Five birds sit on a fence and three decide to leave.
How many birds are left on the fence?

The answer is "five". Why? Because the birds discussed what needed to be done at their three-day offsite meeting. They developed a strategy on how to leave. They chatted about the benefits of flying off and had numerous conference calls but continued to sit on that fence. They did not do the one thing that would have made a difference: take action.

The same rubric for the “birds” can be applied to organizations and businesses. Most strategy implementation efforts don’t work; as many as 90 per cent fade out along the way or simply fail to deliver. Only 10 percent succeed.

Change management theory has mostly failed industry for 40 years, leaders have underestimated the implementation challenge and the cost of this failure has generally been ignored. A new approach is required, one that goes beyond conventional thinking and provides the structure, the discipline and the follow-through to successfully implement business strategies.

Many business leaders believe that the main challenge is to create a sound strategy and that most of the activity necessary to make it work will flow from its inherent strength. The new realization is that actual implementation is at least twice as demanding as putting the strategy together in the first place. A good strategy alone does not guarantee success! Only those who have mastered implementation will reap the rewards!

Up until now, there hasn’t been an effective framework to enable implementation to happen. Business leaders have a wide choice of tools, techniques and consultants to help them create strategies. But when it comes to implementation, they have largely been left to fumble on their own. Not any more!

Bricks to Bridges is centred around the “Implementation Compass™” a practical, easy-to-use tool that navigates strategy implementation. It shows you what you need to do and where to focus to make your strategy come alive. It guides companies through the implementation maze and provides a clear roadmap for action.

Robin Speculand has spent many years advising governments and blue-chip companies, such as Microsoft and Citigroup, on how to achieve the goals that a new strategy sets in place. In the five years he spent conducting primary research for Bricks To Bridges, he interviewed 150 executives at different levels in organizations. The results are an engaging and highly readable guide, with numerous illustrative case studies, that reveal precisely why strategy implementation fails and crucially how to get the building blocks of success in place – brick by brick.

Bricks to Bridges is a straight talking, no-nonsense and uniquely laid-out guide that is invaluable to any business that wants to make fundamental organizational change. It starts off where so many strategy books stop – it explains how to implement it. Read it and you will:

Know where you’re going and how to get there with the Implementation Compass™.
Discover the six new fundamentals of successful strategy implementation.
Determine why change management fails.
Find out how to galvanize your workforce into action beyond a coffee mug and t-shirt.
Learn how to recognize and deal with office groupies, mavericks, double agents and saboteurs.
Acquire the discipline required to follow through on strategy.
Constantly review progress: this is a golden rule of strategy implementation.
Find out what works and what to avoid when implementing business strategies.
Communicate your message with passion or learn how to intentionally confuse your audience!

Buy Bricks To Bridges: Make Your Strategy Come Alive now…

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