Are you working in an organization which values execution by leaders at all levels? Are the leaders in your organization relentlessly focused on achieving significant results?
One of the most powerful questions one can ask oneself in the present moment is “Are we honestly surfacing the realities of the business?” Extraordinary leaders execute and hold people accountable for results.
Are you focused on reality and getting things done? How effective are you at meshing your strategy with reality and aligning people with goals? Are you passionate about achieving goals at work that emotionally engage your people?
3 Core Processes:
People, Strategy & Operations
The heart of execution lies in the three core processes: the people process, the strategy process and the operations process. Every business uses these processes in one form or another. The three core processes of people, strategy and operations are familiar to practitioners of the Balanced Scorecard and the Strategy-Focused Organization management approaches.
In a study of winning companies that spanned more than ten years, professors William Joyce and Nitin Nohria found that there were four primary management practices that directly correlate with superior corporate performance, as measured by total return to shareholders. Winning companies achieve excellence in all four of these primary practices: execution, strategy, culture and structure (What Really Works, 2003).
However, more often than not, these three core processes stand apart from one another like silos. Typically, the CEO and his senior leadership team allot less than half a day each year to review the plans – people, strategy, and operations. Typically, too, the reviews are not particularly interactive. People sit passively and watch PowerPoint presentations.
They don’t debate, and as a result often they get few useful outcomes. People leave with no commitments to the action plans they’ve helped create. This is a formula for failure. What is needed is:
• Robust dialogue to surface the realities of the business
• Accountability for results – discussed openly and agreed to by those responsible for getting things done
• Rewards for the best performers
• Follow-through to ensure that progress tracks to the plans
Working with a seasoned executive coach trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating leadership assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-i and CPI 260 can help you become a leader known for relentless execution. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence, and who inspires people to become happily engaged with the strategy and vision of the company.
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