Kenya Re building,4th floor, Upper hill Nairobi, kenya
Tel:+254 758 031930
WhatsApp: +223 76 29 65 74
info@armfa.africa
msoumbounou@armfa.africa
Value is not created through strategic planning, but through successful strategy execution. The
theoretical basis for successful strategy execution is presented in the form of the MERIL-DE Model
(Olivier, 2017 1), a conceptual model for improved strategy execution in the public sector. Depicted as an
engine with many gears, it integrates nine vital components for successful strategy execution.
1) Leadership: Strong, coordinated and engaging leadership throughout the planning and execution process.
2) Good Strategic Plan: A plan characterised by focus, integration, balance, action orientation, SMART objectives linked to detailed initiatives and dynamic scorecards reviewed and updated regularly; aligned to related strategic plans; cascaded to units and annual plans as needed.
3) Project Management: This is where execution happens. Strategic objectives are achieved through strategic initiatives (programmes and projects), requiring special skills, methodologies,
tools and techniques in project management.
4) Alignment: Alignment of the strategic plan with organizational/institutional elements such as staff, skills, structure, culture, processes, technology and funding.
5) Performance Management System (MERIL): An institutionalised cycle (at least quarterly) of performance management, including Measure – measuring initiative performance together with the progress towards achieving strategic objectives (as measured by the PIs); also measuring risks in the internal and external environment; Evaluate – making sense from the measured performance information through dialogue – from
analysis to synthesis; Report – reporting on performance, its deviations from plan and its proposed improvement measures; communicating to all key stakeholders on all levels;
Improve – making the required agreed upon and approved corrections/improvements in the strategic plan (scorecard), project plans or any organisational element; and
Learn – learning all the time, getting wiser and wiser through broad engagement and dialogue;
institutionalising learning and sharing lessons learnt/best practices.
6) Drive: Mostly internal motivation of individuals and teams (incl. Committees and Focal Groups) to energise and sustain energy levels during the long execution journey, initiated and encouraged by leadership.
7) Engagement: The engagement of human resources at all levels through regular communication/ dialogue throughout the execution journey.
8) Risk Management: The identification, assessment, response and management of internal and external risks formalised and integrated in the MERIL process / strategy execution; including risks from the macro environment, industry and stakeholders.
9) Stakeholder Management: Good stakeholder collaboration, management and communication maintained and integrated in the execution journey.
From this model it is clear that the conventional plan & execute system has to be augmented with an
agile sense & response system (MERIL). The original fundamental belief in strategic planning was that the future could largely be predicted, but this is not the case anymore with the multitude and scale of changes in our macro environment (PESTLE) and industry. Yet, planning is essential to assign resources to the best initiatives – to achieve short term, medium term and long-term objectives. As both planning and agility are necessary, ARMFA has to make them work. Strategic planning therefore has to be reconceived as agile planning, with characteristics such as:
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