A well-designed strategy is only as good as its execution. It’s not just about following frameworks, crunching numbers, or compliance with technical models; it’s about transforming a vision into real-world impact.
Consider that 70% of strategic initiatives fail due to poor execution. Often, the problem is not the strategy itself but a decided lack of human-centered thinking.
Take, for example, Nike’s famous $100 million sales loss and 20% share price decrease when they attempted to launch a data-driven, AI-powered sneaker release system.
Consultants advised Nike to focus solely on the data to inform demand, inventory, and trends without understanding the consumer experience. The result? A broken system that angered customers, caused delays, and ultimately cost the company millions in sales and damaged its brand reputation.
Nike’s fail is just one example of a problem we are trying to solve. It’s a fundamental truth: data alone can’t drive success. It’s the human element—the sum total of engagement, alignment, and adaptability—that makes or breaks a strategy.
That’s what our Blueprint to Execution (B2E) methodology is all about.
What is the Blueprint to Execution (B2E)?
Blueprint to Execution (B2E) combines data-driven insight with human-centered engagement at every level. It’s a people-centered methodology that enables us to translate strategy into tangible, actionable outcomes, ensuring that every step of your plan is aligned with the needs, input, and engagement of the stakeholders involved.
Now, we know that successful execution is more than just data. The numbers would be meaningless without a solid understanding of how the data relates to human behavior.
Whether your organization is a nonprofit, government agency, or a corporate leader, B2E can help in many ways. B2E correlates data to stakeholder engagement, team dynamics, and community feedback back into the execution process so you can gain meaningful insights from the data.
In other words, you’ll be able to see the results of your efforts and understand why they’re working. Knowing the “why” helps you focus on the things that are actually working so you can do more of it.
Why B2E Works: The Power of People-Centered Strategy Execution
Here are just a few of the benefits you can expect from B2E.
Stakeholder Engagement. One of the biggest challenges in strategic execution is ensuring that stakeholders are aligned. Organizations with strong stakeholder engagement see 30% higher revenue growth and 12% higher profitability, so it’s something to strive for. B2E prioritizes early and consistent engagement with the right people, ensuring alignment and accountability from the outset. Returning to the Nike example, we learn that even the best-laid plans can backfire when you ignore stakeholder needs in favor of pure data.
Team Dynamics. Teamwork is critical to success. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace Report found that 70% of employees are disengaged, and organizations with high levels of employee engagement outpace their peers by 21% in bottom-line profits. Using B2E to align your teams around shared goals fosters a culture of collaboration and transparency, ensuring that all parties are empowered to contribute to the project’s success. It’s that kind of buy-in and motivation that turns strategy into action.
Community Feedback. Understanding human needs behind the numbers is crucial in the nonprofit and government sectors. Organizations that engage with their communities see 25% better long-term sustainability. B2E ensures that community feedback is consistently gathered and implemented to refine strategies. As a result, initiatives meet data expectations and align with the human challenges you’re trying to solve.
Flexible Adaptation. Rigid strategies can’t adjust when circumstances change. Failure to consider the human experience can be disastrous; understandably, most people won’t trust organizations that don’t appear to have their backs. Organizations that can adapt quickly to changing conditions are 2.5 times more likely to outperform their competitors. B2E is built on this principle, helping companies become more flexible and allowing strategies to evolve in response to quantitative data and real-time human input.
B2E in Action: Real-World Examples of Human-Centered Strategy
We help organizations execute their strategies with an unrelenting focus on combining data with human-centered approaches. This principle is at the heart of B2E, ensuring a real, measurable impact for nonprofits, government agencies, and corporations.
Here are just a few examples of how our customers have been able to leverage B2E to support their success:
Nonprofits: A nonprofit focusing on at individuals with high medical need applied needed help align internal teams and community stakeholders around a shared mission. By continuously gathering community feedback and adjusting their approach based on that feedback, we helped the client increase program participation by 40% while improving their funding by 25% in just 2 years.
Government Agencies: A government agency tasked with public health outreach had a strategic plan but struggled with team misalignment and lack of community engagement. Leveraging B2E, we successfully re-engaged frontline workers and ensured the strategy accurately reflected community needs and concerns.
Corporations: A corporation sought to strengthen its community engagement but struggled to establish meaningful connections. Through B2E, we identified key community gatekeepers and built strategic relationships on their behalf, expanding their engagement network from just five stakeholders to over 70 within two years. Additionally, we designed corporate giving initiatives that directly impacted over 40,000 people globally, enhancing their social impact and brand reputation.
The Time to Act is Now
Nike’s costly mistake is a cautionary tale. Ignore the human element at your peril! Overreliance on data without considering human needs can have devastating consequences.
If your organization relies too heavily on data alone, you can’t afford to delay. While a data-driven strategy can look great on paper, your stakeholders, teams, and communities are what really matter. Numbers are often theoretical. They can’t speak for people. Your data may lead you in the wrong direction when considered out of context.
THT’s Blueprint to Execution (B2E) approach ensures that your strategy isn’t solely based on data. B2E is data-informed but human-centered, ultimately agile, and designed for real-world impact. Isn’t it time you moved beyond the numbers and created a winning strategy that resonates with everyone?
Let’s turn your strategy into action. THT is here to help. www.thehillstandem.com