We have always been big fans of the “Gap Meeting.” Consistently evaluating, in a disciplined way, the execution of strategy. Not quarterly or even monthly but at the very least bi-weekly. A Gap Meeting seeks to answer three questions:
What’s working?
What’s not working?
What is the reason?
How are we going to respond to success or failure?
(See R3 Gap Meeting Discipline.)
What if you critically evaluated strategy before you execute?
In other words before you hit the GO button, you carried out an exercise that answered these questions:
What is most likely to work? (Where are we strong)
What is most likely to fail? (Where are we weak?)
What could be the reason behind our success of failure? (Identify the TOP 3)
How are we going to respond?
By asking these questions it will actually bring out a greater level of clarity and you can really get on the front foot before you start. Remember Execution is dynamic, things will change, be ready.
Get some help – RED TEAM
The military have a very specific approach to this process that they call RED TEAM.
Red Team is basically a fresh set of eyes looking over your strategy, pulling it apart and asking tough questions about how it is going to be executed. Playing “devil’s advocate” if you like.
A Red Team will work best when you have a group or a single person that has some knowledge and experience in your field of endeavour but do not have any connection or vested interest in your strategy.
It’s execution insurance
How much time and effort you put into this process entirely depends on what time and resources you have at your disposal but we strongly recommend taking this step before you begin. It is like taking out an Execution Insurance Policy and it will add another level of confidence to your team efforts.
