February 24, 2010

Execute! Don’t Pontificate!

I recently received an e-mail from my reader that reiterated the importance of a focus on Strategy Execution. I though I would share our conversation with you.

My Reader:
“Refreshingly candid thinking on the topics of differentiation, strategy and execution. Furthermore, the writing style is very approachable, and avoids jargon that permeates much of the management consulting industry.
I especially like your thinking around a bias for action, rather than conceptualizing ad infinitum or worse, pontificating. I earned an MBA a few years ago, and we developed strategy as part of the curriculum, however did not get into strategy execution, which as you say is more important. The best ideas of men and mice, so it goes.
I am working on an initiative to get my company into cloud computing, which makes your insights timely. Here’s the thing, we need to get into the market or risk losing existing business. And we need to do it quickly. A bias for action working with a corporate culture with a bias for reviewing, careful study, concensus, wide involvement, layered management. Certainly presents a challenge to rapidly deploy.”

My Reply:
“I share your concerns when study and review dominate action! This typically happens when:
- middle management feels they need to add value to the decision-making process (and slow the progress down as a result).
- people seek more information to make the ‘perfect plan (which doesn’t exist in any event - the illusive dream).
- there is an aversion to taking risk (people may have been punished for past mistakes which makes them reluctant to step out and take a risky decision)

The bottom line is: don’t give up on this, as all organizations have this inertia challenge. The thing that separated the good ones from the great BE DiFFERENT ones is the presence of people who care enough about the company and are tenacious about pursuing the truly critical things that need to be done. And they have a passion for staying the course of progress even at their own discomfort.”

Careful review and assessment of any new venture IS important, but only to the extent that it adds to the quality of the plan and decision to be made. Catering to the egos and self-gratification of layers of management is a waste of time, resources and it could impair an effective competitive response. AND it frustrates the warriors in the organization who want to make a difference and are frustrated by the internal roadblocks they face when trying to advance meaningful programs that contribute to success and survival.

My Reader’s insights on the education system are impressive, for indeed I strongly believe formal business education needs to be bleached in the practices that have proven to work in the real world and not based solely on management theory promulgated by ‘teachers’ who have very little practical and proven experience in leading or operating a business.

BE DiFFERENT take-aways:
- Execution ALWAYS trumps excessive study and review.
- An imperfect strategy well-executed BEATS a theoretically pristine plan that can’t be implemented.
- Competitive advantage is more about SPEED than the ‘perfect plan’.
- Formal Business education needs to be RENEWED with a strong emphasis on the executional element of strategy.

Leaders….. lead! Get involved. Cleanse the internal environment of barriers to action including the people that create them. Baby steps are required to develop an action-oriented, risk taking culture. Take them NOW.

Connect with me and let me know what you think.

Cheers, Roy
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Anticipate well; React Brilliantly!
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Posted 2.24.10 at 08:00 am by Roy Osing | Read Comments (0) | Leave a Comment