By Sue Grist
Director

Companies who want to grow need to resist the lure of continuous strategic review and focus on implementing the existing strategy.  

A recent Egremont survey of 103 UK CEOs and Directors conducted by Business Intelligence Research produced a clear message for Company leaders pursuing business growth – revisiting strategy may just give you the illusion of making progress. 

What is more important is how the company is led, how the existing strategy is brought to life and how the people are enthused to deliver the growth.  Egremont’s findings show these to be the areas where companies have the biggest shortfall in delivery.

The urgency to improve on the delivery of the growth agenda has been increased by the arrival of deflationary pressures in the global economy and increasing City and shareholder demands for short-term results. 

The companies who succeed will be ruthless about the selection of growth initiatives and place a higher priority on developing the quality of leadership and management that can deliver the strategy, not just formulate it.  

Companies are also wasting millions of pounds on doing the wrong things - launching growth initiatives that run late, over budget or are abandoned.  Some of the latest “hot” management tools are not delivering to expectations while some of the established and less fashionable tools such as ISO9000/9002 and Investors in People continue to be credible choices for driving business results.