How businesses can avoid getting stuck in the implementation gap

The smart folks over at Collins Dictionary have named their word of the year: permacrisis. It sums up our collective shared experience of the past few years – an extended period of instability and insecurity, especially one resulting from a series of catastrophic events.

It made it into the dictionary on the basis that it “sums up just how truly awful 2022 has been for so many people“, said Alex Beecroft, head of Collins Learning.

Permacrisis feels apt. But if we can lift our gaze from the current, ahem, climate, then we might catch a glimpse of what is waiting for us on the horizon.

The Future Lab, one of the world’s most renowned futures consultancies, foresees that 2023 will be characterised by the ‘Paralysis Paradox.’ This speaks to the idea that while there is so much technological advance and progress in our day-to-day lives and work, in the coming year, we risk becoming paralysed by inaction.

We know a great deal is amiss – we’ve already labelled it the permacrisis. We also know time is running out to fix these global issues. But it’s overwhelming us – causing fear, stasis, and indecision.

Despite having the benefit of significant technological advancements, it’s hard to take the next step, or even to know what the next step is. While we have the solutions, we’re missing the critical piece: action and implementation.

So what is holding business owners back? And how can businesses avoid getting stuck in the implementation gap?

What is pushing us to the brink of paralysis?

When we think about the paralysis paradox, we’re talking about reaching a point in the future where inaction is setting in. It’s a unique point in time where we have crystal clear vision over what the problems and the solutions are, but limited capacity or appetite to take action.

The problems are vast, spanning the climate crisis, social injustice, economic inequality and beyond.

Short-term bias amongst many politicians is rife as the first order of business tends about getting elected and subsequently staying in power. With term limits confined to a few years, it’s clearly very difficult to solve such expansive, deep-rooted problems in such a short space of time. Is there any real incentive to do so? Add to that omnipresent scandals and it’s no wonder that trust in government is plummeting. In the UK it’s as low as 35% – with the Office of National Statistics (ONS) finding that nearly two thirds of the population simply do not trust government institutions.

It’s not that the UK electorate don’t want things to be better – 75% believed that the UK government should place a higher priority on creating conditions for businesses to thrive, 64% said they should place higher priority on reducing climate change and 54% believe they should place higher priority on reducing the national debt.

There’s just a growing realisation that political myopia means that governments are no longer the first choice to take ownership of that change.

Instead, individuals and consumers are looking to brands, businesses, enterprises and organisations to lead the change. But with the risk of these issues being so vast that leadership myopia paralyses businesses too, how do we go about taking action and getting out of the implementation gap?

How can businesses avoid paralysis and have a positive influence over our future trajectories? 

Mind the implementation gap

Implementation is the process of turning decisions, or policies, and putting them into practice. A gap occurs when there is a difference between what was planned and what actually happens. This can happen at any level, from government policies to business strategies to projects.

Often the gap stems from a disconnect between senior decision makers or project managers, and those who are tasked with the implementation.

At a very high level, we’re seeing this in national government policy. Good intentions exist – we are proud of ourselves for coming out of COP27 with agreement on a loss and damage funding for climate disasters in poorer countries. But the lack of progress on agreeing to cut emissions means “our planet is still in the emergency room,” said António Guterres, secretary general of the UN. “We need to drastically reduce emissions now and this is an issue this Cop did not address. The world still needs a giant leap on climate ambition.”

That’s just one example of a global implementation gap that affects us all, shamefully disproportionately. As the COPs’ repeated failures to garner agreement on curbing emissions continue to show, implementation gaps can happen because of a lack of consensus among leadership. This acts as a block to any meaningful action on the ground, and can even deepen divisions between polarised factions.

Implementation gaps also occur where there is a communication breakdown between those who plan the project and those implementing it. Whatever the reasons for it, whether it’s a lack of clarity or inadequate direction – such poor alignment – can cause a gap between what was intended and what actually happens. This can have ripple effects like falling levels of trust in government, or, when it happens in a business, adverse impacts on employee engagement, technological innovation, and growth.

And let’s not forget that when it comes to work, we’re facing a burnout epidemic. In 2019, the World Health Organisation identified burnout as an occupational phenomenon and it was added to the WHO’s International Classification of Diseases. Harvard Business Review estimates that the annual healthcare spending due to workplace burnout is anywhere from $125 billion to $190 billion. Gallup also found burned-out employees cost $3,400 out of every $10,000 in salary because they are disengaged in their work.

The burnout epidemic is another challenge when it comes to taking action, executing change management successfully, and being able to avoid the implementation gap.

Is it possible to avoid the implementation gap?

For businesses keen to steer clear of the paralysis paradox and dodge the pitfalls of the implementation gap, listen up. We have three key insights which may help you future-proof your business and avoid running into this gnarly situation.

1. Listen and learn

Listening is key. We’re a staunch believer in the power of feedback. Now more than ever you need everyone on board, from key stakeholders, to your operations team who will be involved in any change management and action implementation, to your wider employees, and even your customers and clients.

Establish feedback loops which enable customers and employees alike to give their opinions, ask questions, find out information, express concerns, and get support. This creates a culture of continuous listening and keeps you accountable and agile when it comes to taking ownership of and action on an issue that impacts any part of your business.

Listening is how you gain valuable insights and feedback which you will need now and into the future.

2. Lead with legitimacy

Legitimacy is fundamental to leadership – it’s the belief that the leader has the authority to govern. Great leaders establish their authority through trust, earning the respect of their teams through a commitment to transparency, honesty, empathy and humility.

Leading with legitimacy is about leaning into transparency and trust. It’s about leading with empathy and compassion. It’s how you include your employees in decision making and change management. It’s about how you use data and insights to make decisions. It’s about creating new narratives and telling better stories to unite employees, customers, clients and stakeholders. It’s about legacy, and taking a long term, stewardship approach rather than short-termism focused on short-term results at the expense of long-term interests.

3. Link up to light the way

Leading with legitimacy naturally leads to the establishment of collectives – something we will see a lot more in the near future. Indeed, this is not a time to go it alone and inflict your decision making on those around you – anyone watching Elon Musk can testify to that. Instead, we’re moving into an era beyond competition, a time where cooperation, co-creation and collectives sharing knowledge and expertise are the new normal.

As a business owner, working together will garner far more support and power than competing against one another. Being a thought leader is about helping others with your knowledge and insight.

In a climate of paralysis and stasis, no one really has all the answers, but likewise, there is no single source of truth. It’s not possible to be the sole source, but it is possible to contribute to it, curate it and share it to help others and who knows? You might even help solve some of these pesky world problems, even at a local scale. Collectives will be our new heroes, and as a business owner, you can take the first step in reaching out to link up to light the way together.

Final thoughts

Ultimately, the future is here to present businesses and organisations with a challenge to reinvent, reframe and rethink their strategy and culture to navigate through this period of stasis.

This is truly an opportunity to double down on your mission and to recommit to your purpose, bringing your employees and your customers with you. This is a time to be bold and decisive. This is next generation business leadership, and it’s exactly what we need to avoid the pitfalls of the implementation gap.