Persistency in top management is essential to achieve strategic goals. Any alteration in the goals and/or management style creates confusion resulting in reorganization before success is realized.
Especially middle management, in its pivotal role as the interface between top management and operations, is affected. Translation of the strategy in concise and comprehensive operational goals combined with the right directives by top management is essential to guide middle management and prepare them to realize the goals. Often this essential step lacks the right attention of top management and redirections are introduced prior to the success gained.
Middle management will convert the abstract challenges into measurable operational goals and will adjust the operations to deliver the new leveled goals. This transformation requires unique competences, which are not common for middle managers; they often lack fundamental insight into the processes and the coherency to realize this. Since the transformation is essential provisional support to middle management is evident. Once the new operational structures are implemented middle management is well competent for execution and realization of the targets.
The realization of targets reflecting strategic goals is eventually with the staff, which needs to be convinced and stimulated to pursue the realization of the new operational goals. Involving them early in the implementation of the strategy will give the staff a sense of being respected, needed and motivated, which are the key to the success.
Top and middle management, however, may be unaware of the importance of early involvement of the staff and lack the ability to convey the message properly and the pitch to motivate, which is a continuous and time consuming process. However, without it the new strategic goals will not be realized timely and are wasted, leading to corrections of the just implemented new operations
Most strategies for well-considered business opportunities often fail because the organization is not informed, involved and motivated at each and every level. Middle management has the toughest task and is often deficient in its competence to handle this complicated process. Still many organizations claim the successful implementation of the new strategy, but it does not match with the initial goals.
Strategy development and implementation requires much more than research and drafting an implemention plan. It’s a complex combination of goals, transparency, commitment, communication and motivation. Realization of the strategic goals can only be achieved if top management is permanently connected to each and every level of the organization.