Realizing a new or changed strategy means checking the alignment of the present operational plans and capabilities with the formulized strategy. The organization needs to validate whether the current portfolio of programs and projects (still) contributes to the strategy. When misalignment is found, new initiatives must be developed and non-contributing programs and projects must be stopped.

On an operational level, the organization needs to check whether the current operational plans still contribute to the new or changed strategy. If not, changes will have to be made. An important and often overlooked system is the employee reward system. “Does the system still reward the employees when they contribute to the new or changed strategy?”

Since both organizations and their surroundings are dynamic there needs to be a regular check of the validity of the goals and objectives (the where) and the portfolio of programs and projects (the how). In other words there must be a balance between the where and how of the strategy

To realize and check the strategy the following elements need to be aligned:

Exteral analysis: Analysis of developments in markets and the environment
Internal analysis: Analysis of relevant technological and organizational developments, the financial situation of the organization and the current progress of the strategy realization
Options: Development of strategic options based on the insights and data gathered through analysis.
Strategy choice: Assessment of the risk levels and feasibility of the available options (based on the elements of figure 6). Followed by the strategy choice.
Translation: Establishment of measurable strategy performance indicators.
Planning: Development of a timely and comprehensive portfolio of measures consisting of programs, projects and initiatives taking into account the availability of resources (people, capital, equipment and infrastructure) and the earlier established performance indicators.
Implementation: Execution and management of the portfolio.
Delivery: The actual implementation of capabilities achieved by the portfolio and the results of those capabilities.
Monitoring: Controlling and checking the (partial) results against the established performance indicators and if needed adjusting of parameters.