Recently, I
was asked to share some brief reflections with a group of middle level managers
on leading execution. Please, find below my reflections.
1. Strategy is mere statement of intent
unless it gets done. Organizations need to get better in translating their
strategy intent and conceptual thoughts, usually in various PowerPoint
documents to action and results. Leading execution can therefore be reframed as
“From PowerPoint to Action” or “From PowerPoint
to Results”.
2. The nexus of increasing size of
organizations or the need for rapid scaling, diversity geographies and business
scope, competitive and fast pace markets, disruptive technologies, active
regulations and sophisticated and very aware customers, and convergence of
markets and industries create particular execution challenge for organizations
in what may look like increasing complexities and interdependencies. Yet simplifying these complexities and
interdependencies is at the heart of good execution. Managers must not further complexify internal and external processes
but must rather find ways to simplify them to execute, to achieve operational
excellence.
3. Two key parameters for measuring good
execution (assuming that strategy is right), are fast speed to market and great
customer experience. The faster our speed to market and the better our customer
experience, the better our execution or vice-versa.
4. Below are some of the things managers
must do to execute brilliantly.
a. Outside-In Thinking: Product, service
and programs must be designed from the viewpoint of what the customer wants and
internal processes aligned to deliver the product or service, the way the
customer wants it. In many instances, organizations design their product and
services to fit their internal processes and not the need of the customer
leading to poor customer experience and poor execution.
b. Define clear end goals and design
program and processes backwards: Usually a key reason for poor execution is
fuzzy or lack of clarity about end goals which leads to poor process design
that sub-optimizes program delivery. While in some experimentation instances,
it may be difficult to define sharply our end goals, nevertheless it would
still be imperative to define at least broad qualitative outcomes that such
program must deliver and processes designed backwards from such defined
outcomes.
c. Define and understand clearly program
dependencies internally and externally. Seek and get alignment of these
dependencies before your begin execution of the program.
d. Understand your resource constrains and
align priorities: Rarely will managers have infinite resources to do all that
they conceive. Clear priorities and trade off must be set within the context of
resource constrain; and necessary alignment sought with stakeholders and
dependencies to execute flawlessly. An average manager or organizational unit
is likely to be unable to execute more than three to four high level priorities
at the same time. Long list of priorities mean no real priority in which priorities
pull resources from each other usually in different directions leading to
sub-optimal outcomes.
e. Define measureable goals, milestones,
timelines and accountabilities: Well defined milestones that indicate the
program is on track are critical to execution. Lack of well- defined and
measurable milestones create irreversible resource investment in which significant
resource is sunk before the organization realizes that program is not on track
or program will not deliver the desired outcome. The organization would be
stuck on a wrong journey with sub-optimal outcomes steering in the face of
managers, yet they would find it difficult to re-track the program due to irreversibly
sunk quantum of investments.
f.
Know
the numbers that matter, the leading and lagging indicators that show your
program is on track or otherwise. Every program should have leading indicators
or proxies that send early warnings or comfort that desired periodic outcome of
programs or market actions would be delivered or otherwise. In consumer goods industry
for example, the trajectory of periodic tracking of brand preference is usually
a lead indicator of medium term sales. Even if sales are strong today, it will
eventually align with the trajectory of brand preference if it is in decline. Do
you know the leading or lagging indicators of your program’s eventual outcomes?
Do you measure them and take proactive measures to correct their trajectories
if they are in the negative?
g. Leverage technology maximally to
simplify complexities, eliminate or shorten manual processes and deliver great
customer experience.
h. Learn project management skills:
Every manager today giving the increasing interdependency of their work and
resource constrains, must have project management competency. The days are gone
when project management skills of the firm would reside in few managers in the
project office. As a manager, you are managing one form of project or the other
with defined by end goal, cost or finite resource and defined deliverable time.
Optimizing effectively these variable makes project management a sine-qua non for all managers.
i.
Engagement,
leadership and good inter-personal skills are critical to good execution.
Managers will never work alone. They work in interdependency with other
managers. Leading execution implies that engagement, leadership and
interpersonal skills to motivate the right alignment with other managers, to
engage them, to align their incentives with program and service outcomes become
critical. Leadership is not necessarily about hierarchy but about program role.
If you are product, service or program manager, you must lead, engage, manage
and motivate your dependencies to deliver what is required of them to deliver
on overall program outcomes.
j.
Lastly,
good execution provides a great feedback loop for firms to validate and
fine-tune their strategy in a dynamic world. If there is good execution and the
desired results are not forthcoming, it is clear that strategy needs to be
changed, fine-tuned or assumptions revalidated. If there is no good execution,
the firm will never know if strategy is right or otherwise and may be stuck for
too long on a wrong path.
Wishing you
the best as you lead execution.
Olu Akanmu
May 2017
