The Curran Consulting Group

As the global economy spins ever faster, it brings both extraordinary problems and extraordinary opportunities. To prosper in this environment, a business needs a strategy that can exploit emerging opportunities (an aligned strategy) and an organization that can execute the strategy (an aligned organization).Getting the strategy right is even more challenging than in the past, yet it isn't enough, if it can’t be executed.

We have found that execution matters as much or more than strategy in a global environment. What then explains execution breakdowns in spite of sound strategy? The answer is a lack of alignment between the company’s strategy and the organization. In practically every case, the failure is linked to one or more of three factors:

• The organization’s structure is flawed
• Its management system doesn’t support the strategy
• The culture gets in the way

When these three factors -- The 3 Points of Pressure -- are not aligned with the strategy, they create disruptive boundaries. Execution suffers and strategy fails.

While realigning the strategy can take days or weeks, realigning the organization can take months or years. If you fall behind, you may never catch up.

Here’s the good news. Realigning the organization need not be an epic, “bet the farm” ordeal. COBRA℠ is an early warning and response system that keeps the organization aligned with the dynamics of the business environment.

In his recently published book COBRA℠: The X Factor in Strategy Execution, Patrick D. Curran, the founder of the Curran Consulting Group, shares best-practices learned from over 30 years of helping clients optimize strategy execution.