Strategy Without Execution is Theatre. Execution Without Strategy is Waste
Short Read
I’ve seen L&D strategies that could win awards. Diagrams, pillars, principles; all polished and proudly presented. But once the slide deck is done, nothing changes. Projects still get picked based on who shouts loudest. Teams still scramble to deliver against vague briefs. The strategy becomes a kind of internal performance art.
On the other hand, I’ve seen execution machines. L&D teams with Gantt charts, Asana boards, and production pipelines working at full tilt but with no clear idea whether what they’re building matters. There’s delivery but no direction.
Neither of these is enough.
A great strategy with no delivery is just a wishlist.
Great delivery with no strategy is just noise.
L&D needs both.
We need strategy that’s alive in our work and work that earns its place in the strategy.
That doesn’t mean becoming rigid. It means becoming clear. Agile L&D teams don’t guess what to build next; they know what the business needs, they’ve prioritised based on impact, and they’re experimenting to find what works. The strategy lives in the backlog. The execution lives in the experiments.
Want to know if you’re getting it right?
Here’s one question I use:
“Can I draw a line from what we’re building this week to an actual business goal?”
If the answer’s yes, great.
If it’s “sort of”, ask more questions.
If it’s “no”, stop. Fix that first.
What about you?
How do you balance planning and action in your L&D work?
Is your strategy driving your day-to-day, or gathering digital dust in SharePoint?