To execute strategy well, you need to know the “Execution Measures”
Execution Versus Strategic Measures
I have a very clear image of a Sales Manager full of good intent, passionate and determined, standing in front of his Sales Team outlining the budget for the quarter. (The budget is a strategic measure.) His team waits in anticipation for some direction or guidance on “How” to achieve budget, what they might focus on or change…but nothing comes. The meeting closes with, “Go for it guys…and by the way…good luck.”
I have seen this happen and not just with sales teams. The overall objective (Strategic Measure) is set but there is a distinct lack of direction on the “how” and the how is the most important part. What action will we take? How will the team need to behave to achieve this target?
This is the Execution part and to do it well you have to identify “Execution Measures.”
Measurement Drives Behaviour
The first thing to understand is that measurement drives behaviour. Once you highlight a measurement people will tend to adjust their behaviour around that target. What that means is that in your efforts to direct behaviour you have to think carefully about exactly what behaviour you want and then identify a measure specific to that behaviour.
Example
The sales manager of our team is concerned about the level of Sales activity or the number of calls the sales team are making. An easy measure would be 6 Calls per Day.
It could be though that the sales activity of 6 calls per day has already been achieved so you could be more specific…6 Call per day on our “A” class customers. Or even more specific, 6 calls per day on “A” class customers where the Sales Opportunity is greater than $4,000.
You could even work on the quality of those sales calls by identifying the 5 Key Points that need to be covered in every call. You could also use this method for Strategic Sales identifying, key influencers to be contacted or a series of critical steps in each sale.
The point is this. All results are delivered by activity and behaviour. If you identify and manage the behaviour you can influence the result. The most effective way to do this is to ensure you are clear about your Execution Measures.
We have watched Teams improve dramatically simply by improving their ability to identify Execution Measures.
Visibility
There is of course one further point. Execution Measures have to be visible. Visibility drives accountability and removes any degree of doubt about what a team or an individual in a team are focused on.
Our primary reason for building theXGAP.com, our Execution Platform was to keep laser focus on Execution Measures and to make them visible 24/7.
Summary
Giving your team clear objectives is critical but if you don’t help them with guidance on “how” to achieve the objective you are selling them short. It is a bit like a coach standing before a team prior to a game and saying, “Come on Team we have to win!” “Well yes”, the players are thinking, “We get that coach. What else?”
Find the actions and behaviour that lead to the result and measure it. Effective Execution…Identify the Execution Measures.
