Managers who excel at execution are religiously focused on daily action and behaviour. They understand that the success of their plan or strategy depends on their ability to mobilize people in a specific way.
It is not about just generating activity. That can be counter-productive. It is about the RIGHT ACTION and the RIGHT BEHAVIOUR at the RIGHT TIME. Here are three principles:
Break it down.
Break your strategy down into executable parts keeping your focus simple and clean. This will allow you to provide clear (black and white) direction to your team. It is sometimes difficult to remove complexity but once you peel back the layers you will arrive at two or three key actions at the heart of any challenge.
Choose actions connected to the result.
Zero in on precisely how the team collectively and each team member individually needs to behave and act in order to deliver success. Choosing the RIGHT actions means every action is connected to the result.
It also means being decisive on what to STOP doing, clearing the way for what is important.
Daily Action – The TOP 3
Ultimately it all comes down to Daily Action. Because the strategy is always executed in a dynamic environment you have to maintain a relentless focus on action. The right action today might not necessarily be the right action tomorrow.
Make sure each member of your team knows precisely what his or her Top 3 Actions are at any given time. This can mean a check at the end of the Team Meeting or even the discipline of a 5min “daily stand-up” to hear each person’s top three actions. Good questions to consider when listening to anyone’s Top 3:
Are they connected to the Result?
Do they need to be done now?
Is there anything more important?
Final Comment
You can tinker with a lot of things in business, organisational structure, personnel, communication strategy and so on, but one thing is certain, it is an inescapable fact that the daily action and behaviour of your team is what delivers the result.
Maintain a relentless focus on daily action and the result will take care of itself
