The Critical Gap in Business Strategy Execution: Insights from Jan 2026

The Data

Reflecting on 2023, I made a startling discovery about business strategy! I have now updated this to reflect data from 2025.

I analysed* thousands of projects on StratNav during 2025. I found that of those who got as far as setting strategic goals and/or strategic initiatives:

• A few more than 25% got as far as setting KPIs.**
• Fewer than 17% actually tracked those KPIs.

That means that more than 82% of those strategies never progress beyond being a theoretical assumption about what should work. Even if they're executed, there is no way of knowing if they're producing the intended outcomes or not. They're flying blind!🚫👀

The Remedy

I challenge these organisations to:

1. Break your strategic goals down into SMART objectives.🎯
   
   SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.
   
   
2. Establish clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for tracking each of them.🔍
   
   Together, these objectives and KPIs are often called Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).
   
   
3. Regularly track actual performance against them.⏰
   
   
4. Analyse your performance against expectations.📊
   
   It's important to set expectations in advance, otherwise you risk simply settling for whatever results you get.
   
   
5. Make appropriate adjustments to your strategy if the results aren't what you'd anticipated.🔄
   
   There is no point in just carrying on with your strategy if it is not producing the intended results.
   
   
6. Keep repeating as you watch your business flourish.🌱

Fortunately, StratNav provides you with all the tools you need to do this in one convenient place. It even uses AI to help break through any barriers you might encounter. You can learn more about how it does this at Goals, Objectives, KPIs, Targets, Initiatives and Actions and Creating a Strategy Scorecard.

If you need more help than that, please contact me.

But don't hesitate. The sooner you start, the sooner you can start enjoying a more successful 2026!

Notes:

* NB: StratNav provides the ability to do this kind of analysis without ever looking at what your strategy actually is. Your strategy is always confidential to only you and those you choose to share it with.

** The actual figures are 25.75% (up from 23.9% in 2023 and 25.59 in 2024) set KPIs and 16.40% (down from 19.1% in 2023 and 17.42% in 2024) tracked them. The decrease in strategies tracking KPIs may reflect an increase in the total number of strategies analysed, rather than an absolute decrease.

*** Some strategies built in StratNavApp.com may have built and tracked their KPIs on another platform. We estimate this number to be small as a virtue of StratNavApp.com is that it provides an integrated platform for strategy development and execution.

See also:

• Maximising Strategic Impact with Key Performance Indicators: A Guide
  How KPIs Bring Your Strategy to Life
• Getting the most out of KPIs
• Goals, Objectives, KPIs, Targets, Initiatives and Actions
• Setting your strategic direction with StratNavApp.com