Linking Strategy to
Project Investments
Why should you care about linking organisational strategy to your project investments? Quite simply because if you are the chief executive, managing director or leader of an organisation, your job probably depends on it!
In 1999, Fortune magazine (see: “Why CEOs Fail" by Ram Charan, Fortune, 21 June 1999) stated that 70% of CEOs are fired not because they had the wrong strategy but because they did not execute. A Google search on “Why CEOs Fail” will bring countless other references which make the same point. A recent article suggested something like 40% of CEOs fail within 18 months.
Ultimately, execution is about two things: operating the existing business (Business As Usual) and changing the business (Business Change). Strategic objectives boil down to implementing the right business changes. Changing the business invariable means the delivery of project investments.
Successfully linking your strategic objectives to your project investments and enabling your organisation to assess, select and deliver the right project investments depends on the right answer to 8 questions:
- Is it driven by or actively sponsored by the Chief Executive or a member of the top executive management team?
- Does it involve or engage the senior executive team in the process?
- Is it linked to the process and organisation that support the formulation and execution of strategy?
- Does it encompasses “all” business change within the organisation?
- Is the process for the selection and approval of project investments directly linked with the process for funding project investments?
- Is there a single source/repository for project investments data?
- Is the process supported by appropriate support infrastructure (people & systems)?
- Does it operate at appropriate levels of the organisation?
