{"id":67,"date":"2007-11-17T12:59:41","date_gmt":"2007-11-17T16:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/?p=67"},"modified":"2008-12-12T11:01:59","modified_gmt":"2008-12-12T16:01:59","slug":"systemic-solutions-to-execution-problems-the-process-of-crossing-the-knowing-doing-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/67\/systemic-solutions-to-execution-problems-the-process-of-crossing-the-knowing-doing-gap","title":{"rendered":"Systemic Solutions to Execution Problems: The Process of Crossing the “Knowing-Doing Gap”"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the past three years I have been invited to be a guest lecturer on \u201cstrategic thinking\u201d at a special event at the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Wharton School of Business. Typically I have about 120 senior executives in my class and during the session I will pose this question: \u201cWhat percentage of the time do companies that have a clear vision and a specific plan to achieve that vision, effectively execute to that plan?\u201d <\/span>The answer I most often get is 10-15% of the time. Wow, that is scary<\/p>\n

This is one of the biggest issues I face in all of my consulting and training assignments. <\/span>It is what we refer to in our firm as the \u201cKnowing-Doing Gap.\u201d Companies know what they are supposed to do, they have a solid plan to dominate their market – but creating a performance-oriented culture of disciplined execution that can effectively implement the plan seems to be a challenge that few can conquer. <\/span>If that were not frustrating enough, when you step back and look at the financial implications they can be staggering. Inability to execute to plan is likely responsible for the overwhelming percentage of lost revenues in most large organizations.<\/p>\n

The solution to this dilemma is simple, but by no means easy. As much as I hate to admit it, the only cure to this problem is: Process. The leader must put into place a detailed system; a defined and repeatable process for identifying, clarifying, prioritizing, assigning responsibility, implementing, reviewing and rewarding against specific goals and high standards of professionalism. Consistent and effective execution does not happen by chance. Again, holding a two-day offsite to build a strategic plan is a great idea, but it is merely the very first small step in a long and arduous process of making sure the plan is well communicated and effectively implemented. Only with a highly focused system of goal setting, monitoring and management to the goals, can any leader hope to keep her people on track and successful in taking their business plan and making it a business reality.<\/p>\n

Oh, and by the way, the greatest hurdle to making this process work will be your own employees. Why? Well, it has been my experience that when you remove all of the places for people to hide and you actually hold them accountable for doing the work they promised to deliver – that they will rise up in anger and fear and attempt to subvert or destroy the system. This is because for the most part people equate monitoring and tracking as a way for management to \u201ccatch them doing something wrong\u201d and punish them. But let me tell you a story that might turn that thinking around. Several years ago I was leading a national sales meeting form one of my top clients and the CEO was rolling out a brand new software system to help \u201ctrack and monitor\u201d the activities of the sales team. <\/span>As he stood at the front of the room and spoke about the new reports and systems and processes the mood went from bad to worse. You could see the expressions of the salespeople go from concern to fear to disgust. <\/span>It was about to erupt into a full-out revolt when the CEO said something that turned them all around in seconds.<\/p>\n

Hey, hang on a second here. I want to make it clear this system is NOT about punishment, it is about help. We are not going to track you all year and then wait until your review and then use it to beat you over the head and not give you a raise.” He then looked them in the eyes and continued, \u201cWe are putting all of these checks and balances in place so we can help you. We are going to monitor you closely so we can see at the very first sign of trouble that you might be getting off track so we can rush in with help and support and training and whatever you need to keep from getting into trouble. We want to use this to make sure you can maximize your commissions and make the most money possible. This is not about punishing you after you have failed – it is about making sure we are here to support you so you never get into a place where you could fail.” This is the key to disciplined action, a specific, measurable and repeatable process for helping you people successfully implement the plan and share in the rewards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the past three years I have been invited to be a guest lecturer on \u201cstrategic thinking\u201d at a special event at the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Wharton School of Business. Typically I have about 120 senior executives in my class and during the session I will pose this question: \u201cWhat percentage of the time do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-teamgroup-excellence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions\/102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.excellenceuniversity.net\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}