Viewpoint - December 2018

It’s all about the Execution by Bob Gershberg, CEO/Managing Partner Wray Executive Search “We have a strategic plan. It’s called doing things.” Herb Kelleher, co-founder and former CEO of Southwest Airlines A brilliant strategy may put you on the map but only solid execution can keep you there. Countless hours are spent creating business and strategic plans with all too little follow through to execute the strategy. In their book, Execution: The Discipline of getting Things Done, Larry Bossidy and Ron Charan make the case for execution as a discipline or “systematic way of exposing reality and acting on it”. Proper execution, they professed, lies in three core areas; people, strategy and operations. “The people process is more important than either the strategy or operations processes,” they wrote. “After all, it’s the people of an organization who make judgments about how markets are changing, create strategies based on those judgments, and translate the strategies into operational realities." A strategy needs to be communicated succinctly to an entire organization for effective execution. Every manager needs to know what decisions or actions she or he is responsible for. Constant flow of information to the field will enable successful implementation and informed decision making. Persistent evaluation of the barriers to effective execution is essential for positive results. The strategy execution process can be threatened by various factors. Having a solid plan of execution and implementation as a part of the strategic plan is required. The execution plan or component must lay out clearly the key decisions and actions required for making the strategy work. The interdependence or interactions among key factors must be spelled out, and well understood. Responsibility and accountability for decisions and actions must be clear and agreed upon, with areas of overlapping responsibility and need for cooperation laid out and committed to by key personnel. Measuring the strategy and regularly reporting progress is of great importance. And, as is the case with all areas of management, do not forget to reward performance. Execution is always a challenge. Important strategic and operational decisions must be translated into actions quickly. People must know what it is they are responsible for, which decisions they must make and have the information required to fulfill their responsibilities. It’s all about the execution! All the best, Bob Gershberg |CEO|Managing Partner| bob.gershberg@wraysearch.com (888) 875-9993 ext 102 Finding tomorrow’s leaders today!

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