In my last column, I pointed out a vast execution gap in most organizations. So many crucial initiatives fail, so many change efforts collapse, due to this yawning gap.
by Site Staff
February 2, 2004
Several months ago, FranklinCovey asked 11,000 people in the U.S. workforce to tell us about their execution discipline. Figure 1 details the magnitude of the execution gap. If the typical organization is like this, execution is obviously at high risk.
Figure 1: Execution Gap Magnitude
xQ Question |
Percentage of 11,000 respondents |
I clearly understand my organization’s most important goals. |
44% |
We set goals that we have passion about. |
19% |
Percentage of time I spend working on my organization’s most important goals. |
49% |
I have clear line of sight between my own tasks and my organization’s most important goals. |
9% |
The execution gap is a human issue. It has little to do with market strategy or technology, or with any of the issues that typically occupy the time of executive leadership. It has to do with people. Either they execute, or they don’t.
To close the gap, organizations must practice the four disciplines of execution.
Focus On the Wildly Important Goal
People are genetically wired to focus on one thing at a time. Nevertheless, we ask our people to multitask. The result is frustrated workers and poor results. The leader’s job is to make crystal clear those few goals that are wildly important and get everyone focused there.
Some objectives are clearly more critical than others. As I watch the security people at the airport process passengers, I am impressed with their courtesy and efficiency. But if one terrorist gets through the system and disaster results, the courtesy, professionalism and efficiency will count for little. That’s because these workers have one wildly important goal that must be achieved. How crucial it is, therefore, that everyone agree on what is wildly important and focus on it.
Create a Scoreboard
People can know the goal, but if they don’t know the score, they are working in the dark. Imagine going to a football game without a scoreboard. Everyone must know the score all the time to know what to do.
Scoreboards motivate people. The scoreboard must be created by and be visible to everyone. One firm I am acquainted with helps people save money on prescriptions. Their goal is to save their customers a certain amount of money this year, and every day they post their progress toward this goal. No one in the firm questions what is wildly important, because together they have decided what it is, and they never take their eyes off the score.
Translate Goals into Action
Goals that have never been achieved require behaviors that have never been tried before.
How often do leaders announce a new goal without giving thought to how it will be executed? One company I know of announced that every store in its retail chain was to increase sales revenue by 15 percent that fiscal year. Store managers and staff accepted the goal, but had no notion of how to execute. Leaders must involve the front line in defining what everyone must do differently to accomplish the new goal.
Engage the Team Weekly
It isn’t enough to meet once a year and decide what the work group is going to do. In the most effective teams, people meet weekly to account for their commitments, examine the scoreboard, resolve issues and decide how to support one another. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, widely credited with the renaissance of New York City, met daily with his staff to do these things. Re-engaging less than weekly allows the team to drift off course and lose focus.
In future columns, I’ll talk about ways to instill these disciplines and free people to achieve their most important goals together.
Stephen R. Covey, Ph.D., is co-founder and vice chairman of FranklinCovey, a leading global professional services firm. Stephen is also the author of the best-selling The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. E-mail Stephen at scovey@clomedia.com.