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PART V: Turning Strategy Into Action

PART V: Turning Strategy Into Action

"A great strategy is only valuable if the organisation can make it happen."

A case competition solution is not finished when you have selected the best alternative. It is finished when you can explain:

  • What should the organisation do?
  • How will they do it?
  • Who will make it happen?
  • When will it happen?
  • What will it cost?
  • What could go wrong?
  • How will we know it is working?

These are not implementation questions that come after the strategy. They are part of the strategy.

One of the most important lessons from case-solving competitions is that a theoretically attractive recommendation is not necessarily a winning recommendation. Judges want to know whether your solution is:

  • realistic;
  • feasible;
  • financially sensible;
  • aligned with the organisation;
  • implementable;
  • measurable;
  • resilient to risk.

Winning solutions are not simply logical; they are specific, realistic, feasible, and implementable. This is where your solution moves from: "This is what we should do." to: "Here is exactly how we are going to make it happen."

PART V CLOSING: From Choice to Execution

At the beginning of Part V, the team had a strategic choice. By the end, you should have a complete management story. You should be able to answer:

What are we recommending? à Why is it the best choice? à Does it create value? à How will we implement it? à Who owns it? à When will it happen? à What could go wrong? à  How will we mitigate those risks? à How will we measure success? à What happens next?

That is the difference between a recommendation and a solution.

The Discover Your Mad Skills Implementation Chain

Use this as your final implementation checklist:

1.        RECOMMEND: What are we choosing?

2.        JUSTIFY: Why does it win?

3.        VALUE: What does it deliver?

4.        EXECUTE: What must happen?

5.        OWN: Who is responsible?

6.        SEQUENCE: When does it happen?

7.        PROTECT: What could go wrong?

8.        MITIGATE: How will we respond?

9.        MEASURE: How will we know?

10.   ADAPT: What will we do if the results aren't what we expected?

Deciphering Case Characteristics

Not every case requires the same level of implementation detail.

A six-hour competition case may require:

  • a few major initiatives;
  • high-level timing;
  • clear owners;
  • key financials;
  • three or four KPIs.

A 24-hour case may allow:

  • more detailed financial modelling;
  • more sophisticated timelines;
  • stronger risk analysis;
  • more detailed implementation dependencies.

The principle remains the same: Match the depth of implementation to the case, the decision, the time available, and the scorecard.

The Podium Test

Before your team considers the solution complete, ask:

  • Can the judges see why we chose this?
  • Can they see how it creates value?
  • Can they see how the organisation will execute it?
  • Can they see who is responsible?
  • Can they see when it will happen?
  • Can they see what could go wrong?
  • Can they see how we will manage those risks?
  • Can they see how we will measure success?

If the answer is yes, your solution is no longer just an idea. It is a plan.

Final Mad Skills Principle

Don't just recommend something.

Make the judges believe they can see it happening.

That is what makes a recommendation credible. That is what makes implementation persuasive. And that is what turns a good case solution into a podium-ready solution.

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