“Every organization must be prepared to abandon everything it does to survive in the future.” — Peter Drucker

Leadership Obstacles: No execution? No results!

If the execution of a company’s plans is an avowed priority, critical to the success of both the CEO and the business, why aren’t CEOs spending enough time on it to make it successful?

Why is it that every time the Conference Board surveys CEOs to identify their Top Ten Challenges, “consistent execution of strategy” or “excellence in execution” is invariably cited as being in the top two or three “greatest concerns” … yet, when CEOs are asked about their greatest disappointments or failures, they routinely list their company’s inability to execute?

Conundrum … Mystery … Enigma?

Huh? How is it that a subject among the top three goals of most CEOs is the very one where the CEO has the least amount of success? Is this simply a conundrum tucked inside a mystery hidden inside an enigma … or can we sort out some of this ambiguity?

Creating sustainable change is damn hard

As we continue our series about the roadblocks to success, one thing we know for sure. Sustainable change, even in small doses, is very difficult to achieve.

Why is there such a universal resistance to change and what can we do to overcome it?

Why is it that we can develop a brilliant strategy to catapult us to success but simply can’t get our organization to make the changes necessary to achieve it?

What’s missing in our success formula that makes sustainable change such an elusive goal?

Every Tuesday, we’re sharing valuable and practical leadership tips and tools to help you BE a better leader so you can BECOME a better leader. For the next several weeks, we’re going to identify the recurring themes that have become obstacles in the path of our success, and figure out how to dropkick them out of our way.

We’re flat worn out

We’ve done all the work to formulate a powerful strategy but we simply ran out of steam when we were finished.

We devoted all of our available resources and employee time to formulating the strategy, but people are tired of it all so we’ve simply stopped investing in the process.

We love la-la land

We proudly announce our strategy, complete with PowerPoint and FAQs on our employee web site, and figure that since everyone now knows what needs to get done, they’ll go off and do it.

Our people are smart, they’ll figure it out, and we don’t have to do it for them. La-la land is just so warm and fuzzy ….

Brain freeze

We’ve got so many initiatives going on, in so many places, that we’re running from pillar to post to get them done.

We’ve created tremendous heat but no light.

We’re making good time … we just don’t know exactly where we’re going and we’re so caught up in the action that we can’t sustain our focus on any one thing.

Planning sucks

Wandering is a lot more fun.

Planning is hard, it takes work, and then when it’s all done, there’s even more work required to make sure people do what they were assigned.

I know we spent a lot of time to craft our strategy … but do we really need to establish specific projects and milestones to accomplish our goals … and then have to go to the trouble of assigning them to specific people to get ‘em done?

Why develop a strategy you’re not going to implement?

This roadblock may be the most nefarious, particularly for the companies that do spend the time to develop a well-considered strategy.

They embrace the importance of a communicating a strategy that everyone understands, screening out the activities that aren’t as important and distilling their goals and aspirations into a cohesive strategy … but they haven’t invested the time needed to set the milestones, identify the next action steps and assign the projects and tasks to specific individuals.

Remember … you won’t BECOME a better leader until you start BEING a better leader … implementing NOW the changes necessary to adopt the proven strategies of successful leaders. Start by building on the communication matrix and making sure you’re defending the castle to get done what only you can do. Make sure to take some time so you’re thinking past today. Read our 12 part Leadership series.

This is hard work, people

Creating meaningful change is hard work at best and requires a sustained level of effort across the entire organization. Your organization may be suffering from a few of the maladies I’ve mentioned, but if you really want to see your ideas realized, you’ll need to overcome these roadblocks.

You’ve probably heard the old phrase, “if it doesn’t get measured, it doesn’t get done.”

People need a leader, and if nobody’s watching, things tend not to get done. You must be absolutely committed to relentless implementation, and constantly remind everyone that execution is the only path to meaningful change and resounding success.

So, plan the work … and work the plan. You may be surprised at the lasting results you can achieve.

How are you doing?

How well does your company execute its plans? Are you working hard to develop plans and not very hard to implement them?

Maybe you’ve had a lot of success with it? What has worked for you?

********************************

This article was published in the February 13, 2012 edition of the North Bay Business Journal, a publication of the New York Times, and a weekly business newspaper which I have served as a regular columnist for over three years. The Business Journal covers the North Bay area of San Francisco – from the Golden Gate bridge north, including the Wine Country of Sonoma and Napa counties. The electronic version of this article, as published by the North Bay Business Journal, may be found here.

**********************************************************************************

Lary Kirchenbauer is the president of Exkalibur Advisors, providing practical business strategies for family and other privately owned businesses in the middle market. Exkalibur works closely with senior executives and their businesses in the wine and other industries, and hosts the Exkalibur Leadership Forum for leaders of middle market companies in the North Bay. Please visit Exkalibur.com for a library of valuable resources, articles and insights or connect on Twitter, LinkedIN or the Exkalibur fan page on Facebook.