The disconnect between intent and impact is what many leaders struggle with. Execution falters not because the strategy was flawed, but because the organization was never set up to carry it forward. According to Amber S. Powers, founder of Power Peak Consulting LLC and a strategic execution advisor who has spent her career inside complex organizations, the problem is structural. “Operations are the backbone of any business, and it is often overlooked,” Powers says. “There is a lot of pressure to just make things happen and do more with less, but without alignment, that pressure actually works against execution.” Her work focuses on closing the distance between vision and action by rebuilding how teams work together as growth adds complexity.
When Strategy Breaks Down
The execution gap often appears as stalled initiatives or teams that are busy but disconnected from the company’s priorities. The issue is a common symptom of growth. As companies scale, teams become increasingly siloed. Each group focuses on its own deliverables with little visibility into how its work affects others. “Teams are often working in silos, divisions are working in silos,” says Powers. “That awareness of how they are cross functionally linked is critical to being able to execute as one business.” Without that shared understanding, execution becomes fragmented. Even strong teams struggle to move in the same direction. The issue compounds during periods of growth when leaders push for speed, while teams become laser focused on their own objectives. Over time, those local priorities replace the larger goal, and coordination erodes.
Finding the Bottlenecks Others Miss
When Powers enters an organization, she focuses on examining how work moves across the business. “The more handoffs that you have, the more work is going to get bottlenecked,” she says. “It is almost always in the handoff.” Each transfer between teams introduces friction, delays, and miscommunication. By mapping these transitions, she identifies where momentum is lost and why work stalls. In many cases, the fix is not a major restructuring. Teams often discover that they didn’t fully understand what another group was responsible for, or how their output was being used downstream. “Sometimes it is just a matter of communication,” Powers notes. “One team talks to another and realizes, ‘Oh, I didn’t know you did this.’”
Structure as a Growth Enabler
Once bottlenecks are visible, the next step is adding structure without suffocating agility. She poses a simple test. “What happens if you win the lottery tomorrow and walk away from your job? Will somebody else know what you are doing?” If the answer is no, the business is carrying unnecessary risk. Documented workflows and standard operating procedures ensure continuity and reduce the time spent reinventing routine tasks.
This matters most as an early stage company begins to grow. What works when everyone remembers everything quickly becomes overwhelming. “At some point, remembering all of that becomes low value work,” Powers says. “You want to work on the more mindful work.” Structure frees teams to focus on decisions that drive growth rather than on recalling steps that should be repeatable.
Leadership’s Role in Execution
Closing the execution gap also requires leaders to stay engaged after strategy is set. Vision alone is not enough. Teams need sustained support as plans move into action. “Leaders are big visionaries,” Powers says. “They come up with an idea and give it to the team to execute, but the team still has questions.” Too often, leaders move on to the next initiative, assuming momentum will carry the work forward. That assumption creates uncertainty and slows execution. When leaders remain present, teams understand that their work is valued and aligned with the company’s priorities, and that reinforcement keeps initiatives from losing steam once the initial excitement fades.
Execution Determines Growth
Companies spend significant time and energy defining strategy. The real differentiator is whether they invest equally in the how. Without senior ownership of execution, even the most thoughtful plans can drift. “The how gets lost in the shuffle,” Powers says. “It is critical to have someone at a senior position pushing the how and pushing the work.” That oversight ensures teams do not move in divergent directions and that daily actions remain tied to strategic goals. In the end, execution is not about working harder. It is about designing systems that allow people to work together, adapt as complexity increases, and turn intention into measurable progress. Businesses that close the execution gap do not just grow faster. They grow with clarity.
Follow Amber S. Powers on LinkedIn for more insights.
