Why do so many organisations deliver successful projects but fail to realise strategic impact? In this Q5 think piece, we explore the hidden disconnect between strategy and execution, where green dashboards and on-time milestones mask a lack of meaningful progress. We examine why portfolios drift, why initiatives lose alignment with strategic intent, and why transformation alone is not enough to deliver lasting results. Most importantly, we set out how organisations can establish clear portfolio coordination, align investment to measurable outcomes, and integrate transformation with business-as-usual to ensure strategy translates into sustained performance.
Reading time: 5 minutes
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Repeatedly, we hear teams frustratedly ask: “Why, when we are putting so much effort into our transformation, are we seeing so little impact?”. Project dashboards are green, milestones are being met, and budgets are (mostly) under control, yet all this apparent progress doesn’t translate into the improved efficiency or organisation performance being sought.
Under the surface, if execution is disconnected from the organisation’s strategy, results will fall short, regardless of how effective your project managers are and how rosy the picture that their reports paint is. This disconnect arises because decisions are made initiative by initiative, without strategic portfolio control and coordination.
The result is that strategic objectives are often not met. Organisations are then buffeted by events, senior leadership is swapped out, and too many fragmented transformation initiatives are launched without sufficient prioritisation or value realisation.
Why do organisations struggle to deliver their strategy?
Initiatives are not aligned to strategic objectives
Many initiatives are established without clear alignment to strategic objectives. Pet projects bypass governance, priorities are insufficiently challenged, and success is defined through delivery hygiene (budget, timelines, and milestones) rather than strategic value. When KPIs are not explicitly linked to strategic outcomes, organisations optimise for activity instead of value, mistaking progress against a plan for progress against the strategy.
Portfolio drift
The strategic context rarely stands still. While misalignment often exists from the outset, portfolio drift occurs over time. Even well-aligned initiatives can become misaligned as market conditions change, the regulatory environment evolves, and business priorities shift. Despite the changing landscape, KPIs and milestones defined at the outset of a programme often remain fixed. Without active recalibration, organisations risk delivering against outdated measures of success.
Transformation is only one part of the picture
Strategy is not delivered through transformation projects alone. Continuous improvement, operational delivery, and business-as-usual activities play an equally critical role. A project may deliver its intended benefits in isolation, but if operations are not aligned, sustained, and reinforced, the strategic impact will be diluted. True strategy execution requires transformation, continuous improvement, and BAU to work together as a single, integrated system.
This is not usually a story of poor leadership or lack of effort. Many organisations are full of capable leaders and committed teams delivering significant volumes of change. The challenge is that this effort is often misplaced, leaving strategic value elusive and the organisation feeling the strain but not the benefit.
So, what is the solution?
- Establish strategic portfolio coordination with real authority
Addressing these challenges requires strong strategic portfolio coordination. This capability may exist under different names and guises across organisations, but it’s the capability and accountability that matter. Portfolio coordination must be deliberately built into the organisation through clear governance, defined roles and responsibilities, and decision rights with real authority. It works best as a lean capability, but it needs the teeth to prioritise, challenge, rebalance investment, and stop initiatives that no longer serve the strategy, ensuring the transformation agenda remains coherent and value driven.
- Align every initiative to strategic objectives and measurable outcomes
Every initiative within the portfolio must be explicitly tied to the organisation’s strategic objectives, with clear, measurable outcomes defined upfront. KPIs should be designed to track progress against these objectives and reviewed continuously to ensure alignment is sustained over time. Without this discipline, organisations cannot assess whether their investment in change is delivering value or simply generating activity.
- Integrate oversight of transformation and business-as-usual delivery
Strategic portfolio coordination must span both transformation and business-as-usual. Strategy is delivered through the combined effect of projects, continuous improvement, and operational execution. Without integrated oversight, these elements compete for attention and resources, undermining strategic intent. Coherent delivery requires visibility across BAU and transformation to ensure priorities are aligned, dependencies are managed, and the organisation moves forward as a single system.
What next?
You may recognise elements of your own organisation in this picture, or you may be starting with a blank sheet of paper. Whether dealing with an overgrown and misaligned portfolio, a transformation agenda that is failing to move the dial, or the complete absence of structure and governance, Q5 can help. We support organisations at every stage of the journey, from defining strategic intent; to designing and embedding lean and effective portfolio coordination; to ensuring strategy is translated into sustained, measurable outcomes.
Focusing in this way to deliver your strategy is not about doing and investing even more. It is about spending your limited time and money on the right things and doing them for the right reasons. Given the costs and risks of transformation, can you afford not to?
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