Strategy is Only as Good as Your Execution
“Failing to plan is planning to fail” is a quote you will often hear people refer to when companies don't want to make the time to do the hard work of thinking about where they are going and what success looks like for them. The planning element is hugely important and there are many resources available that extol the importance and help write a good plan. Culturally it is traditional to start the year writing a plan and so many business owners and managers will make time to create some sort of annual plan. Having a clear vision of what you want to achieve and a plan for getting there is a good starting point.
When planning, it is useful to ensure the plan is more than a big picture overview. The strategy for execution - how the plan will get done, is critical to success. A robust plan will have clear execution factors woven into the plan. For example: How will we deliver on the plans; who will do what, by when, to what standard. How will we report on progress and what must be done next? This element of being able to action the plan is very often what separates successful companies from mediocre ones.
Do you have a plan as a company? Is it broken down into clear deliverables that are measurable and are understood by the team that has to deliver these goals? Clarity equals action. One of the useful comparisons with sports teams is to observe how high performing sports teams have very clear position roles with every member understanding what their role is there to achieve. In addition they know and understand what their strategy is for each game. This has a significant positive impact on crucial elements like communication, decision making and the ability for every team member to take action towards an agreed common goal in the intense pressure of the game. Unlike sports teams, companies do not have the ability to practise without consequence. A sports team gets to practise for the week leading up to a game before they then have to deliver on gameday. On gameday every move is observed, analysed and used for future training. A company may not have the benefit of having weekly practises but that does not mean a company cannot learn from this approach.
Strategy gives you the plan that you want to execute on. Observation and review allows you to learn from the execution of the plan. For example, how often do you review your financial figures? Small companies will often only get their financial records midway through the following year and so the information is more about compliance than learning. Large companies understand the value of reviewing data, learning from what I can teach them and applying the tweaks and changes needed to move a head more intelligently. Having internal scoreboards for daily review and monthly management accounts are a great example of this in practice. They provide a record and indication of what has happened and where you are headed. Communicating this through to the team, in a way they understand, then allows them to take the feedback and apply it to their roles and move forward with renewed confidence, knowledge and intelligence. Is this something you could apply in your business?
