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This course is part of the Leadership & Management and Strategy track.
Introduction to Strategy Execution
 

Strategy Execution

$1,750
Next 8-week session starts April 12th
Apply
Gain the tools, skills, and frameworks to successfully implement strategy within your organization.
8
weeks
5-8
hours per week
6
modules
Self-Paced
with regular deadlines

 This course earns you a Certificate of Completion from HBS Online. What you earn.

Overview
Syllabus
Enrollment
Stories
FAQs
Apply Now

Key Concepts

Apply frameworks, tools, and goal-setting and tracking exercises to your own strategic initiatives
Evaluate and elevate your team’s management of the core tensions of strategy execution, including how to balance growth, profit, and control
Design measurement systems for every dimension of business performance
Identify and manage risks that could derail strategy execution
Empower employees through proprietary frameworks like the Job Design Optimization Tool, which helps design high-performance jobs that enhance a team’s ability to execute critical responsibilities
Foster successful strategy execution by establishing an environment that communicates which opportunities and behaviors are encouraged and which are out of bounds

Who Will Benefit

Gain the frameworks and tools to improve strategy execution within your team, department, or organization.
“I was impressed by how well the course material fit my personal challenges and goals at work, and how easy it was to use the material to improve my team’s strategy execution.”
Melanie Lehnert-Bechle
Strategy Execution Participant
Prepare for a managerial role and position yourself for advancement by learning how to effectively implement strategy.
"What I found most valuable were the methods and tools, which were useful and practical. I’ve already applied some of my learning at my job."
Atanas Atanasov
Strategy Execution Participant
Design new structures and systems to manage the core tensions of strategy execution and meet business goals.
"I’ve found HBS Online's courses to be immediately applicable to my work, and they’ve made me a more productive member of our strategic team.”
Laura Wingate
Strategy Execution Participant

What You Earn

Certificate of Completion

Certificate of Completion

Boost your resume with a Certificate of Completion from HBS Online

Earn by: completing this course

Certificate of Specialization

Certificate of Specialization

Prove your mastery of strategy or leadership and management

Earn by: completing any three courses within either subject area to earn a Certificate of Specialization

Learn More about what you earn

Syllabus

6 Modules, 40-45 Hours
Download full syllabus
7-8
hrs
Module 1

Managing the Tensions of Strategy Execution

Understand the various tensions managers face as they execute strategy and implement a framework for managing those tensions effectively.

Highlights

Making Tough Choices
Push to Profitability
Analyzing Management Tensions at Your Business - The 4 Levers of Control Model
Articulating Business Strategy with the Four Ps
ShowHide Details

Concepts

  1. Making Tough Choices: Course Introduction
  2. Balancing Innovation and Control, Part I
  3. Balancing Innovation and Control, Part II
  4. Managing Other Organizational Tensions
  5. Analyzing the Four Ps of Strategy, Part I
  6. Analyzing the Four Ps of Strategy, Part II

Featured Exercises

  • Analyze your organization’s approach to managing common organizational tensions
  • Identify strengths and deltas in your organization’s approach to executing strategy
5-6
hrs
Module 2

Aligning Job Design to Strategy

Optimize the design of key jobs and align them to your organization's strategy.

Highlights

Performing the X-Test
Analyzing Job Design Problems
Span of Support
ShowHide Details

Concepts

  1. Designing High-Performing Jobs
  2. Understanding the Entrepreneurial Gap
  3. Identifying Spans of Influence and Support
  4. Balancing Supply and Demand in a Job
  5. Analyzing and Improving Job Design

Featured Exercises

  • Analyze a job using the Job Design Optimization Tool (JDOT)
  • Recommend a set of job design improvements
5-6
hrs
Module 3

Energizing Employees to Execute Strategy

Apply techniques to spur high performance and creativity among employees and create core values that inspire and guide employees through difficult decisions.

Highlights

Designing Stretch Goals
Prioritizing Constituents in Your Core Values
ShowHide Details

Concepts

  1. Generating Creative Tension, Part I
  2. Generating Creative Tension, Part II
  3. Defining Core Values
  4. Communicating Core Values

Featured Exercises

  • Identify ways to dial up performance and increase innovation within your team
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of your organization’s core values
6-7
hrs
Module 4

Measuring and Monitoring Performance

Create performance measurement systems that account for all dimensions of strategy execution while conserving scarce time and attention.

Highlights

The Benefits of Diagnostic Control Systems
Putting the Three Wheels Back Together - Three Wheels of Profit Planning Schematic
A Multidimensional Approach to Measurement
Harnessing Human Motivation
ShowHide Details

Concepts

  1. Designing Diagnostic Control Systems
  2. Introducing the Three Wheels of Profit Planning
  3. Building a Balanced Scorecard
  4. Selecting Goals and Measures
  5. Powering up Performance Goals with Incentives, Part I
  6. Powering up Performance Goals with Incentives, Part II

Featured Exercises

  • Analyze and improve your organization’s approach to profit planning
  • Identify critical performance variables and develop goals, measures, and targets corresponding to them
  • Analyze a range of incentive types and identify the most useful ones for different contexts
5-6
hrs
Module 5

Identifying and Managing Risks

Describe and identify common risks businesses face and create systems for managing and mitigating them.

Highlights

Your Business's Overall Level of Risk
Considering the Balance Between Innovation and Control
Operations Risk
ShowHide Details

Concepts

  1. Identifying Sources of Risk, Part I
  2. Identifying Sources of Risk, Part II
  3. Assessing Internal Risk Pressures
  4. Designing and Enforcing Internal Controls
  5. Building Business Conduct Boundaries

Featured Exercises

  • Identify internal risk pressures using the Risk Exposure Calculator
  • Propose solutions for a new conduct boundary at your organization
7-8
hrs
Module 6

Balancing Innovation and Control

Apply techniques to help your business innovate and adapt to change while maintaining clear focus and retaining necessary controls.

Highlights

Using Control Systems Interactively
Discussing Challenges in San Jose
Choosing a System to Use Interactively
ShowHide Details

Concepts

  1. Unleashing Freedom through Strategic Boundaries
  2. Adapting to Change: Interactive Control Systems
  3. Reviewing the Levers of Control
  4. Implementing the Levers of Control, Part I
  5. Implementing the Levers of Control, Part II

Featured Exercises

  • Identify which opportunities your organization should and should not pursue
  • Propose a system you can use to focus organizational attention on emerging threats and uncertainties
  • Apply course-wide knowledge by proposing a set of solutions to strategy execution challenges at a growing consulting firm
  • Capstone activity: develop an action plan for implementing the levers of control at your or another organization
Free E-Book

How to Formulate a Successful Business Strategy

This guide will equip you with the tools, frameworks, and knowledge to formulate a successful business strategy to propel your organization forward.
Access Your Free E-book

Our Difference

Strategy Execution equips current and aspiring managers with the tools, skills, and frameworks to allocate resources, measure performance, manage risk, and successfully implement strategy.
Stay active by engaging in a new activity every three to five minutes and applying your knowledge through interactive tools and a capstone assignment.
Stay active by engaging in a new activity every three to five minutes and applying your knowledge through interactive tools and a capstone assignment.
Description of silent animated video above: Learner completes an interactive question by dragging and dropping choices into two different categories
Get social by collaborating and networking with a global community of peers before, during, and after the course.
Get social by collaborating and networking with a global community of peers before, during, and after the course.
Description of silent animated video above: Learner types an answer in the discussion board in response to a peer's question
Immerse yourself in real-world, case-based examples brought to life by industry-leading experts from companies like Marriott, adidas, Quiet Logistics, and Go Mobile.
Immerse yourself in real-world, case-based examples brought to life by industry-leading experts from companies like Marriott, adidas, Quiet Logistics, and Go Mobile.
Description of silent animated video above: Learner scrolls through video interviews from prominent business leaders

About the Professor

Robert Simons
Strategy Execution

Baker Foundation Professor
"Strategy Execution will equip you with the tools, skills, and frameworks to allocate resources, measure performance, manage risk, and execute strategy."

Dates & Eligibility

Starting
Apr
12
8 Weeks  $1,750
Application deadline April 3
View weekly calendar
Apply Now
Starting
Jun
14
8 Weeks  $1,750
Application deadline June 5
View weekly calendar
Apply Now
Starting
Jul
19
8 Weeks  $1,750
Application deadline July 10
View weekly calendar
Apply Now
Starting
Sep
06
8 Weeks  $1,750
Application deadline August 28
View weekly calendar
Apply Now
  • Free application
  • No documentation required
  • Confirmation within one week

All applicants must be at least 18 years of age, proficient in English, and committed to learning and engaging with fellow participants throughout the course.

Learn about bringing this course to your organization.

Learner Stories

84%
have more confidence making business decisions
I loved the mixture of academic teaching, case-based review, interaction with peers who had their own experiences to recount, and application in my place of work. To me, it was a complete package.
Shalini Agarwal
Professor of Radiodiagnosis at Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences
HBS Online courses are excellent for anyone who wishes to learn more about a particular subject area or further develop their career.
Corina Cristea Lavoie
Corporate Services Manager at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Read more learner stories
* Source: 2022 surveys and course data
 
All FAQs

Strategy Execution FAQs

What are the learning requirements in order to successfully complete the course, and how are grades assigned?

+–

Participants in Strategy Execution are eligible for a Certificate of Completion from Harvard Business School Online.

Participants are expected to fully complete all coursework in a thoughtful and timely manner. This will mean meeting each week’s course module deadlines and fully answering questions posed therein. This helps ensure participants proceed through the course at a similar pace and can take full advantage of social learning opportunities. In addition to module and assignment completion, we expect you to offer feedback on others’ reflections and contribute to conversations on the platform. Participants who fail to complete the course requirements will not receive a certificate and will not be eligible to retake the course.

More detailed information on course requirements will be communicated at the start of the course. No grades are assigned for Strategy Execution. Participants will either be evaluated as complete or not complete.

What materials will I have access to after completing Strategy Execution?

+–

You will have access to the materials in every prior module as you progress through the program. Access to course materials and the course platform ends 60 days after the final deadline in the program.

At the end of each course module, you will be able to download a PDF summary highlighting key concepts used throughout the course. At the end of the program, you will receive a PDF compilation of all of the module summary documents. We hope the module summary documents will serve as a helpful resource after you finish the course.

How should I list my certificate on my resume?

+–

Once you've earned your Certificate of Completion, list it on your resume along with the date of completion:

Harvard Business School Online

Certificate in Strategy Execution

[Cohort Start Month and Year]

List your certificate on your LinkedIn profile under "Education" with the language from the Credential Verification page:

School: Harvard Business School Online
Dates Attended: [The year you participated in the program]
Degree: Other; Certificate in Strategy Execution
Field of Study: Leave blank
Grade: "Complete"
Activities and Societies: Leave blank
Description:

Strategy Execution is an 8-week, 45-hour online certificate program from Harvard Business School. Strategy Execution equips current and aspiring managers with the tools, skills, and frameworks to allocate resources, measure performance, manage risk, and successfully implement strategy.

The program was developed by leading Harvard Business School faculty and is delivered in an active learning environment based on the HBS signature case-based learning model.

 

Related Courses

 
All FAQs

Top FAQs

How are HBS Online courses delivered?

+–

We offer self-paced programs (with weekly deadlines) on the HBS Online course platform.

Our platform features short, highly produced videos of HBS faculty and guest business experts, interactive graphs and exercises, cold calls to keep you engaged, and opportunities to contribute to a vibrant online community.

Are HBS Online programs available in languages other than English?

+–

We expect to offer our courses in additional languages in the future but, at this time, HBS Online can only be provided in English.

All course content is delivered in written English. Closed captioning in English is available for all videos. There are no live interactions during the course that requires the learner to speak English. Written English proficiency should suffice.

Do I need to come to campus to participate in HBS Online programs?

+–

No, all of our programs are 100 percent online, and available to participants regardless of their location.

How do I enroll in a course?

+–

All programs require the completion of a brief application. The applications vary slightly from program to program, but all ask for some personal background information. You can apply for and enroll in programs here. If you are new to HBS Online, you will be required to set up an account before starting an application for the program of your choice.

Our easy online application is free, and no special documentation is required. All applicants must be at least 18 years of age, proficient in English, and committed to learning and engaging with fellow participants throughout the program.

After submitting your application, you should receive an email confirmation from HBS Online. If you do not receive this email, please check your junk email folders and double-check your account to make sure the application was successfully submitted.

Updates to your application and enrollment status will be shown on your Dashboard. We confirm enrollment eligibility within one week of your application.

Does Harvard Business School Online offer an online MBA?

+–

No, Harvard Business School Online offers business certificate programs.

What are my payment options?

+–

We accept payments via credit card, wire transfer, Western Union, and (when available) bank loan. Some candidates may qualify for scholarships or financial aid, which will be credited against the Program Fee once eligibility is determined. Please refer to the Payment & Financial Aid page for further information.

We also allow you to split your payment across 2 separate credit card transactions or send a payment link email to another person on your behalf. If splitting your payment into 2 transactions, a minimum payment of $350 is required for the first transaction.

In all cases, net Program Fees must be paid in full (in US Dollars) to complete registration.

What are the policies for refunds and deferrals?

+–

After enrolling in a program, you may request a withdrawal with refund (minus a $100 nonrefundable enrollment fee) up until 24 hours after the start of your program. Please review the Program Policies page for more details on refunds and deferrals. If your employer has contracted with HBS Online for participation in a program, or if you elect to enroll in the undergraduate credit option of the Credential of Readiness (CORe) program, note that policies for these options may differ.

 

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