Note from Barry: My good friend Laura Stack has a new book coming out Monday, March 3, Execution IS the Strategy, which I highly recommend. Get your copy and special educational resources, including videos, leader guide, and complimentary bonuses at http://theproductivitypro.com/execution/bonus.
Just like the old gray mare of legend, strategic planning just ain't what it used to be. The beloved five-year plan--complete with projections and detailed financials--is history. There's barely enough time to stop and take a breath anymore, much less implement a planning tool that may be stale before it's a month old. Today's leaders and business owners rely on front-line workers to help them make reliable decisions on how to best execute the objectives in the moment that advance the organization's strategy.
By necessity, modern business strategy has become as flexible and changeable as life itself. We still need leaders to hold us to the core values that define our organizations and articulate the mission, vision, goals, and strategy, while the team defines the tactics, which shapes the strategy, as leaders make the course corrections, in a continuous cycle.
Execution itself is the only strategy that matters. A decent strategy, brilliantly executed, trumps a brilliant strategy, poorly executed. It's not about who has the best ideas--it's about who executes their ideas best. As leaders and followers form tighter partnerships, the organizations that can execute stellar strategies will hurtle forward. Indeed, Execution IS the Strategy that will propel your organization to success.
In your next staff meeting, ask your team three questions:
What ideas, projects, and programs--if implemented now or in the near future--would significantly impact the profitability or productivity of our company?What is one action we can take today to get us closer to our goals, quickly?What am I doing as a leader to get in the way and slow you down?
Be encouraged,
Laura Stack, President, The Productivity Pro, Inc.
Laura@TheProductivityPro.com
