Have you ever wondered what really happens when your strategy stops being that presentation that no one opens anymore and becomes something that drives every decision in the company?
What you are about to read is a week-by-week chronicle of a transformation that thousands of leaders are experiencing firsthand. A precise map of the journey from strategic confusion to operational clarity, from fragmented execution to relentless progress.
That is why those who implement MAKE PROGRESS® never go back.
PHASE 1: TOP DOWN
When the strategy takes shape
Week Zero: The turning point
The Strategy Team, the group responsible for strategic execution, is formed. This is the moment when you realize that strategy is no longer something you only talk about in meetings. It becomes real. For the first time, someone in the company has specific, codified responsibility for making it work.
No more of that feeling of “everybody talks about strategy, nobody really runs it.” Finally, strategy has a home, it has people, it has a process.
“Finally, strategy becomes visible in the company” is what we hear from all CEOs going through this.
Week 1: Strategic Clarity
You work on strategic clarity, documenting the “emerging strategy”-that strategy that, while never written down, has brought the organization to where it is today. It is like turning on a light in a dark room. Suddenly you see that there is already a logic, a direction, a way of operating that works. You are not starting from scratch: you are codifying what already exists and has already brought you results.
That paralysis of starting from a blank page disappears completely. That fear of “not knowing where to start with strategy” becomes a memory. You start with the long term, codify the values that really drive the team’s behaviors, rewrite vision and mission, not the fancy ones created by marketing agencies, but the real ones, the ones that really explain what the future you want to create looks like.
Week 2: The North Star
You identify the Business North Star, the only metric that allows you to understand whether the strategy is working. It is the magic moment. The one when you realize that you can rewrite the mechanics of how the strategy works and measure it. Everything suddenly becomes simpler and clearer.
That confusion of having too many numbers and not knowing which one is really important disappears. Now you have ONE metric that tells you if you are going in the right direction, on the customer value side and the profitability side of the organization.
“It allowed me to see things from a different point of view and get mental order, which was a major accomplishment for me.” – Michele Schito, CEO of Sfera Servizi Srl
Week 3: The numbers that matter
You measure two precise sets of metrics: the Profit Core Metrics and the Product Core Metrics. You have the X-ray of your business. You finally understand if you are building the right product and generating the right profits. It’s that feeling of control and understanding that you never had before.
Visual navigation of financial numbers becomes history of the past. Now you know exactly what metrics to look at to understand the size of your strategic decisions.
They are the ones you see in the canvas in the yellow columns, the ones that allow you to really understand the impact of each choice.
Week 4: The go-to-market strategy
It is like finally having a map of the territory you want to conquer. You understand how big the organization you are creating is, where the market exists that is capable of meeting your numerical ambitions.
That feeling of “shooting in the dark” in the marketplace disappears. You now have an accurate description of the ideal customer, a measurable promise you can make, a guarantee that neutralizes buying objections, and your sustainable superiority to beat the competition.
Week 5: The Growth Machine
You work on identifying the repeatable mechanisms of growth and understanding the persistent pattern of the organization. It’s like opening the hood of your business and finally understanding how the engine that will take you far works. It is the moment when everything becomes clear: how you systematically get results in the marketplace.
That frustration of not being able to explain to employees how the strategy works vanishes. Now anyone in the organization can understand it and support its execution.
“It helped me better understand how OKRs work, something that seemed complex to me at first, and now gives me confidence to take important steps for my career.” – Genny Baldan, Product Marketing Manager, Cielo Venezia 1270 Spa
Week 6: Team playbooks.
Through the description of the Growth Machine, you build team playbooks-the understanding of how each team can support the strategy. It is the moment you realize that when the strategy becomes delgible, everyone can support it. You are no longer alone carrying the weight of the strategy on your shoulders.
That feeling of being the only one who understands where the company is going becomes a memory. Now each team knows exactly what strategic gap it needs to fill and with what priority. At the end of this week, you get the precise sequence of conversations that enable a domino effect on results.
Week 7: The strategic enablers
Enablers-the strategic assets that the organization must build to achieve scalability and decouple investments from results-are identified. It becomes incredibly clear what the thematic areas of investment and innovation are. You finally understand what is business as usual and what is innovation, a distinction few companies manage to make.
That paralysis of not knowing where to invest for growth disappears. You now have the precise map of the assets you will need to scale. It is in this week that it becomes apparent which part of the business needs to be optimized and which needs to innovate.
Week 8: Strategic priorities.
You set priorities over the next 12 and 4 months, concluding the work on the emerging strategy and encapsulating everything in a distributable summary page. For the first time in your life, you have the company’s strategy on a single page. A page that anyone can read, understand and use to make aligned decisions.
That frustration of strategic presentations of 50 slides that no one reads and are already forgotten after a week becomes history.
“It allowed me to begin a journey that I feel is already transformative for my personal and professional growth. It could have a huge impact on my business.” – Simone Fluperi, DG of SHR Italy
Week 9: The KPI Book and OKRs.
You collect all the numbers that emerged during the previous steps in the KPI Book, the book of numbers that represents the execution of the strategy. You finally have a strategic control dashboard. A few metrics, coordinated, that tell you exactly whether you are executing the strategy or not.
The chaos of having too many numbers scattered across a thousand different spreadsheets becomes a memory. Now you have ONE place to look to see how the strategy is going. Only now – I repeat ONLY NOW – can teams write their first OKRs. And this is critical. Because otherwise they might write goals disconnected from the strategy, taking the organization exactly where you don’t want to be.
PHASE 2: BOTTOM UP
Strategy meets execution
Week 10: Strategic communication
The top-down phase is concluded and the strategy is communicated to the teams in an event that takes the form each organization decides on: a company meeting, an online meeting, an off-site meeting. This is the moment when the strategy leaves the CEO’s room and becomes the asset of the entire organization. Teams receive not only the strategy, but also their own specific playbook.
That disconnect between leadership and operations disappears. Now everyone knows where they are going and how to contribute. This is where strategy finally gets in touch with execution.
Week 11: The support of execution
Teams negotiate their strategic goals in the short term. It is electrifying to see how each team can contribute its specific capabilities to the execution of the strategy. It is no longer dropped from above: it is co-created.
That passive resistance of teams who do not understand why they should execute certain projects vanishes. Now they themselves propose how to contribute. Teams are finally connected with leadership and everyone is rowing in the same direction.
Week 12: The reduction of activities
You work to reduce non-strategic activities and free up resources for the execution of what really matters. It is liberating. You finally have permission to stop doing the things you don’t need to do. It is like taking a weight off your shoulders.
That feeling of always running but never getting anywhere disappears. Now every activity has a clear strategic purpose.
” The change was immediate: I further refined my approach, elevated my positioning and improved the impact I can bring to companies.” – Andrea Macrì, strategy consultant
STEP 3: TOGETHER
Feel the Drumbeat
Weeks 13-16: The rhythm of execution
From this moment they appear in the calendar of all structured meetings of the drumbeat, the rhythm that the organization can control, accelerate, govern. It is as if the company has finally found its drumbeat. A regular pulse of execution that restores enthusiasm and a sense of progress to everyone.
That feeling of organizational chaos where no one knows what anyone else is doing and projects overlap without logic becomes “the old way of working.” The team learns to protect its time and distinguish signal from noise in the organization.
The systematic removal of obstacles
Obstacles are systematically identified, documented and removed. They become a gold mine for innovation. It is powerful to feel that nothing can stop progress. Every problem becomes an opportunity for improvement.
That feeling of helplessness in the face of recurring obstacles that seem insurmountable disappears. Processes are continuously improved and documented, making the organization resilient to people as well.
“Today I have absolute strategic clarity and, more importantly, the ability to put it into practice. No more abstract theories or incomprehensible frameworks.” – Fabrizio Angeli, CEO of Need Strategy
The Strategy Refresh
At the end of the cycle, you have enough data to understand how well the organization was able to execute the strategy, with what quality, and how far it is from the strategic results. It is incredibly rewarding to see how far you have come and to have all the information to update the strategy and prepare for the next cycle.
That feeling of navigating by sight without ever knowing whether you are really getting better or worse becomes history. The company becomes a machine that continuously learns and improves. It no longer depends on individuals but on systems.
The complete transformation
This is what happens to teams that decide to use MAKE PROGRESS®:
They go from a point where strategy is something confusing, unclear, existing only in the air…
…to something that is tangible, that exists in documents and systems, that manifests itself in a rhythm that the organization can control, accelerate and govern.
“I have become more aware of the tools to use so that the strategy can really be executed and monitored and not just planned.” – Matteo Ricci, Management Control Manager, Komatsu Italia Manufacturing SpA
“The strongest difference from other courses I have taken? Clarity. Strategic, operational, alignment.” – Nicola D’Angelo, freelance Growth & Innovation Advisor
The time to move from Theory to Practice.
If you have read this far, you probably recognized your organization at some point in this journey.
Maybe you thought, “Here, this is exactly what we need.”
Or maybe, “It would be nice, but who knows if it would work for us.”
The truth is that this transformation is not reserved for large companies or technology startups.
It is for any organization that has the courage to stop improvising on strategy and start managing it methodically.
It is for any leader who is tired of feeling like the only one in charge of strategy and wants to build a team that actively supports it.
It is for any CEO, executive or consultant who wants to finally see his or her vision transformed into measurable reality.
If Strategy is a priority of yours
Watch the replay of the event where I show the whole method. You will be able to download the Training Program Regulations and condide at the June edition.
If every journey begins with the first step, that first step is deciding that your strategy deserves to be more than a document in the drawer.
“If you’re looking for a way to make the leap that really makes a difference, you should do it. If you can understand the potential of what you’ll be able to create, you should just ask where to sign up to start.” – Antonella Ghidini, Head of HR and Studio Management, Faglia-Bontacchio and ass stp ltd.
ALWAYS MAKE PROGRESS⤴
Antonio
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