategies and the overall strategic objectives, i.e., is the business positioned with the right products in the right markets? It will highlight if resources are being misallocated; for example, is there a disproportionate focus on deprioritized activities yielding suboptimal returns or insufficient R&D allocated to growth activities? With this knowledge, investments can be reallocated towards more profitable endeavors, bringing them back in line with the overarching strategy for your business.
Early detection for timely action
Timing is critical, and this combination of a carefully compiled playbook and an effective IBP process enables early detection and resolution of performance gaps. For example, in a scenario where a 20 percent gap in the Go-to-Market/Growth Plan emerges, the playbook provides a timely alert, allowing for proactive decision-making and course correction. Rather than discovering the situation in the final quarter of the fiscal year when little can be done, the issue will come to light in the first quarter instead, when there is time to deal with it effectively.
In the longer term, this has a fundamental benefit at the corporate level because when companies consistently achieve their financial goals and strategy, there is a greater likelihood that the capital investment plans will be trusted – and the funds will be more readily approved.
Cultural impact and strategic acumen
Beyond business gains, a playbook strengthens the connection between strategy and execution, which can foster a cultural shift within an organization. Employees develop strategic planning skills and gain a deeper understanding of the business’s overarching goals. In short, they start to think like executives. As strategic considerations permeate decision-making processes, there’s a tangible shift towards proactive alignment with the strategic aspirations of the business.
Leveraging actionable insights and fostering a culture of strategic agility are essential to stay ahead in a dynamic market landscape. A playbook is a linchpin for effective strategy execution, enabling the business to navigate challenges, capitalize on opportunities, and drive sustained profitability.
At Oliver Wight, we’ve worked with many organizations to develop business playbooks so they can quickly detect and resolve performance gaps and understand the impact of their decision-making. If you want to discover more about the benefits of playbook dashboards and how to execute operationalized strategy alongside Integrated Business Planning with IBP, read our white paper “Deploying Strategy with Integrated Business Planning. 1. Connecting Strategy to Execution.”
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