Execution: It's All About Getting It Done!

Part 1 -- What Is Execution, Where Does It Start, Where Does It End

by Janice Giannini

As a trusted business consultant and advisor, Janice has been helping clients achieve their stretch goals and create a new normal since 2005. She engages with senior executives and teams, particularly in complex businesses where misalignment is blocking their desired success, to develop and execute practical business strategies and plans. Clients have found her especially helpful when they recognize they must integrate an eagle’s eye and worm’s eye view in order to identify and remove obstacles. Janice has consistently taken on those challenges that others chose to run from. This typically involves those challenging times when failure is not an option and integrating business, technology and people changes must be accomplished simultaneously. As a result, many of her clients are complex organizations who won't settle for anything less than developing widespread professional competence.

I started down the path of focusing on Execution: It's All about Getting it Done! for very practical reasons. I had encountered a multitude of situations where leaders would say, "I know where we are trying to go..." or "I've got the plan in place. Don't worry..." The common denominator was the "but" that usually followed "...but if only we could just get it done." Or, "...but why can't we get it done more effectively?"

A good strategy is a necessary foundation; however, having a solid strategy doesn't get it done in and of itself. Many times executives can get so wrapped up in the execution issues, they can lose sight of where they are really going. In the currently challenging business environment (versus 20 years ago for example) a solid execution plan is rarely just "do it faster/better/cheaper". It requires rethinking the what, why, where, and how.

So where does execution begin? As with any critical thinking process, it starts with defining what the results of an effective execution process will mean to a business, organization or team. Is it worth doing to begin with? Effective execution begins with asking many questions, and then digging until the real answers emerge.

Some questions speak to the areas of "WHAT" and "WHY" we are doing the work itself:

• WHAT work is absolutely CRITICAL to delivering our product or service?
• WHAT could we STOP DOING without any negative impact on the customer, their experience or their perceived value of us?
• Is work being performed once, or does it need to be checked and re-done?
• Do the people doing the task readily understand the workflow?
• Do they absolutely, clearly understand the "why" behind it?
• What ELSE can be done to accomplish the same goals or outcomes?
• Is it clear to the staff how the work they are performing fits into the final product or service delivery?

Some questions speak to the area of HOW we are doing it:

• How fast does "fast" need to be? Not all work is created equal, is it?
• WHERE is it done?
• Why is it done THERE?
• Why is it done THAT way?
• In WHAT OTHER WAY can it be done?
• Knowing what you have learned from experience, if you were starting this function or business today from scratch, what, if anything, would you do differently?

Some questions speak to the area of sequencing of work:

• WHEN is it done?
• Why is it done THEN?
• How OFTEN is it done?
• How often does it NEED to be done?
• WHERE is it done?
• Why is it done THERE?
• WHERE ELSE could it be done?

Some questions speak to the area of WHO does the work:

• WHO does it?
• Why do THEY do it?
• Who ELSE can do it?

The questions of, "Where do we start to examine our strategy?" and "What else do we need to be concerned about?" do not always lend themselves to simple answers. From our perspective, there are four more focal points to consider:

1. Properly defining the execution and emotional mindsets needed
2. Thinking through the plans and metrics required to succeed
3. Handling the process challenges and inevitable stumbles along the way, and
4. Creating a tight enough linkage between execution and strategy to form an iterative cycle

In the balance of these articles we will speak to these issues and the impact they have on an organization's ability to execute flawlessly.