As a rule, when performance and effectiveness begin to decline (quality of work, responsiveness, customer satisfaction, new sales, repeat business, and so on), the commitment factor isn’t tracked or challenged. Yet we’ve all seen commitment plunge at companies such as US Airways, Dell, Maytag, and Ford. And we have also seen commitment be resurrected, as has happened at Apple, IBM, and Continental Airlines. (Interestingly, commitment never seems to vary from high ground at FedEx, GE, Levi Strauss, or Ritz- Carlton.) Once the indices decline, it is tougher and tougher to restore commitment.
Organizational reality does not have to be this way. Including and engaging employees so that they can fully commit to the strategy is the ultimate factor in whether strategy succeeds or not, because strategy never fails in its formulation, only in its execution.
– Book excerpt, page 33, The Power of Strategic Commitment
