The
Execution Challenge
Executing strategic goals is potentially the greatest
challenge facing any organization.
It is even more important than having
a great strategy in the first place. Too many good leaders fall
short of their most important goals for lack of an institutionalized
execution process that brings results. Now, imagine the power of
an organization where everyone knows the goal and how to achieve
it with excellence!
Why
Execution Breaks Down
There are four main reasons why execution breaks down:
-
People don’t know the goal.
Our research shows that only 15 percent of employees actually
know their organization’s most important goals. There
are either no goals or too many goals—or people aren’t
sure which goals matter most.
- People
don’t know what to do about the goals. It’s
one thing to know a goal—it’s quite another to know
what to do to achieve it. Too many people are excited about
the strategy, wanting to contribute, but are unsure what role
to play.
- People
don’t know “the score”. Most workers
don’t know what the key measures of success are. Although
mired in data, they can’t tell if they are winning or
not—or what they must do differently from day to day to
win in the end.
- People
aren’t accountable for the goals. Fewer than
12 percent of workers meet with a manager even monthly to talk
about progress on key goals. Accountability falters and people
are left wondering what to do.
As
a result of these breakdowns in execution, people are caught up
in a whirlwind of “busyness”—trying hard to make
a difference, to contribute something that someone will care about—while
the most important organizational priorities get lost in a storm
of demands that ultimately count for little.
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