Effective strategy and flawless execution are inseparable. You cannot have a great strategy without great execution, and in my experience I’m sad to report that brands tend to place more effort and time to developing a strategy and less is given to execution. To avoid failure people must understand what they are responsible for (clear job descriptions with measurable expectations), know the key decision makers, and have access to the information, training and tools they need to complete their tasks. They must practice, practice and then practice some more. And, they must be tested, tested and tested some more. These systems need to be in place.
Take a close look at this amazing video of a nearly 20 person Ferrari team changing a tire in a pitstop. You can be sure that the prep time is longer and that they’ve practiced this effort many, many times to make it flawless.
Each is trained for a specific role and teams take their preparation as seriously as drivers’, managing crewmen’s fitness and diet. They practice hundreds of pitstops until the process is instinctive. Everyone focuses on their own job. In a 2-second pitstop, there is no time to see what everyone else is doing
In the Harvard Business review article, the “Secrets to Successful Execution,” Neilson, Martin and Powers discuss their survey research of more than 26,000 people in 31 companies.
Surprisingly, even in these top companies just two-thirds of their employees agree that important strategic and operational decisions are quickly translated into action. That, is nearly 70% of employees say that their execution efforts are nowhere near flawless.
If you pay as much attention to your execution phase as you do with strategy, I’m sure your profits will rise along with customer satisfaction.
