Simons' Seven Strategy Questions

Improving the Implementation of Your Strategy

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Developing your strategy is only the first stage of successful strategy execution - often, the real work comes when you come to implement that strategy.

Unfortunately, a number of common problems can undermine this implementation process. This is where Simons' Seven Strategy Questions are useful, because they help you identify these problems while you can still do something about them.

The Seven Questions

The Seven Strategy Questions were developed by Robert Simons, a professor at Harvard Business School, and published in his book, "Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution."

Over 25 years of studying strategic implementation and organization design, Simons identified seven elements that underpin successful strategy implementation. He then turned these elements into questions that you can use to check your strategy.

Note that the questions won't tell you how to develop your strategy - the assumption is that you already have a strategy in place.

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