Strategy into Action™
I believe that most organizations who have “strategy issues” do not suffer from the lack of a strategy.
They know what they want to do. They just don’t do it.
Throughout this month’s issue, I’ll highlight the 4 most common pitfalls that stall execution, and share ideas of how I have been successful overcoming them to help teams actually do what they keep talking about.
YOUR BUSINESS
Start doing, and stop doing...
This is the HARD PART! And it underlies all of the execution pitfalls I will discuss in this month’s column:
Getting people to stop doing what they ARE doing and start doing what they NEED TO BE doing is the biggest obstacle to getting new things done.
Top Four Pitfalls to Execution
- Lack of shared clarity on the “Can’t Fails”
- Resource plan developed off-line
- Trust instead of explicit tracking
- Employees don’t really know what to do differently (and don’t really care)
YOUR PEOPLE
Nodding Heads is a RED Flag
Getting the organization from the head-nodding-stage to the doing-stage requires significantly more effort.
Give your people a reason to care
People don’t respond to new strategies. They respond to what they care about.
Real leadership is investing the energy to give your people clarity and a reason to care, by making sure that:
- Everyone responsible for executing your strategy knows exactly what to do.
- They WANT to do it more than they want to keep doing what they are doing.
Many organizations who are ready to announce their new strategy or initiative to the organization fall into a specific trap.
YOUR VISIBILITY
Defending your honor and your budget
I have one main point to make here:
Think like a general manager even if you are not one.
As a leader, remember a big part of your job is to make tradeoffs that create “room” to do new things. This is obviously core to the job if you are a CEO or a GM, but even if you are not, thinking like one will go far to build your credibility and your budget.
The best way to defend your budget is to be seen as someone who is managing spending.
The critical factor in managing spending is to reduce your unit cost, or your cost of doing a program year on year.
Here's how:
YOUR LIFE
Do something specific
While we are talking about putting strategies into action, here is a quick reminder to take this thought home too.
You and your family probably have “a someday we should go/do …. “
Or you may be struggling to find time for yourself and your family at all.
Waiting for good things to happen spontaneously can be fun when they happen, but if you use up all of your time and energy working, you won’t be there when they do!
I hope you have found a few useful ideas that you can apply right away to start building value in your career and business.
If you were sent this issue of
The Desired Outcome by a friend,
Sign up now,
to get your own copy each month.
About Patty
Patty Azzarello became the youngest general manager at Hewlett Packard ever at the age of 33. She ran a $1B software business at the age of 35 and was a CEO for the first time at the age of 38.
Patty Azzarello is the CEO of Azzarello Group, www.AzzarelloGroup.com a unique services organization that works with companies to develop and motivate their top performers, and with individuals to build success in their business and career, based on a systematic leadership approach she created from her personal experience.
