Why do we have a problem?
In the age of Homo Sapiens, where extreme complexity is a result of the VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) world in which we live, the fusion of basic human behaviors with today’s fast-paced, interconnected and real-time business environment presents a great challenge for building and sustaining successful businesses.
There are six basic human behaviors that shape this challenge:
Desire for autonomy:
We yearn for freedom, trust, appreciation and success.
Making assumptions:
We automatically make assumptions when faced with a lack of critical information.
Invididualism:
We tend to work more effectively on our own than in teams.
How we handle context:
Unpredictable and unknown environments induce stress.
Creatures of habit:
We believe we change our behaviors more than we actually do.
Inconsistent communication:
Misalignment between what we think, say and mean is common.
Startling statistics underscore the extent of the issue:
The results? Low engagement, lack of transparency and reduced effectiveness of strategies.
The AOA management framework has been crafted to address these challenges and bridge the gap between strategic intent and execution, making success attainable in the face of complex human behaviors and a dynamic business environment.
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?
In today’s dynamic business landscape, strategic execution often falls short, presenting a universal challenge for companies, regardless of their size or industry. Traditional strategic frameworks, such as OKRs, prove ineffective in real-world application under VUCA conditions, leading to unfortunate issues like:
Negative financial impact
Ineffectively executed strategies lead to significant revenue losses, ranging from 40 to 60%. Such losses can be attributed to underlying human behaviors and needs that are often disregarded.
Alignment failure
A staggering 40% of organizations struggle to align their strategies.
Slow responsiveness
29% of organizations miss timely opportunities and fail to mitigate emerging threats.
Departmental coordination issues
30% of companies encounter difficulties coordinating efforts across departments.
Delayed strategic business exits
An alarming 8 out of 10 companies struggle to exit declining ventures or discontinue unsuccessful initiatives promptly.
THE ICEBERG: WHY STRATEGY STEERING & EXECUTION FAILS?
Let’s consider the iceberg analogy to better understand the situation.
As companies grow, so do their challenges if not managed properly. The ever-expanding hierarchies in many businesses create increasing gaps between leadership and employees. This dynamic leads to significant consequences. While 100% of the strategic knowledge lies with leadership, a mere 5% is transferred to employees. This shortfall results in a lack of guidance, alignment and motivation among the workforce.
Similarly, employees have 100% of the knowledge regarding day-to-day operational challenges. However, only 4% of this insight is transmitted to leadership levels, leading to a lack of comprehensive problem understanding across the organization.
This scenario, common in many organizations and industries, creates an iceberg-like structure, preventing leadership from having a much-needed transparent overview of strategy execution, focusing on the tip of the iceberg instead. At the same time, employees face a substantial portion of existing issues without proper guidance. They feel neither seen nor heard, and become demotivated. This leads to a failing strategy execution.
It is only when leadership and employees unite as a team that organizations can achieve 100% alignment and awareness of strategy and challenges. This is where the Art of Acceleration methodology becomes a vital solution.
THE PROBLEM IS NOT SOLVED
Until now, it wasn’t. Existing management frameworks primarily focus on business control and KPI monitoring, completely neglecting fundamental human needs and behaviors. Frameworks such as OKRs, VVIG and the Balanced Scorecard have shown limited universal applicability and usability, leading to issues like:
Long and tedious onboarding procedures for all employees.
Employee mistrust of frameworks, conceptual rules and definitions.
Widespread rejection of the frameworks across different organizational levels and departments.
Unplanned time needed for creating and managing numerous objectives.
Overemphasis on strategic aspects while neglecting operational tasks and company development.
OUR SOLUTION SOLVES THE PROBLEM
The AOA management framework fills these gaps by integrating human behavior and needs into strategy steering and execution, ensuring alignment, driving contribution, cross-functional coordination, fast responsiveness and financial success for organizations of all sizes and industries.