Professional services firms spend a lot of time developing strategy. There are leadership retreats, partner interviews, market assessments, client discussions and competitive reviews. There are conversations about growth, succession, technology, culture, new markets and the future of the firm.

Once the strategic plan emerges and the most significant priorities identified, the plan is presented to the partnership, everyone agrees, and then everyone goes back to work.

So why do so many firms that created a perfectly good strategic plan, struggle so much with execution? This is typically because the strategy exists at one level of the organization while the work . . . [more]