White Paper sheds light on the new paradigm: Running the Business versus Changing the Business

Why do most top managers lose track of big strategic transformation projects? The authors of a new white paper have no doubt; it's because they don't have proper governance around their strategy. Although technological change has led to improvements in organizations’ operations, there is still a significant gap between companies' strategic plans and their execution. The fact is that while companies are implementing more and more projects, they lack the basic understanding of how to link them to their overall strategy.

The White Paper describes the new paradigm: Run the Business versus Change the Business—the link between strategy planning, strategy execution, and project management. It also discusses why, despite the ways in which organizations have evolved, some of their fundamental aspects have not changed.

The authors are Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, Bjarni Snæbjörn Jónsson and Flemming Videriksen - all experts with decades of experience in strategy and project management and several book publications on their extensive CVs. They refer, among other things, to a brand-new global study by Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez on the maturity of companies in relation to strategy execution. Out of 400 respondents, only 84 use some kind of data warehouse tool to consolidate data from their operations and strategy execution activities. 78% of the respondents do not have any tool at all to monitor their strategy execution.

Flemming Videriksen says: "There seems to be a widespread lack of recognition that strategy, just like financial and operational business functions, requires an operational infrastructure that can bring strategic governance up to the same level as financial governance. The only ones who profit from the big transformation projects are the big consultancies, which bill for hours and fill up companies with consultants to drive the transformation. In our view, leaders would be better off taking their strategic execution seriously, getting a handle on the many changes and aligning them to the running of the business once and for all."

In the white paper, the authors describe how strategy planning, strategy execution and project management can be linked by some basic principles - principles that are often forgotten in the daily maelstrom of activities. It's not complicated, and the white paper is also a step-by-step guide to how it can be done in practice.

The White Paper can be downloaded for free via this link: https://info.decideact.net/whitepaper-running-vs-changing-the-business

About the authors:

Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, author of the Harvard Business Review Project Management Handbook, the featured HBR article The Project Economy Has Arrived, and four other books. Antonio is the creator of concepts such as the Project Economy and the Project Manifesto. His research and global impact in modern management have been recognized by Thinkers50. Fellow and Former Chairman of the Project Management Institute, he is the founder of Projects&Co and co-founder of the Strategy Implementation Institute, and he is a member of Marshall Goldsmith 100 coaches. You can follow Antonio through his LinkedIn Newsletter - Lead Projects Successfully and websitehttps://antonionietorodriguez.com.

Flemming Videriksen is CEO and Co-founder of DecideAct and Expert in Strategy Execution Management, Strategy Design and Implementation and Cultural Change in organizations. For more than 25 years, Flemming has been a strategic and trusted advisor and executive coach for top leaders in businesses and organizations worldwide. Over that period, he has been working together with Bjarni Snæbjörn Jónsson with international organizations in strategic development and implementation. They have also written many excellent works on organizational leadership. 

Bjarni Snæbjörn Jónsson is CSO and Co-founder of DecideAct, Management consultant and social entrepreneur. Bjarni focuses primarily on large-scale human system change and evolution. Bjarni has a Cand Oecon degree from the University of Iceland, and an MBA from University of Michigan Ross School of Business and finished a doctoral thesis in June 2013 at the Adizes Graduate School in California. Together with Flemming Videriksen, he has spent the past ten years mapping how to create the optimal infrastructure for successful implementation of strategies.