Organisations invest a lot of time and money developing and communicating strategy, but there seems to be an ongoing challenge with the short and long-term execution of that strategy. Some people jump on board and others, even though they understand, agree with and even desire the strategy or change, just don’t seem to be able to execute. And those who were originally onboard can eventually give up because it’s too hard to carry on or keep motivating others to come along on the ride. In most cases, over time, people will revert to their comfort zones and go back to doing things the way they used to.
So…..Strategy….tick! Execution….ba bowwww!
Ram Charan and Larry Bossidy in their book ‘Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done’ suggest that..
“ The absence of execution is the single biggest obstacle to success and at the cause of most of the disappointments that are mistakenly attributed to other causes”.
They submit that execution:
- is a discipline
- is the major job of the business leader, and
- must be a core element of a company’s culture.
All true.
Much of the consulting industry solution to this problem is to provide structure and discipline. I read words like…’rigour’ and ‘following through’ and ‘rewards’. I see phrases like ‘assessing organisational capabilities’ and ‘ensuring accountability’. And these are all valid and useful, and I can see how they might be inspiring for those at the top grasping for answers.
When I work with executive teams, they are really good at talking the talk around execution (using many of the words from the previous paragraph). They know how it ‘should’ be done, but they admit they are not very good at making it happen, even when they have a plan.
I see these approaches as ‘top-down’, and I think there is something missing…I think there is also a ‘bottom-up’ approach that is needed to complement the strategic and structured programs that are cascaded throughout an organisation.
To implement strategy (or even to keep people on task with their daily work) you need humans who are engaged with the strategy, motivated to make the behaviour change needed, and who have the drive to see it through. And those humans need to be led by leaders who can clearly set the relevant focus for the humans, keep the humans focused, and hold the humans accountable to that focus over the long term.
Have I made my point….it’s all about humans.
And what’s missing for many leaders is a depth of knowledge about how humans are ‘wired’, how they are motivated, how to deal with them uniquely to connect with their wiring and hence connect them with the intrinsic reward of the proposed outcomes – or put much more simply, to help them discover what’s in it for them (because telling them won’t work!!).
Michelle