Execution IS the Strategy: How Leaders Achieve Maximum Results in Minimum Time by Laura Stack

Author:Laura Stack
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Published: 2014-03-02T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

Plan for Goal Achievement

People mistrust or distrust the ambiguous—so be crystal clear about what your team members should be accomplishing in their daily activities. When you’ve communicated your expectations well, you’re more likely to get what you want, and everyone is more productive and effective.

Good strategic alignment consists of practices that connect organizational strategy with employee performance as fully and directly as possible. When you properly align your organizational structure, then your employees act as strategic enablers of the company policy, mission, and vision—all working from the same standards toward the same ends. This can only happen when upper management willingly shares its goals with everyone and sets up procedures to make sure people stay on track.

While speed is desirable, the whole goal isn’t always just move, move, move. You must still take the time to be thoughtful so that you can be more efficient in the long run. Steven Gangwish of CSS Farms told me, “I would say the biggest lesson that I’ve learned is to make a concerted effort to outline a business plan for each new venture, instead of the Ready, Fire, Aim approach. Oftentimes, just starting on a new project without formally thinking through all of the necessary success factors will slow you down and create rework.” He continued:

By forcing ourselves to be disciplined to write it all down, think through all the risks, and figure out how to mitigate cash outlays, we build optionality into our decision making. I think that has both made us a lot of money and saved us from a lot of losses as we have sought growth opportunities. We make decisions that provide us with the most options at the least cost, and we take the time to research them carefully. Then we can charge forward quickly and confidently.

In the game of business, we keep score with dollars. Profit represents the real-world manifestation of the combination of drive, focus, and efficiency we call productivity. That means ensuring your team members stay busy at what matters and in ways that move everyone toward the prize. Strategic execution ultimately governs productivity.

Let’s look at useful strategies for getting into alignment and staying there.

SHARPEN THE STRATEGY SCALPEL … AND START SLICING

We businesspeople have no time for the irrelevant. We certainly can’t afford to chase poorly defined goals, so hard-nosed practicality rules. The less important aspects of your work must either take a backseat to the crucial areas or be removed altogether, leaving only the lean, profitable core.

A great example of clarity of focus is McDonald’s. Being the number-one fast food chain in every market where it has a presence is its clear goal. Its leaders keep in touch with what’s happening around them and where consumers are spending their food dollars, so they can offer the same options less expensively. However, they never wait to see what other restaurants are doing: they create their own destiny. As a result, the McDonald’s franchise includes more than 31,000 stores with 1.5 million employees.

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