Efficient Execution

According to some researches execution is listed among the biggest challenges and failures in life of each organization. We don’t have to look only at the implementation and execution of company strategy, which might be one of the most obvious examples, but we can see the same struggling in delivering on the daily tasks: There might be too many of them or there might be a certain resistance as a result of lack of buy-in if team effort is expected.

 This might be caused by the disconnection between management and employees. The executives tend to look ahead whereas the employees want to do their job as it has always been done and they have only slight interest in placing their activity into the context.

 If we take the ever-changing reality in IT world as an example (and it is getting faster and faster), it is obvious we cannot apply the same approach as in the past. There are no longer plans carved in stone and direct lines between A and B.

 We don’t operate as separate entities any longer but we are part of real or virtual teams. We have to interact and cooperate with each other. In that light, good communication and networking skills are becoming a real value.

 Everything starts with common understanding of what should be done or achieved. The definition of the task/goal/strategy should be as simple as possible, so that everyone is able to explain it even to their grandparents during the Sunday lunch. We should limit these to just a handful to minimize future failures due to huge workload.

 Once the understanding is in place, the alignment is increased if everyone involved can come up with their own commitments.  It also helps if we are able to describe how the success will look like.

 Planning is crucial but blind clinging to the plan might be deadly. Flexibility and adaptivity should be expected as everyone’s predispositions in today’s world. You can be 100% sure there will be bumps on the road, twists and turns which should be seen as opportunities.

 In case of any complications it is the right time to seek for a help within the network. In such set-up managers don’t just make decisions, they should step into the role of coordinators. If they have to make any decisions on the fly, it should be done by taking all available information into the account.

 All the above theory sounds reasonable but the reality shows us that sometimes during the execution it is impossible to get into implementation and control phase (if I may use Lean SixSigma DMAIC improvement cycle terminology) and even if the activity gets into these stages there is still high probability of failure.

 If we want to avoid any let-downs in execution we should minimize agenda in the first instance, communicate effectively, increase awareness and alignment in the team and let the team members participate actively.