Rethinking How Organizations Manage
and Measure Strategy-Driven Projects
FEATURED PAPER
By Widline Luctama-Compere, EdD, PMP, SHRM-CP
Project Delivery & Process Improvement, PMO
Arizona, USA
Abstract
Organizations increasingly use projects, programs, and portfolios to translate enterprise priorities into action. Yet initiatives intended to advance organizational strategy are often governed, managed, and evaluated using delivery-oriented approaches designed for more conventional projects. Scope, schedule, cost, quality, and delivery performance remain essential measures of execution discipline, but they do not fully explain whether an initiative produced the organizational value that justified the investment. This paper introduces the Strategic Value Gap, defined as the disconnect between successful delivery of a strategy-driven initiative and realization of the organizational value the initiative was intended to create.
Drawing on project management, strategy implementation, benefits-realization, and Project Management Office (PMO) literature, together with practitioner observations from modernization initiatives, the paper argues that the expected value of strategy-driven work should shape how such initiatives are governed, led, managed, and evaluated from the outset. Five indicators are proposed to help identify such work: alignment to enterprise priorities, cross-organizational impact, transformational change, executive sponsorship, and long-term value creation. The paper then proposes five management practices, including the need to define and periodically reassess expected value, and considers how PMOs can help maintain the connection among strategic intent, delivery, organizational outcomes, and value realization. The central argument is not that traditional project management is insufficient, but that management approaches should be tailored to the purpose and expected value of the work being undertaken.
- Introduction: From Strategy to Organizational Value
Organizations rarely suffer from a shortage of ideas. Leaders identify opportunities, establish priorities, approve investments, launch transformation efforts, and develop plans intended to move their organizations forward. The more difficult challenge is converting those intentions into sustained organizational value.
Understanding that challenge requires clarity about strategy. Strategy is more than a collection of goals, projects, or annual priorities. Porter (1996) distinguishes strategy from operational effectiveness by emphasizing choices about how an organization will create a distinctive position and value. Rumelt (2011) similarly describes effective strategy as a coherent response to an important challenge, supported by a guiding approach and coordinated action. For purposes of this paper, strategy refers to the choices an organization makes about the priorities it will pursue, the capabilities it will develop, and the actions through which it intends to create value.
Strategy creates value only when those choices are translated into action. Strategy implementation is a dynamic organizational process involving the activities of managers and employees, organizational structures, resources, coordination, communication, and adaptation (Tawse & Tabesh, 2021; Friesl et al., 2021). In this paper, strategy execution refers specifically to the translation of organizational priorities into coordinated decisions, investments, initiatives, capabilities, behaviors, and measurable outcomes.
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How to cite this paper: Luctama-Compere, W. (2026). The Strategic Value Gap: Rethinking How Organizations Manage and Measure Strategy-Driven Projects; PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue XI, November 2026. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/pmwj170-Nov2026-Luctama-Compere-The-Strategic-Value-Gap.pdf
About the Author
Widline Luctama-Compere, EdD
Arizona, USA
Dr. Widline Luctama-Compere, PMP, SHRM-CP is an organizational leadership practitioner, educator, and researcher whose work focuses on strategy execution, organizational transformation, and organizational effectiveness. She leads complex modernization initiatives, teaches project management at Arizona State University, and serves as the Thought Leadership Program Manager for PMI Arizona. Her research explores how organizations can better execute strategy and realize long-term value through projects, programs, and portfolios.
