Connect Strategy to Execution & The Recipe For Cacio E Pepe 

I recently had the opportunity to participate and present at the CU FinHealth24 Conference in Denver, Colorado, hosted by the National Credit Union Foundation, California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues, and Cornerstone Foundation. What an amazing event! It was bucket-filling to be surrounded by so many passionate people from across the credit union system with an intense focus on financial well-being for all. I left the conference full of energy and with a renewed sense of purpose.

My colleague Catie McDonald and I presented on the topic of connecting strategy to execution and how to build and manage effective projects, which is near and dear to our hearts. When speaking on this topic, I often reference a quote from Morris Chang, Founder and Former CEO of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company:

“Without strategy, execution is aimless. Without execution, strategy is useless.”

For me, this emphasizes the importance of having both a well-defined strategy and an organized and structured execution plan. Throughout my career, however, I’ve come across organizations that have great strategies in place and strong project management capabilities yet continue to struggle to realize their desired results. Why do they fail?

Before I answer that question, let me divert your attention to another seemingly unrelated topic that is near and dear to my heart. Food! Having returned from a trip to Italy the week before the conference, I still had food on my brain. One of my favorite meals from the trip was the amazingly delicious Cacio e Pepe! For those of you unfamiliar with this heaven on earth, it is a typical Roman dish made with three basic ingredients – Tonnarelli Pasta, Pecorino Romano Cheese, and Black Pepper. But just these three ingredients alone do not produce this fantastic dish. Sure, you absolutely need them, but the secret lies in the water that remains after boiling the pasta. This starchy water is the secret ingredient that is used to mix and bind the cheese and pepper with the pasta. Without it, you just end up with noodles with cheese and pepper. But with it, and the right amount, you create a richly blended cheese and pepper sauce that coats the noodles and results in a perfectly balanced Cacio e Pepe.

And now this brings me back to strategy and execution. Having either strategy or execution without the other is like excluding one of the key ingredients from the Cacio e Pepe recipe. It will not produce the desired dish. You need both. But, even with both, you still need that secret ingredient to bring it all together. Without it, you end up with a “useless strategy” or “aimless execution.” You need the starchy pasta water to inextricably connect your strategy to execution. And that secret ingredient is your Strategic Roadmap!

Your strategic roadmap is the key to bridging your strategy to specific goals and outcomes for your credit union (or any organization for that matter). The main activities for building the strategic roadmap include:

1. Assess Current State: Evaluate existing capabilities, processes, and solutions. Identify pain points, business and member (or customer) needs, and organizational constraints. Create the baseline from which you will depart on your journey to future state.
   
   
2. Construct Future State: Design future state capabilities, processes, and solutions. Affirm business and member (or customer) needs, and lead value stream mapping activities. Define your destination.
   
   
3. Build the Roadmap: Identify gaps between current and future state, and build business and technology roadmaps with defined goals, objectives, and measures of success.

Now that you’ve linked your strategy to execution, you can now begin the work of initiating, prioritizing, and executing your various projects and initiatives. And remember to monitor results and changing conditions to adapt your plans as needed.

Finally, get some Cacio e Pepe. If you can’t find it near you, try making it by following one of the many recipes online (here is my favorite). Just like developing and executing your strategy, you will find that it takes practice and repetition to get better and master the recipe. Sometimes a class or working alongside an expert can help. And, if you’re planning a trip to Rome, reach out and we can talk about the amazing places to eat and foods to try.

Buon appetito!

-Written By: Phil Salvatore, FarWell Senior Advisor