Execution

If you create a business plan and it is all there in writing, what happens next? Assume you let your executives read the plan, they understand what you want, and they tell you they like it, does it happen? We all know the answer: the plan does not happen without effort all the way around. That effort is called execution.

There is a book on the subject, which I recommend, called Execution The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. Although I like the book, my terminology is somewhat different.

The business plan must be realistic and set clear goals. The executives must honor the goals and the strategy of the plan by establishing methods of measuring performance and milestones for noting and marking progress to the goals. The employees who are making accomplishments must be recognized and rewarded. There must be a flexible enough environment, open to change, to allow adjustments to be made. The most important adjustment is that the right people must be in the right positions to accomplish the goals of the plan. The most important task of the executive is to have the right people in the right jobs at the right time.

If we promote employees to the level of their incompetence or place employees based on something other than merit, the business plan will not be successfully executed. To make these decisions, we must have accurate and immediate information about employee performance. Note there is nothing here about owners or executives accomplishing tasks – that should not be in the plan and it is not part of the execution of the plan.