The failure rate of plan execution is something we all know. Leaders spend a lot of time and effort creating plans only to discover that other issues arise and lead us further from the organizational goals. How can we be agile, adaptable, and responsive while not letting our big ideas sit in the sand?
Mastering the art and science of adherence is a great way to start planning for subsequent years. World-class leaders and organizations use this proven formula to increase execution and win!
No matter what type of plan you are executing, whether it's strategic, risk management or product roll-out. I have noticed three things that organizations stick to their plans and achieve their goals in common.
These are the 3 Things Business Leaders Can Do to Make Their Organization More Successful. You can plant the seeds for victory by focusing on your strengths, boosting competence, and instilling passion. Although you might not immediately see tangible results, growth is always beneath the surface. You will see momentum building over time, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of victory.
Focus gives you the clarity to make decisions supporting your most important goals. This habit creates a clear path to success. Strength-based strategies can be an effective tool to increase motivation and performance. When considering the cost and the impact, strength-based strategies can be a worthwhile investment for leaders. Yet, this approach seems not to get enough space in the leaders' repertoire. You must not focus on the negatives if you want to succeed. Instead, capitalize on your strengths. While constructive feedback and a critical eye can be great, many people blame themselves for their mistakes; a paradigm shift is needed. Having a focus on our weaknesses only leads to more weaknesses. Compulsive fault-finding does not work as a self-improvement strategy.
Martin Seligman, the father of Positive Psychology, says that to be happy and live a fulfilling life truly, one must first recognize and then use their strengths for the greater good. Seligman advises that we spend time figuring out our strengths, not wasting our precious time or life on jobs that don't suit us or take us away from what we were meant to do. This is how happiness can be found. Should we not all focus on our strengths instead of wasting time doing other things? Pareto Principle demonstrates how focusing on what is essential can lead to tremendous success.
The Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule, is widely accepted as a principle in all aspects of life. Sales executives use it to identify their most important customers. They know that 20% of customers make up 80% of their revenue, and 20% of their products make up 80%. They know that if they can identify 20% of their customers, they need to focus all their efforts on that 20%. This will help you achieve more results quickly and efficiently.
Focusing your attention and energy on essential customers will reap benefits for your bank account. Good customers will turn into great customers. You can apply this principle to all aspects of your life. Imagine the results if you only focused on what you are good at. You could stop doing work that does not add value and focus on the work you can do for someone else. This will ensure you get the results you want faster by focusing your energy on your strengths.
Competency: We can use competence in its broadest meaning. It includes all skills, processes, tools, and systems that a team uses to reach its goals. The outcome is the ability to set, measure and achieve your goals. Building competence answers the question of "how?" What strategy will you implement? You will learn along the way. After completing each task, ask yourself, "What should you stop, start, or keep?" Identify the things that didn't go as planned (Stop), the helpful ones (Start), or those that went well. Continuously improving your performance is a great way to build competence. It turns good to great! Ask the right questions – This is the fastest way to improve the answers you get from others and yourself. Asking the right questions will lead to better answers, whether you're asking others or yourself. You can limit or expand the possibilities by asking questions.
Be decisive; make sure you get 80 per cent of all the information you require, then you can make the best decisions. Do not let perfection stop you from doing good things. Good judgment is based on experience, some of which comes from poor judgment.
Passion: Fosters a sense of connectedness. It connects teammates, creates a connection with our human need to do meaningful work, and each person's sense of value and contributions. How can you ignite passion? Stanford scholars suggest that instead of "finding your passion", try to develop it. Researchers say that mantras like "find your passion" have hidden meanings. These mantras suggest that if an interest is resonant, it will be easy to pursue. However, research has shown that people are more likely to give up on their interests when they face unavoidable challenges. In the organizational setup, encourage a passion for the work, task or project the employees are working on. Link the work to the employee's personal development, showing the connection between what they do, what the company is trying to achieve, and how they contribute significantly will help induce passion at work.
It is crucial to understand how to manage aspects of strategy execution. Management well is the key to success. It is essential to be aware of the potential opportunities and obstacles. However, it is not enough. How to overcome them and achieve positive execution results is the real problem. Instead of trying too many things, having a simple process of three actions starting with identifying the focus areas, next building competency along the way and finally inducing passion will significantly help improve the strategy execution.
About the Author
Parthi is an expert in solving an organization's complex problems through accurate diagnosis, designing, innovation, agility, and execution excellence. Parthi expertise is in Decision Making Process, Leadership Communication, OD, Learning Strategies, and implementation, He is a Certified OB/OD Professional.