ABSTRACT
Implementing strategic decisions often proves more difficult and less successful than anticipated. All managers can point to examples of projects scaled down or abandoned, and planned improvements or initiatives that never happened. US consultant Richard Dougherty argues that librarians still have a lot to learn in this area, being “masters of ‘talking the talk’ of change, but…less skilled at ‘walking the walk’”.1 While every situation is different in some respects, there are certain similarities and common patterns that enable lessons to be learned about the problems and pitfalls of achieving strategic change. Drawing on published literature, personal interviews and a questionnaire survey of 93 organisations, Larry Alexander identified the ten most frequently occurring strategy implementation problems as follows:
• Implementation took more time than originally allocated • Major problems surfaced that had not been identified beforehand • Co-ordination of activities was not effective enough • Competing activities and crises distracted attention • Capabilities of staff involved were not sufficient • Training/instruction given to support staff was not adequate • Uncontrollable external factors had an adverse impact • Leadership and direction provided by departmental managers were not adequate • Key tasks and activities were not defined in enough detail • Information systems used for monitoring were not adequate
Other problems often cited include vague goals, badly handled reviews and failure to modify objectives in response to changes.
