The Strategy-to-Execution Handshake

A simple mechanism to stop strategy dying in the handover.

Most strategies don’t fail because they’re misguided. They fail because, somewhere between the moment they’re announced and the moment the organisation is expected to act on them, the strategy quietly loses its shape. The executive team understands the intent, the slide deck lands well, the language is sharp, and yet, when Monday arrives, the business returns to its default settings. People may remember the headline, but they can’t translate it into decisions, priorities, trade-offs, or action.

That’s the gap: not the quality of the strategy, but the absence of a working bridge between direction and delivery.

The Strategy-to-Execution Handshake exists to close that gap. It’s not another planning process, and it’s not a heavier governance layer. It’s simply a minimum standard of clarity, the set of answers that must exist before a strategic priority is allowed to go live. In place of a sprawling 40-slide rollout, or the vague confidence of “we’ll work it out as we go,” it creates a shared understanding of what we’re actually doing, who owns it end-to-end, what it will cost in real capacity, and what is going to change as a result.

The Handshake (what must be true before launch)

Before you announce or lock in a strategic initiative, you confirm five things:

1) One owner

Not a committee. A named accountable leader who can drive it end-to-end.

If you can’t name the owner, it’s not an initiative. It’s a hope.

2) Resourcing is real

Not “we’ll absorb it.” Real time, real people, real budget. Even if it’s small.

This includes the hidden resourcing constraint: leadership attention.

3) Decision rights are defined

Everyone needs to know:

• what the owner can decide alone

• what needs escalation

• what’s already locked

If decision rights are unclear, initiatives slow down by default.

4) Dependencies are mapped

Most strategic work fails at the seams: tech, finance, legal, procurement, operations, change.

Dependencies don’t need to be solved, they need to be explicit.

5) The first 30 days are planned

Not the full roadmap. Just the first month:

• what we will do

• what we will ship / test / decide

• what “progress” will look like

This turns strategy into movement.

The Handshake Template (copy/paste)

Initiative name: Executive owner: Purpose (one sentence): What will change in the business?: What are we NOT doing as a result?:

Resourcing committed (90 days):

• Budget:

• Key roles:

• Team allocation:

• Exec attention required:
  

Decision rights:

• Owner can decide:

• Must escalate:

• Non-negotiables:
  

Dependencies / blockers:

• Tech:

• Finance:

• Risk/legal:

• Ops/change:
  

First 30 days plan:

• Week 1:

• Week 2:

• Week 3:

• Week 4:
  

Success signals (leading):Review cadence:

The discipline

If the handshake isn’t complete, the work doesn’t start.

Not as punishment, as protection.