Strategy Execution by Design Series: Constructive Challenge

Strategy Execution by Design Series

Lever 7: Culture for Execution 
Element 3: Constructive Challenge

You know the meeting. Everyone sits around the table. The proposal is presented. The leader asks if there are any concerns.

Silence.

The plan gets approved. Everyone leaves. And the real conversation starts in the corridor.

"That's never going to work."
"Did anyone else think the timeline was unrealistic?"
"I wasn't going to be the one to say it."

In Anglo cultures, this pattern is particularly evident. Societal culture plays a bigger role in execution than most organisations realise. This pattern around confrontation runs through Australia, New Zealand and the UK societies, to varying degrees.

Broadly, we value directness in theory, but default to politeness in practice. Challenge gets interpreted as confrontation. Disagreement gets confused with disrespect. And flawed plans get approved because nobody is willing to be the person who pushes back.

My research highlighted that, 73% of senior leaders believed avoidance behaviours were having a high to extremely high impact on execution in their businesses. Not because people lacked opinions. Because the culture had taught them it was safer to stay quiet.

Most organisations sit in one of two places. Either people feel safe but nothing gets challenged. Meetings end with false agreement. Plans sail through unchecked. Or people do challenge, but it depends on personality and power. The loudest voice wins. Others learn to stay silent.

Neither delivers execution.

The zone that does is where both safety and challenge are present. Not safety first, then challenge later. Both designed together. Where challenge is expected, not tolerated. Where it is built into how decisions are made, not left to individual courage.

One organisation in my research built a simple mechanism: a shared phrase that gave people a way in. "I want to challenge you constructively." It sounds small. But it gave people language to cross the gap between silence and confrontation without it becoming personal.

That is the difference between challenge as a culture and challenge as an act of bravery. When challenge depends on courage, it is a lottery. When it is designed into the system, it becomes the norm.

The one-pager below maps what challenge looks like when left to chance versus designed for execution, and five practical mechanisms for building it into your system. I have shared additional context in the comments.

#StrategyExecution #ExecutionByDesign #CultureForExecution #ConstructiveChallenge #ExecutionDiscipline #StrategicLeadership

Click here to access a simple tool to support you to assess capability across your portfolio: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_strategyexecution-executionbydesign-cultureforexecution-share-7474621944051433472-NumY/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs 

Written by Rebecca Reti, Strategy & Execution Consultant at Rebecca Reti Consulting.