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<h2>Strategy Execution by Design Series Wrap up of Lever 4: Governance &amp; Decision Rights</h2>Most organisations don’t “fail” execution in a single decision; they lose it through governance drag, decisions drifting upward, packs that look green while reality shifts, and escalations that arrive either too late or too often.Over the last few weeks, I’ve been sharing Lever 4 of my Strategy Execution by Design framework, Governance and Decision Rights, and I’ve now pulled it into one wrap-up article.In it, I break down the five elements that make governance work as an execution system, architecture that actually connects, decision rights that prevent drift, line of sight that builds confidence (not comfort), interlocks that stop execution breaking in the seams, and escalation that ends in real course correction.If your SteerCo feels jammed, your leaders are surprised late, or your teams are working hard, but momentum still feels heavier than it should, this lever will help you pinpoint what’s driving it and what to change first.You can access the full wrap up article here: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_most-organisations-dont-fail-execution-activity-7427826350985584640-cTwS?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs" data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_most-organisations-dont-fail-execution-activity-7427826350985584640-cTwS?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs">https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_most-organisations-dont-fail-execution-activity-7427826350985584640-cTwS?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs</a>&nbsp;<figure id="figure-f1nfkzfekcmlkb5jze"><img id="f1nfkzfekcmlkb5jze" src="https://cdn.durable.co/covers/37CW5IH9WdACwqOIZhNrHi5Cn7cKfmPWz7MoJliJU6ukShsgt2O3EZDQI3xzFrEs.png" alt="" title="" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 " style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/covers/37CW5IH9WdACwqOIZhNrHi5Cn7cKfmPWz7MoJliJU6ukShsgt2O3EZDQI3xzFrEs.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure>

Wrap up of Lever 4: Governance & Decision Rights

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<h2>Strategy Execution by Design Series</h2><h3>Lever 4: Governance &amp; Decision Rights Element 4: Escalation</h3>Escalation reveals the truth about execution.The last post for Lever 4: Governance &amp; Decision Rights, is the importance of building healthy escalation into your governance system.In strong environments, escalation is normal, early, and useful. It protects value.It only works when decision rights are clear and escalation thresholds are explicit, equiping teams to resolve what they can and escalate what truly needs enterprise judgement.In weaker environments, teams swing to extremes, they sit on issues until it’s urgent, or they escalate everything and call it governance. Both are expensive.This theme came through continually in my research with senior leaders. The pain wasn’t the escalation itself; it was the pattern. Leaders either found out late or were flooded with noise, and by then the options were already limited.Healthy escalation has one job: surface drift early enough to reset course.Here’s the standard I use with leadership teams. When something escalates, do you get: - facts, not feelings - impact on value / time / risk - options and trade-offs - a clear recommendation - the decision needed, and by whenIf you’re not getting those inputs, escalation turns into theatre, lots of heat, not much movement.And, if escalations don’t end in a reset, they’re just venting. Decide, re-baseline, assign ownership, then update the guardrails so the same issue doesn’t keep climbing.Do issues reach you too late, or do they reach you too often?<figure id="figure-tp3mu9rr5mlkaxycb"><img id="tp3mu9rr5mlkaxycb" src="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/530685895/photo/business-people-having-meeting-in-conference-room-sitting-with-laptops-and-discussing.jpg?b=1&s=2048x2048&w=0&k=20&c=GKwJcUpT9kQXaepyAYMkNT46GJ2MEa3SA5A1HRoDJl8=" alt="Business people having meeting in conference room, sitting with laptops and discussing" title="Business people having meeting in conference room, sitting with laptops and discussing" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 " style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionX="undefined" data-positionY="undefined" data-fullWidth="false"/></figure>For more content on how to improve your ability to execute strategy, check out: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_escalation-reveals-the-truth-about-execution-activity-7426746790332293121-PJVp?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs">https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_escalation-reveals-the-truth-about-execution-activity-7426746790332293121-PJVp?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs</a>&nbsp;

Escalation

<h2>Strategy Execution by Design Series</h2><h3>Lever 4: Governance &amp; Decision Rights Element 4: Interlocks</h3>Most people in an organisation don’t experience governance as a system.They experience their slice of it: a project SteerCo, a program board, a portfolio checkpoint, a functional leadership forum.While each forum can be well run in isolation, execution often breaks in the seams between them, where dependencies, trade-offs, and decision pathways cross boundaries.This came through strongly in my research with senior leaders. Many described how limited their visibility was beyond their own forums, and how the pain shows up later as rework, slow decisions, and escalations that feel unavoidable.That’s the challenge of multi-layered governance: not the quality of any one forum, but whether the layers connect.That’s what interlocks solve.Interlocks aren’t extra meetings. They’re the minimum touchpoints and rules that connect the governance system, surfacing cross-functional dependencies and trade-offs early and keeping them visible as work moves, so leaders can steer with clarity, not surprise.In practice, interlocks operate across two levels: - Governance level: where leaders surface and route enterprise dependencies, priorities, and trade-offs, set decision boundaries, and track what must be resolved outside the forum. - Delivery level: teams solving sequencing, capacity and dependency tensions, then elevating only what needs enterprise judgement.And when interlocks are working, you’ll see three shifts: 1. Dependencies surface early: while you still have options to resequence, reassign, or make a call. 2. Trade-offs are explicit: because if they’re not named, they still happen late and expensively. 3. Escalation is deliberate: teams resolve what they can at the lowest responsible level, and SteerCo is only involved in true enterprise calls, not day-to-day dependency friction.In one organisation I worked in, we tackled interlocks at two levels: a cross-functional leadership forum to prioritise the roadmap and quarterly outcomes, and manage interlocks across functions; and a delivery-level big room planning where teams mapped dependencies, flagged decision points, set delivery priorities, and exposed constraints early.This approach saw those dependencies and risks owned, translated into clear actions and commitments, and elevated into project governance reporting, giving steering committees visibility of execution risk across the roadmap, not just inside individual projects.The impact wasn’t “more alignment.” It was faster execution: fewer surprises, fewer late escalations, and cleaner decisions because leaders could see what was being managed between the forums.<figure id="figure-sbtwj7wbiml8r038i"><img id="sbtwj7wbiml8r038i" src="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1308652984/photo/meeting-of-it-development-team-in-office.jpg?b=1&amp;s=2048x2048&amp;w=0&amp;k=20&amp;c=6YPnvbn-qJofXq19FTD80Y6BPe7IESfnRGtfSVxzHVc=" alt="Meeting of IT Development Team in Office" title="Meeting of IT Development Team in Office" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 " style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1308652984/photo/meeting-of-it-development-team-in-office.jpg?b=1&amp;s=2048x2048&amp;w=0&amp;k=20&amp;c=6YPnvbn-qJofXq19FTD80Y6BPe7IESfnRGtfSVxzHVc=" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure>For further thoughts on how to explore if your governance system is managing its interlocks, and design moves that build rhythm without meeting bloat, refer to: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_element-4-interlocks-activity-7424595722458677248-0Q-i?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs">https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_element-4-interlocks-activity-7424595722458677248-0Q-i?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs</a>&nbsp; &nbsp;

Interlocks

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<h2>Strategy Execution by Design Series</h2><h3>Lever 4: Governance &amp; Decision Rights Element 3: Governance Line of Sight</h3>If your governance pack is green, are you actually seeing reality?In my last two posts, I covered the governance blueprint: forums that connect strategy to delivery, and decision rights that prevent upward drift.This element is the next layer. Once the machine is running, leaders need line of sight to govern effectively. Not more updates, but enough clarity and trust in the integrity of that information to inform their decisions, so they can make good calls early, before the program or project drifts.Line of sight means leaders can see:&nbsp; PACE: What decisions are needed next, and what's slowing momentum;&nbsp; RISK: What's at risk, and if its being managed;&nbsp; VALUE: What trade-offs are being made and if its compromising outcomes; and, TRUTH: Whether what they're hearing reflects reality.That line of sight doesn’t magically appear in a pack.Leaders create it through three mechanisms: 1. Decision-grade reporting that surfaces evidence, trade-offs, and unknowns, not just milestones 2. Forums designed to decide, where the agenda is built around the few calls that protect line of sight 3. Direct connection to reality, leaders stepping outside the pack to validate assumptions with delivery leads and business owners, to hear weak signals earlyWhen those mechanisms are weak, governance can look green while in reality the project is fragile.Early in my career, I saw the impact of this on an Enterprise CRM project. The sponsor was engaged and well-intentioned, but the governance system created a single point of truth, updates flowed mainly through the project manager, and the SteerCo wasn’t routinely hearing from the business owner or the leads closest to the impacted processes. On paper, progress looked fine. The project stayed green right up until UAT.What wasn’t surfaced was lack of business engagement up front, meaning requirements weren’t locked down, and therefore core end-to-end processes hadn’t been properly understood or validated. Because that reality didn't effectively travel up through the governance mechanisms, it didn’t show up as a clear risk, rather, it showed up later as defects.By the time UAT started, it wasn’t a few bugs. It was fundamental workflow issues. The program went red fast, not because people weren’t working hard, but because leaders didn’t have enough line of sight early enough to challenge assumptions and course-correct.The practical shift is this: use governance to create line of sight, so decisions are informed and land with confidence.A simple place to start is to insist that any decision brought to a forum is decision-ready: clear recommendation, options, trade-offs, unknowns, and what would change the call.<figure id="figure-d8m9wkqp6kml8qt7g0"><img id="d8m9wkqp6kml8qt7g0" src="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/2202134335/photo/young-successful-businessman-working-on-laptop-inside-office-man-in-light-shirt-smiling.jpg?b=1&amp;s=2048x2048&amp;w=0&amp;k=20&amp;c=D52KM_Yqm_8eMrJe6qpZRI7bVG3RnolQLwk2LniHP84=" alt="Young successful businessman working on laptop inside office, man in light shirt smiling contentedly, typing on laptop keyboard at workplace" title="Young successful businessman working on laptop inside office, man in light shirt smiling contentedly, typing on laptop keyboard at workplace" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 " style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/2202134335/photo/young-successful-businessman-working-on-laptop-inside-office-man-in-light-shirt-smiling.jpg?b=1&amp;s=2048x2048&amp;w=0&amp;k=20&amp;c=D52KM_Yqm_8eMrJe6qpZRI7bVG3RnolQLwk2LniHP84=" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure>For further ideas on how to improve line of sight in your governance system, please refer to: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_element-3-governance-line-of-sight-activity-7422375420966375424-0Rl_?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs" data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_element-3-governance-line-of-sight-activity-7422375420966375424-0Rl_?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs">https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_element-3-governance-line-of-sight-activity-7422375420966375424-0Rl_?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs</a>&nbsp;

Governance - Line of Sight

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<h2>Strategy Execution by Design Series</h2><h3>Lever 4: Governance &amp; Decision Rights Element 2: Decision Rights &amp; Accountability</h3>In your organisation, what actually determines where and how execution decisions get made?Last week, I introduced Lever 4: Governance &amp; Decision Rights in my Strategy Execution by Design series. I started with Governance Architecture: designing a small set of forums with clear purpose, outputs and cadence, so governance drives progress rather than creating meeting noise.Element 2 builds on that foundation: Decision Rights and Accountability.Decision-making is the wiring that runs through strategy execution. It only works when you've deliberately designed where decisions sit and who owns the call.Yet, most organisations don't actively define, communicate or monitor decision-making. Then they wonder why execution slows.When you don't intentionally design the decision-making system, the organisation improvises. Teams don't just slow down; they start guessing, escalating, and reworking decisions that should have been clean. Decisions drift to the safest place, the biggest meeting, or the most senior person.That's when pace collapses.I saw this on a major enterprise systems programme.The organisation valued collaboration, so they ran a weekly SteerCo with most of the executive team, regularly pulling Tier 3 leaders into the room. It looked robust. It also trained the organisation to escalate.They hadn't agreed on key decisions up front, collectively or across functions, so everything defaulted to SteerCo. Even decisions that Tier 3 leaders were fully capable of making got pulled upward, then dissected and re-litigated in the room.People with the authority and context to make design calls stopped making them. Decisions travelled up to leaders who cared and wanted to help, but didn't live in the details. Leaders hesitated, teams wrote bigger packs, and the programme slowed.The hidden cost wasn't just meeting time. Teams spent more time explaining and justifying decisions than designing and delivering. Ownership blurred, decision velocity dropped, trust eroded.The design principle is straightforward: some decisions need a forum where leaders trade off cross-functional impacts. Others need a single owner with the remit and expertise to make the call. This programme had lost that distinction.This is why decision rights aren't a bolt-on. It's a critical part of the execution system, and it needs to be designed.It turns governance from a set of meetings into a system that actually executes. Ownership either sharpens here, or it disappears as when nobody can point to the decision-maker, execution can't move.<figure id="figure-m3zxxk03ukml8qnzif"><img id="m3zxxk03ukml8qnzif" src="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1717195554/photo/mockup-banner-laptop-and-teamwork-of-business-people-web-designer-and-group-working-on-online.jpg?b=1&amp;s=2048x2048&amp;w=0&amp;k=20&amp;c=yHEsqKWMF7MgShi1SIgVnSfXMygn-cd9v_x92JOTtwM=" alt="Mockup banner, laptop and teamwork of business people, web designer and group working on online website design. Manager, advertising grid space or team cooperation on SEO project, research or startup" title="Mockup banner, laptop and teamwork of business people, web designer and group working on online website design. Manager, advertising grid space or team cooperation on SEO project, research or startup" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 " style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1717195554/photo/mockup-banner-laptop-and-teamwork-of-business-people-web-designer-and-group-working-on-online.jpg?b=1&amp;s=2048x2048&amp;w=0&amp;k=20&amp;c=yHEsqKWMF7MgShi1SIgVnSfXMygn-cd9v_x92JOTtwM=" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure>For a practical decision map you can apply tomorrow to clarify what decisions matter, where they should sit, and how escalation stays predictable, not political, click on the following link: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_decision-rights-and-accountability-activity-7419498978125357057-RgI6?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs" data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_decision-rights-and-accountability-activity-7419498978125357057-RgI6?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs">https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_decision-rights-and-accountability-activity-7419498978125357057-RgI6?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs</a>&nbsp;

Decision Rights & Accountability

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<h2>Strategy Execution by Design Series</h2><h3>Lever 4: Governance &amp; Decision Rights Element 1: Governance Architecture</h3>Governance Should Accelerate Strategy Execution.I've been looking forward to getting into 2026 to share the last three levers of my Strategy Execution by Design Series. Born from 20+ years of experience and research insights from my eMBA, I created this series to table the conversations I believe matter in Strategy Execution and to share my learnings in this space.Today, we have reached Lever 4: Governance and Decision Rights, the lever that determines how execution decisions flow, how risk is managed, and how real accountability plays out in practice.And at the heart of this lever sits one critical element: Governance Architecture, the structural backbone that determines whether your strategy accelerates… or gets stuck.I see the same pattern in almost every organisation I work with.Leaders spend their days in back-to-back meetings, decisions take too long, priorities conflict across the business, and teams operate with half the context they need.We can be quick to assume the issue is about people; however, I often see it's more about the architecture wrapped around them.Most governance systems aren’t designed. They’re accumulated.A forum was added when a delivery risk is deemed high.Another was created to improve visibility.A working group was formed to fix a gap.Before long, you have a collection of forums that feel important individually, but don’t create coherence collectively.This mismatch means Execution starts to drag long before anyone notices.Here’s what I’ve seen: - When governance isn’t engineered, it becomes a constraint. - Meetings turn into reporting sessions. - Decisions are made in isolation and land at the wrong level. - Information becomes fragmented. - Issues surface too late. - Teams escalate too much or not enough. - Leaders act without seeing the whole system.Organisations that do it well intentionally design governance. They’re clear about which forums exist, and why; how each forum connects up and down the chain; which decisions sit where; what pace is required to match the strategy; where risk is managed; how information flows so staff can act with confidence; and finally, they ensure their leaders have the skills to govern well.When the governance architecture enables the Strategy, and leaders know how to use it, something important happens: execution speeds up without people working harder.The system does the lifting.<figure id="figure-ziar6x9ujml8qfcm8" class=""><img id="ziar6x9ujml8qfcm8" src="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1398463072/photo/team-building-free-vacancy-human-resources-personnel-management-expansion-and-staffing.jpg?b=1&amp;s=2048x2048&amp;w=0&amp;k=20&amp;c=S6s9G9eL0bDw62J-1VaFptKSVHvd4KG9uZQyMm8ghTI=" alt="Team building. Free vacancy. Human resources. Personnel management. Expansion and staffing. Selection of candidates for an effective working group. Work skills and abilities. Labor exchange." title="Team building. Free vacancy. Human resources. Personnel management. Expansion and staffing. Selection of candidates for an effective working group. Work skills and abilities. Labor exchange." class="object-cover bg-gray-100" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1398463072/photo/team-building-free-vacancy-human-resources-personnel-management-expansion-and-staffing.jpg?b=1&amp;s=2048x2048&amp;w=0&amp;k=20&amp;c=S6s9G9eL0bDw62J-1VaFptKSVHvd4KG9uZQyMm8ghTI=" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure>Check out the link below for some further thoughts on redesigning your governance to improve clarity, strengthen alignment, and accelerate execution rather than slow it down.&nbsp; <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_governance-architecture-activity-7416614962359541761-CLe0?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs" data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_governance-architecture-activity-7416614962359541761-CLe0?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs">https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rebecca-reti-4582433b_governance-architecture-activity-7416614962359541761-CLe0?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop&amp;rcm=ACoAAAhmYsQBKppHDyfPTxqHXXgP5MmXRjB7WJs</a>&nbsp;

Governance Architecture

Rebecca Reti

Management Consulting Firm - Sole Trader Website. Simple 6 page website with the ability for customers to understand offering, view services, book time with me, review thought leaders (linked to LinkedIn blogs)