Execute, Execute, Execute
The lack of committed visionary leadership will doom any transformation aspirations. However, will the presence of such leadership assure success? The simple answer is, “No!”
Great aspirations and ideas need compelling plans to succeed. Further, these plans have to be successfully executed to realize these aspirations. Quite often, plan fall prey to inabilities to execute. Consider the following examples:
- Marketing and sales functions fail to leverage natural competitive advantages, focused instead on business as usual and trying to promote fading ideas and dying brands.
- Sales and proposal functions fail to pay attention to idiosyncrasies of new market opportunities, resulting in non-compliant proposals and lost business opportunities.
- Financial management functions fail to pay attention to the new cost structures of emerging market opportunities, for example “peanut buttering” overhead costs across opportunities where these costs are unwarranted.
- IT and web support functions fail to maintain and update capabilities, resulting on stodgy and out of date capabilities, or perhaps capabilities that simply do not function at all.
What is going on in such organizations? There are several possibilities. Perhaps strategists and planners have not translated their high-level plans to specific action plans for these functions. Thus, these functions are unaware of needs for any different behaviors.
Another possibility is the “as is” business simply consumes all capabilities. There is little, if anything, left to devote to the “to be” business. Keeping the status quo functioning is all consuming, even when the status quo is on a downward spiral. There is no energy left to nurture change.
Yet another explanation is that the staff members in these functions simply “do what they do.” Regardless of any newly articulated strategies and plans, people put in their time until the end of the day and then go home. The next day, they do the same things again. No one holds them accountable for anything, other than showing up.
At worst, people resent being held accountable. They are used to placidly positive annual reviews and modest raises, both of which prompt considerable grumbling. They are used to being liked and fitting in. They are used to much of the workday being devoted to discussions of children, schools, and sports.
To assure execution of plans from top to bottom of the organization, senior leadership has to convince everyone that change is for real. A sense of urgency has to be created. This may require large-scale replacement of the “no accounts” with new people eager to pursue change. Key functions might be outsourced to high performing providers. Poorly performing divisions might be sold or liquidated. The key is to get everybody paying attention to execution, and either executing or leaving.
