• Execution Plain & Simple
• Ruthless Execution
• Execution & the Behaviour Factor

Ruthless Execution

In Ruthless Execution, Amir Hartman, offers another voice to the position that execution is a concern of vital importance for today's leaders. Hartman defines 'ruthless execution' as the method and strategies business leaders employ to breakthrough performance walls.

Critical to Breakthrough Performance Obstacles

Where Robert Neiman (see review of Execution Plain & Simple in this newsletter) focuses on the importance of execution to gain and keep a competitive edge, Hartman's focus is on the critical necessity of execution in tough times, when businesses have run into difficulty or are facing performance obstacles. He echoes Neiman in that execution is often ignored as boring and uninspiring especially in the good times and observes that in times of robust growth, there is a focus on growth in the top line and on strategies and culture. However, he posits that it is precisely because execution is ignored that businesses end up facing performance problems when the tough times do arrive.

Strategic Recalibration

Like Nieman, execution for Hartman means detailed and disciplined actions beginning with the organization's strategy. The first step in trying to overcome a performance obstacle is the process of strategic recalibration which is intended to deepen and sharpen that analysis, to make the whole process of scrutinizing the causes for that poor performance much more clear, much more visible. It is the unfortunate truth that many companies do not embrace the kind of rigorous analytical process that is needed at such critical times, preferring to make decisions in an ad-hoc fashion that keeps them from making true progress.

Discipline. Detail. Follow Through.

For both Hartman and Neiman, execution is about disciplined, controlled, detailed actions following through until completion. The book is filled with examples of well known business leaders such as Jack Welch, Lou Gerstner and Larry Bossidy who have demonstrated what Hartman considers Ruthless Execution and makes interesting reading.

Execution and the Behaviour Factor

In the book 'Unlock Behaviour, Unleash Profits', Dr. Leslie Braksick brings a different perspective on the issue of execution but still repeats the message that execution is vital to organizational success. The author weighs in with these words.

"Executives are discovering that vision and strategy aren't enough to ensure the success of their organizations and the initiatives they want to implement. They're finding out that even the most compelling vision, and even the strategy that looks absolutely failure-proof on paper, do not always hold up to the test of implementation and execution."

Behaviour - the Key to Execution

Braksick's message is that 'behaviour' is key to good execution and lasting results because it is through the behaviour of your employees that you not only have the 'what', but also the 'how' to back it up.

Braksick defines behavior as anything a person says or does (good or bad) as well as that which a person does not say or do (sitting silently is still a behavior). He posits that leaders need to understand and address the laws that govern human behaviour in order to maximize the effectiveness of execution.

Four Major Themes

The author outlines four major themes to remember

1. Your behavior as a leader directly affects everyone within your organization.
2. Everyone's behavior is a response to the environment in which it occurs. Organizations are perfectly designed to get what they get, for better or for worse. In other words, what we reinforce or encourage, good or bad, is exactly what we get.
3. Your behavior directly influences your organization's profitability. Most of your leadership efforts (your behaviors) are directed toward increasing profits and shareholder value. So, the better you understand the effects of your behavior, and the better you learn to analyze those effects separately from your intentions, the better you can really influence profitability.
4. You have powerful tools for optimizing your leadership behavior and the performance of everyone around you.

Behavior Is the Key to Success

Behavior is they key, not only to individual success, but to the overall success of organizations. When it comes to executing strategies, for example, Braksick specifies four major things that are required to successfully implement sustained change in organizations:

1. The right strategic goals of the business,
2. The right processes to make the business work,
3. The right behaviors for making strategy and process work, and
4. The right consequences to support the behaviors that drive all key outcomes.

• Behavior is the secret to how your good strategies are executed.
• Behavior is the key to how your good processes get implemented.
• Behavior explains how your organization's cultures can be integrated
• In fact, aside from market conditions, competition, and other factors you cannot control, the success of your organization depends on your behavior and the behavior of your people.

Behavior is the enabler that makes strategy and process work. If you want a good review of how to address behaviour in your organization, pick up a copy of 'Unlock Behaviour, Unleash Profits', by Dr. Leslie Braksick.

——————

Leadership Perspectives selects 2 or 3 key books, articles, learning stories & best practices each issue that offer fresh perspectives & new ideas on dealing with the challenges of:

• Formulating & communicating vision,
• Developing strategy,
• Motivating & inspiring stakeholders & team members,
• Discerning future trends, &
• Developing leadership skills

We'd love your feed back and to hear of any topics you would like to see addressed.

 

To unsubscribe from our mailing list, click the link at the bottom left of this page. Or simply reply to this message with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.

©Copyright 2005
All Rights Reserved
T: (416) 657-2331 ------ F: (416) 538-1466
www.management-transitions.com -

Peter Buchanan, President
peterjmb@management-transitions.com
Management Transitions Limited
3219 Yonge St, Suite 372
Toronto, Ontario
M4N 2L3

1. Releasing untapped potential
2. Dealing with change
3. Growing managers and leaders

• Work started but not completed
• Work delivering less than performed
• Time and budget commitments not being met
• Errors and rework from mere trivialities
• Huge and costly oversights

The Twelve Step Approach

Neiman's approach to maximizing execution in your organization is two fold:

1. Follow the 12 steps that represent basic discipline that he outlines in the book
2. Harness crisis-like events in small-scale, rapid cycle, breakthrough projects

In these projects, managers step up to higher goals and learn to use execution disciplines to escape the embedded organizational, psychological and cultural barriers that put a false ceiling on organizational performance.

The book is separated into two parts. Part I outlines the 12 basic steps to accomplishing any goal on time and on budget.

Step 1: Take Responsibility

Neiman points out that it is tempting for individuals to sidestep issues when obstacles are encountered and transfer the responsibility to someone or something else. The end result of this sidestepping is that individuals begin taking responsibilities for actions and activities rather than objectives and outputs. The failure of individuals to take responsibility for objectives and show initiative in reaching goals is one of the most common and easiest ways to derail execution.

Step 2: Define the Assignment in Writing

The point of defining an assignment in writing (whether it has been assigned to you or whether you are just taking it on out of initiative) is to ensure clarity. Things will often seem clear when described verbally but when the task of setting the details down on paper is approached, questions, uncertainties and holes will rise to the surface. Neiman points out that there are two dimensions to an assignment:

1. Explicit issues such as the goal, background, timetable, etc and
2. Implicit issues such as the role of the assignee, accountability, capacity etc.

This step is critical to lay a solid foundation for moving forward and to flush out hidden assumptions.

Step 3: Build a Team; Build a Strategy

The objective of building a core team is to establish a consistent leadership group, bring different points of view to develop the best plan, and have a group of people that can be counted on for various aspects of the project. Neiman outlines the various qualities you need to look for such as competence, influence, and loyalty and so on.

By 'build a strategy' Neiman means defining the basic approach you will take to carry out the effort and which will be the basis for detailed planning and action. He recommends that you keep it flexible and include the political and psychological dimensions.

Step 4: Test the Strategy

In this step, Neiman recommends that you test the strategy before you go into detailed planning and action. He outlines four steps in a testing process designed to develop understanding and interest and enable you to take advantage of new insights.

Step 5: A Compelling Kickoff Event

The kickoff event launches the strategy once it has been tested. It can range from a short meeting to a multi-day affair depending upon the project. It defines the transition from strategy formulation to action.

Step 6: Develop a Detailed Work Plan

At this point, it is time to set down all of the details that will define the process and guide the project forward. Define the results you are after and the dashboard of performance data you will use to assess your progress towards them. Set out a clear work program and define the resources need in terms of budget and people.

Step 7: Make Demands Effectively

From the start to finish of the 12 Steps, you will have to make demands effectively. Demand making is a complex and subtle process that has to be done well or it can lead to counter productive results. Neiman addresses five aspects of the demand making process and discusses in detail the psychology and dynamics of making demands.

Step 8: Follow Up

Neiman describes the follow up process as a balancing act that stays away from both extremes - neither too heavy handed nor too laissez-faire. The right touch is the effective follow up that reinforces and advances actual progress while it supports the growth of the people involved. He discusses a variety of review strategies that can help achieve this balance.

Step 9: Use Political Skills

As Neiman points out, political skill is necessary to get things done in an organization. He addresses, in depth, the following five basic political skills necessary for execution:

1. Focus on readiness rather than resistance
2. Get behind the masks that difficult people wear
3. Build a mission and a constituency that can win
4. Communicate a consistent message strategically
5. Deal with the unengageable few

Step 10: Use Creative Problem Solving

It is a given that obstacles will be met in any normal project undertaking. Neiman emphasizes that persistence, creativity and improvisation are crucial tools to be used in overcoming them and outlines a few of the many tools and methods available.

Step 11: Manage a Final Push

In practice, as the end of a project nears, people's enthusiasm often starts to wear off - whether it is because they have lost interest because their main involvement is completed or whether they are just burnt out. Maintaining the enthusiasm through to the end is crucial and takes more that a final reporting meeting.

Step 12: Capture and Share Lessons Learned

Neiman stresses that significant ongoing value from a project will be lost unless time is taken to reflect and document what went right and what went wrong. These lessons learned then need to be shared with the rest of the organization and leveraged forward into future projects. Too often this step is left out in the rush to move on to something else.

A Great Field Guide to Accelerated Execution

Part II of the book addresses 'accelerated execution', meaning how to get the organization moving even faster and better once you have the 12 basic steps down.

Neiman does a good job of outlining the theory, including teaching stories and providing worksheets to be used in the performance of each step. 'Execution Plain and Simple' presents ideas, tools and cases to demonstrate effective execution in practice and is an effective field guide for anyone wanting to increase organizational performance.

——————

If you'd like to purchase Execution Plain & Simple, just click on this link to get it from