Whether the subject is creating strategy, developing core competencies, or streamlining operations, the question of effective implementation inevitably comes to the fore. Planning is only half the issue. It's what happens afterward that matters most.

Moving from plan to action is not automatic. Even the best-made plans often experience a suffocation by-routine that renders them useless occupants of someone's bookshelf. The tendency after completing a planning, training, or re-engineering exercise, is to get back to business as usual with perhaps a minor tweak here or there to the system.

Implementation that takes the plans off the shelf and puts them into action is an art. Here are some insights that have proven helpful in moving towards results:

1. Focus on breakthrough projects. While a strategy may entail long-term, far-ranging action, it needs a short-term launching project. Make sure the project targets a specific, tangible objective and an obvious bottleneck or obstacle that is a deterrent to winning on the strategy. Removing bottlenecks builds momentum toward the longer - term objective.

2. Go for tangible, quick victories. If the overall target is complex or long-term, set visible, tangible sub-goals that are achievable rapidly. One of the major deterrents to implementation is the weariness or boredom inherent in moving towards massive, long-term goals. People need successes to develop momentum. As Sun Tzu notes in The Art of war, "While we have heard of stupid haste, never has cleverness been associated with long delays. "Don't wait. Do it now, even if the particular project seems to be only a minor step toward the total goal.

3. Pay attention to the human factor. It isn't technology that gets results, it's people. Most implementation requires cooperation among the people involved. Make sure the implementers are part of the project design from the outset. The degree to which involvement is facilitated from stage one is the degree to which cooperation and commitment are built into the implementation. Provide recognition for interim accomplishments to help sustain morale.

4. Designate a champion for each project. This is not necessarily the team leader; rather, it's a management representative external to the team who is enthusiastic about and committed to the project. This person serves as a kind of cheerleader for the team keeping them focused on the objective, reminding them of impending deadlines, and securing supporting infrastructure instrumental to project success.

Practitioners of the art of implementation are concerned with results more than alternatives; with decisions more than deliberations; with action more than information. As someone said "Action removes the doubt that theory cannot solve."