Springs does a superb job of identifying, executing strategy

"Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done" be-came a best-selling book for one reason: It explained how to turn strategic decisions into financial success.

Rather than read the book by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, you could visit Springs Window Fashions, headquartered in Middleton. Debi Morton, vice president of people, process and culture, has advice even those authors could use.

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SWF dramatically improved its performance since 2000 because it answered four core strategy questions. Earlier columns in this series explored "What business are you in?" "Who is your target market?" and "What value promise will lead your target market to choose you?"

In her role overseeing how work gets done at SWF, Morton lives the last question, "Why can you deliver on your value promise better than your competition?"

SWF is in the business of providing privacy, managing light and enhancing room appearance through Bali, Graber and Nanik window blinds and decorative hardware. It sells to two target markets: national retailers such as Home Depot and J.C. Penney, and designers and decorators working from independent stores, design studios or their homes.

"The heart of our company's competitive advantage is that we know how to deploy our people to fulfill our customer promise - to be the 'best experience' in our industry," Morton said. This promise emerged from SWF's strategic planning in 2000. Market research revealed SWF and its competitors regularly disappointed customers. "Best experience" offered an oasis in a category full of quality issues, delays and other difficulties in selling, purchasing and installing products.

More than a phrase, SWF translated "best experience" into a list of what the company wants its customers and end-users to say about the company and its products. For example, "problems resolved in a snap" and "easy to order."

According to Morton, best experience also created an execution platform for SWF associates. "What success is really about is the performance system you create for your people. Telling people the direction you want them to go in and hoping they get there is not enough. Leaders must drive the deployment process so that people are doing the right things in the right ways - so that your internal culture, priorities and focus align with what you want to create for customers. In our case, if customers were to have the best experience, our associates must also have the best experience."

Once leadership decided to win on best experience, they looked to the rest of the organization to design how to create it. "Engaging our people in defining 'best experience' got all our associates to understand what we were trying to do as a company. The act of discovery put meat on the bone of our strategy. Associates defined strategy from an action perspective, transforming best experience from a "what" to a "how" at a very strategic level. Best experience enabled us to make everyone part of the business. It created the platform for everyone's success," Morton said.

For example, under the best experience umbrella, SWF enhanced its supply-chain performance and adopted an innovation system. To ensure this project-management system succeeded, tools and on-the-job training were developed. These tools help create SWF's deployment advantage.

Today, leadership is challenging teams to create even better experiences in both target markets. Even SWF's cafeteria caterer is being challenged to create better lunches!

Does your organization align its actions with how you want to win customers? Are you building advantages that let you deliver on your customer promise better than your competitors? If not, it's time to answer the four core strategy questions and move answers into actions.