Strategic Role of Leadership in Strategy Implementation

Introduction

Leaders in all organizations are mindful of the need to prepare their organizations' future strategically and to engage in the successful implementation of these strategies. In this review, a leader is seen as a manager who is charged with supervising the effective implementation of strategic initiatives. Although strategic planning problems have raised challenges for strategic leaders, it is in the execution of the strategy that these leaders have faced a range of challenges. Although formulating a coherent plan and making it work is relatively straightforward, it is much more difficult to enforce it within the organization (Hrebinik, 2006). Strategy implementation is an area that is now highly valued by entities. And Implementation of the strategy only succeeds when it is supported by effective leadership.

The concept of strategy implementation

Several studies have been conducted on issues pertaining to challenges faced by organizations during strategy implementation. Studies of leadership participation in strategic engagement indicate that leaders need it: have different leadership strategies for different events of change (Fielder, 1967). Bennis ( 1966) show the competence to craft vision and set goals. Leadership actions and they discovered that leaders should have behaviors of situation leadership style for specific changes (Fielder , 1967). In other words, numerous strategic changes with the correct style of leadership would be successful. In this regard, the leadership behaviors that can help a change effort in the longer term are the ones that encourage, motivate or instill a sense of purpose within the employees. Thus, the shaping of behaviors aligned with strategic implementation programs can be an effective strategy for improving successful implementation of the strategy.

Leadership Skills

Technical skills are a key prerequisite for the implementation of strategies, particularly when drawing up action plans which are more likely to result in engagement by using expert power as a variant of technical skills. A change agent's use of technical skills can be seen as a credible source of guidance, knowledge and experience to solve technical problems and to take good decisions on clear projects (Yukl, 2006). However, due to limited success in previous strategies, the perception of many employees of their leadership expertise has been drastically reduced, leading to reliance on human and conceptual skills. The fundamental issue of transition is the presence of various factual and personal obstacles to be established and reconciled before implementation.

Leadership behavior

It has been revealed that most leaders of State-Owned Enterprises have failed to model that ideal behavior to spearhead and sustain implementation of the strategy. When implementing a strategy, the most important thing is the commitment of top management to the strategic direction itself. Top managers therefore need to be prepared to give energy and loyalty to the implementation process ( Mapetere , et al., 2012).

Leadership crafting of strategic vision

The ability to build a clear-cut strategic vision is a powerful intangible asset that is vital to the execution of the strategy. The study showed that the majority of the approaches adopted were not accompanied by well-designed visions to direct them ( Mapetere , et al., 2012). 

Conclusion

The research found that most strategies failed because leaders were unable to make use of their different skills to create awareness and show the strategy implementation roadmap, as most strategic implementers were unaware of leadership expectations. Leadership should use their expertise and talents, such as human , technological and analytical skills, to build the need for change and improve receptivity to the implementation of the strategy by imparting information, inspiration and direction to individuals and teams participating in the implementation of the strategy.

References

Mapetere , D., Mavhiki , S., Nyamwanza , T. & Sikomwe , S., 2012. Strategic Role of Leadership in Strategy Implementation in Zimbabwe's State Owned Enterprises. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(16), pp. 271-275.

Bennis, W. G., 1966. Changing organizations. New York: McGraw-Hill,pp.213-222.

Fielder, F. E., 1967. A theory of leadership effectiveness. 4 ed. New York: McGraw-Hill,pp.193-219.

Hrebinik, L. D., 2006. Obstacles to Effective Strategy Implementation. Organizational Dynamics, 19(2), pp. 125-143.

Yukl, G., 2006. Leadership in Organizations. 6 ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall,pp.371-382.