PART VII: Implementation

A recommendation tells the organisation what it should do. Implementation explains how it will actually happen. This is where strategy becomes execution. A strong implementation plan demonstrates that your team has thought beyond the idea. It identifies the actions, people, resources, capabilities, timing, risks, and measures required to turn the recommendation into results. The goal is to answer one critical question: Can this organisation realistically make our recommendation happen?

Chapter 11: A Recommendation Isn't a Strategy Until You Can Execute It

Video: Recommendation & Implementation That Seals the Win: Make It Realistic, Visual & Unforgettable

One of the biggest differences between an interesting idea and a winning case solution is implementation. Teams often spend most of their case-solving time deciding what the organisation should do and then treat implementation as an afterthought. The recommendation might be excellent. But judges still need to understand: How does the organisation make this happen? A strong implementation plan takes the recommendation from:

IDEA → ACTION → EXECUTION → RESULTS

It demonstrates that your team understands not only the strategy but also the organisational realities required to execute it.

Implementation Is More Than a Timeline

One of the most common implementation slides looks something like this:

Phase 1 → Phase 2 → Phase 3 or:
Year 1 → Year 2 → Year 3

A timeline is useful, but a timeline alone is not an implementation plan. Knowing when something happens does not tell management:

what needs to happen;
who is responsible;
what resources are required;
what capabilities are needed;
what needs to happen first;
what could go wrong;
how those risks will be managed;
or how success will be measured.

A strong implementation plan answers all of these questions.

The Implementation Framework

A practical implementation plan can be built around seven questions:

WHAT → WHO → WHEN → HOW → RISK → MITIGATION → KPI

Each question adds another layer of credibility to the recommendation.

1. WHAT?

What needs to happen? Break the recommendation into specific actions. If your recommendation is: Launch a digital loyalty program. That is not yet an implementation plan. The actions might include:

Define program objectives and target customers.
Design the loyalty proposition.
Select or develop the technology platform.
Integrate the platform with existing systems.
Train employees.
Pilot the program.
Measure results.
Refine the program.
Scale the program.

The recommendation tells management where to go. The implementation plan identifies the steps required to get there.

2. WHO?

Who owns each action? Strategies do not implement themselves. Someone must be responsible. Think beyond simply writing: CEO beside every major activity. Implementation may involve:

departments;
functional managers;
employees;
project teams;
external partners;
consultants;
technology providers;
suppliers;
distributors;
new hires.

For example:

Action	Owner
Define customer segments	Marketing
Build financial model	Finance
Select technology	IT
Design employee training	HR
Manage pilot	Operations
Evaluate results	Project Lead

Clear ownership increases accountability. Ask: If this action does not happen, who should management ask why? If you cannot answer that question, ownership is not clear enough.

3. WHEN?

What happens when? Implementation requires sequencing. Consider what needs to happen:

immediately;
next week;
next month;
next quarter;
within six months;
within one year;
over the longer term.

But don't choose timing simply because it creates a neat slide. Ask: What determines the timing?

Some activities cannot begin until others are complete.
Technology may need to be selected before integration begins.
Employees may need training before launch.
A pilot may need to be evaluated before national expansion.

This creates dependencies.

Think in Phases

A useful way to simplify implementation is to organise activities into phases.

Phase 1: Prepare

Build the foundations required for implementation. This could include:

research;
planning;
budgeting;
hiring;
partner selection;
technology selection.

Phase 2: Pilot

Test the recommendation on a manageable scale. This allows the organisation to:

validate assumptions;
gather customer feedback;
identify operational problems;
measure early results;
reduce risk.

Phase 3: Scale

Expand what works. This could include:

geographic expansion;
additional customer segments;
increased capacity;
additional employees;
broader marketing.

Phase 4: Optimise

Use the results to improve performance. The exact phases depend on the case. The important principle is: Implementation should reflect how the organisation would realistically execute the strategy.

4. HOW?

What resources and capabilities are required? Every strategy requires something. Consider:

Financial Resources

Initial investment
Operating costs
Working capital
Contingency funding

People

Existing employees
New hires
Training
Leadership
Specialised expertise

Technology

Software
Hardware
Systems integration
Data
Cybersecurity

Physical Resources

Facilities
Equipment
Inventory
Distribution capacity

External Resources

Suppliers
Consultants
Partners
Contractors
Distributors

Then ask: Does the organisation already have these capabilities? If not: Can it build them, buy them, hire them, or partner to access them? This connects implementation directly back to feasibility.

Implementation Should Connect to the Budget

Your implementation plan and financial analysis should tell the same story. If your implementation requires:

15 new employees;
a technology platform;
a major marketing campaign;
employee training;
and expansion into three markets,

those requirements should appear somewhere in the financial analysis. Likewise, if your budget includes a $5 million technology investment, the implementation plan should explain what that investment enables and when it will occur. The judges should not see one strategy on the implementation slide and a different strategy in the financial model. Strategy, implementation, and financials should reinforce one another.

5. RISK

What could prevent the plan from succeeding? Every recommendation has risk. Ignoring risk does not make the recommendation look stronger. It makes the analysis look incomplete. Consider:

customer adoption risk;
financial risk;
operational risk;
competitive response;
employee resistance;
technology failure;
supply disruption;
regulatory risk;
reputational risk;
implementation delays.

Focus on the risks that could materially affect the recommendation. You do not need to list everything that could go wrong.

6. MITIGATION

What will you do about the risk? Identifying risk is only half the job. For every major risk, ask: How can we reduce either the probability of it happening or the impact if it does? For example:

Risk	Mitigation
Low customer adoption	Pilot before full launch
Employee resistance	Early engagement and training
Technology failure	Staged rollout and backup systems
Cost overruns	Contingency budget and stage-gate reviews
Demand exceeds capacity	Phased expansion and capacity triggers

This demonstrates that the team has considered not just the upside of the recommendation but also what happens when things do not go according to plan.

Don't Forget the Risk of Success

Teams naturally think about what happens if the strategy fails. Also ask: What happens if it works better than expected? What if:

demand doubles
faster than expected customer adoption
inventory runs out
the website can't handle the traffic
employees can't meet demand
additional working capital is required

Rapid success can create operational and financial problems of its own. A strong implementation plan considers downside and upside risk.

7. KPI

How will we know whether it is working? Implementation should include clear measures of success. But avoid selecting KPIs simply because they are easy to measure. The KPI should connect to the objective of the recommendation. If the objective is customer retention, website traffic alone is probably not enough. If the objective is profitability, revenue growth alone does not tell you whether the strategy succeeded. Ask: What evidence would demonstrate that our recommendation is actually solving the problem?

Leading and Lagging Indicators

A strong measurement system usually contains both.

Leading Indicators: Leading indicators provide early signals about whether implementation is moving in the right direction. Examples include:

customer adoption;
employee training completion;
conversion rate;
pilot participation;
website engagement;
implementation milestones;
sales pipeline;
capacity utilisation.

They help management answer the question: Are we on track?

Lagging Indicators: Lagging indicators measure the eventual outcomes. Examples include:

revenue;
profit;
market share;
customer retention;
customer satisfaction;
cost savings;
ROI.

They answer: Did it work?

Connect KPIs to Actions

A useful implementation plan connects: ACTION → OWNER → TIMING → KPI. For example:

Action	Owner	Timing	KPI
Launch pilot	Marketing	Month 3	5,000 participants
Train employees	HR	Months 2–3	95% completion
Evaluate pilot	Finance/Marketing	Month 6	+5% retention
Begin expansion	Operations	Month 7	Pilot targets achieved
Scale program	Executive Team	Year 1	Target ROI achieved

Now the implementation plan does more than tell management what to do. It creates accountability.

Build Decision Gates Into the Plan

Not every implementation should proceed automatically from one phase to the next.

Sometimes the better approach is:

PILOT --> MEASURE--> DECIDE --> SCALE / MODIFY / STOP

For example: Expand nationally only if the pilot achieves a customer adoption rate above 20%, improves retention by at least 5%, and remains within the approved acquisition cost. This creates a decision gate. Decision gates make implementation more credible because they acknowledge uncertainty. Management is not committing blindly to the entire strategy on Day 1. It is committing resources progressively as evidence develops.

Implementation Should Be Visual

Whenever possible, show implementation rather than describing it. Useful visuals include:

timelines;
Gantt charts;
phased roadmaps;
critical paths;
milestone diagrams;
responsibility tables;
decision gates;
risk matrices.

Avoid placing a long paragraph on the slide that explains everything management needs to do. The judge should be able to look at the implementation slide and quickly understand what happens first. What happens next? Who owns it? When do we know whether it is working?

The Implementation Reality Test

Before finalising the implementation plan, ask:

WHAT? Do we know exactly what needs to happen?
WHO? Does every major action have an owner?
WHEN? Is the timing realistic?
HOW? Have we identified the necessary resources and capabilities?
DEPENDENCIES? Do we know what must happen before something else can begin?
COST? Does the implementation plan match the financial model?
RISK? Have we identified the risks that could materially affect execution?
MITIGATION? Have we explained how the organisation will manage those risks?
KPI? Can management determine whether implementation is working?
SCALE? Have we considered what happens if the recommendation succeeds faster than expected?

If you cannot answer these questions, the implementation plan probably needs more work.

Discover Your MadMAD Skills Principle

Implementation is where you prove that your recommendation can survive contact with reality.

A creative strategy may get the judges' attention. A realistic implementation plan builds their confidence.

The Bottom Line

A Recommendation Isn't a Strategy Until You Can Execute It

A good idea is not enough. The organisation needs to understand how to make it happen.
A strong implementation plan answers:

WHAT → WHO → WHEN → HOW → RISK → MITIGATION → KPI

Break the recommendation into specific actions rather than broad ambitions.
Assign ownership. Implementation rarely belongs solely to the CEO.
Establish sequencing and timing so the audience can understand what happens first, next, and later.
Identify the resources, capabilities, partnerships, systems, and people required.
Integrate risk mitigation into implementation rather than treating it as a separate exercise.
Use leading indicators to identify whether implementation is progressing and lagging indicators to determine whether the strategy ultimately succeeded.
Whenever possible, make implementation visual through timelines, phases, Gantt charts, milestones, or ownership structures.

If you cannot explain how the organisation will execute the recommendation, the recommendation is not finished.

Mad Skills Drill

Take your recommendation and build a simple implementation plan using:

WHAT → WHO → WHEN → HOW → RISK → MITIGATION → KPI

For every major action, specify:

WHAT: What specifically needs to happen?
WHO: Who owns it?
WHEN: When does it happen?
HOW: What resources or capabilities are required?
RISK: What could prevent it from succeeding?
MITIGATION: What action reduces that risk?
KPI: How will management know it is working?

Now remove the CEO from the implementation plan. Can the organisation still execute it? If every action is owned by "management," “leadership," or "the CEO," assign more realistic ownership.

Imagine the organisation approves your recommendation today.

Ask: What happens tomorrow morning?
Then: What happens next week? Next month? Next quarter?

Could someone who was not involved in solving the case look at your implementation plan and understand: what needs to happen, who does it, when it happens, and how success will be measured? If not, make it more specific.