Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

HI,

Recently, I read a book "Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done".
I will say this is a MUST read book by anybody especially by leadership and top management.
Here is a short summary of the same.
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Execution is not only the biggest issue facing business today; it is something nobody has explained satisfactorily. Execution is a specific set of behaviors and techniques that companies need to master in order to have competitive advantage.

The book is authored by:
Larry Bossidy: The chairman and CEO of Honeywell International, Inc. He also served as a CEO for Allied Signal between 1991 and 1999. He also served in a number of executive positions at the General Electric Company.
Ram Charan: An advisor to CEO’s and senior executives for a broad range of organizations.
Charles Burke

The book provides numerous examples of where execution has both succeeded and failed and calls on Larry Bossidy’s 43 years experience in General Electric extensively.
This book gives a new discipline of execution based on the three core processes for the leadership.

Part I: Need for Execution
Throughout the book, authors have given stress on need for the Execution i.e. How to do part of any planning. Authors have pointed out that most strategies fail as the result of poor execution, and not due to poor strategic planning.

According to authors, execution is a discipline and integral part of any strategy.
It should be the major job of any business leader and he should make sure that this is also a part of his organization culture as well.

Part II: Building Blocks of Execution

According to the authors Execution consist of the following three building blocks:

Building Block 1:
This describes the Leaders Seven Essential Behaviors as:

1) Know your people and your business – Leaders have to live their businesses. In companies that don’t execute, the leaders are usually out of touch with the day-to-day realities. Leaders spend too much time in their offices and too little time with their people where most of the action is taking place.
2) Insist on realism – Realism is the heart of execution, but many organizations are full of people who are trying to avoid or shade reality. To make realism a priority, you start by being realistic yourself and make sure realism is the goal of all dialogues in the organization.
3) Set clear goals and priorities – Leaders who execute focus on a very few clear priorities that everyone can grasp.
4) Follow through – The failure to follow through is wide spread in business, and a major cause of poor execution
5) Reward the doers – If you want people to produce specific results, you reward them according
6) Expand people’s capabilities – Coaching is the single most important part of expanding others’ capabilities.
7) Know yourself – Without what we call emotional fortitude, you can’t be honest with yourself, deal honestly with business and organizational realities, or give people forthright assessments. Emotional fortitude comes from self-discovery and self-mastery. It is the foundation of people skills. There are four core qualities which make up emotional fortitude as Authenticity, Self-awareness, Self-mastery and Humility.

Building Block 2: Creating the Framework for Cultural Change

When a business isn’t going well, its leaders often think about how to change the corporate culture. Author says that the organization software i.e. people’s belief and values are equally important as organizational hardware i.e. strategy and structure.

This involves changing “people’s behavior so that they produce results”, by “linking rewards to performance and making linkages transparent” with Robust Dialogue. Robust dialogue makes an organization effective in gathering and understanding information for the correct decisions. It fosters creativity and ultimately more competitive advantage and shareholder value. Robust dialogue happens when there is open mind and no trapped preconceptions. Informality helps in boosting the robust dialogue.

Building Block 3: The Job no Leader Should Delegate

Having the Right People in the Right Place: It essential to have the right people, especially those in leadership positions, in the right place. The authors believe that leaders should “contribute as much as 40 percent of their time and energy, in one form or another, to selecting, appraising, and developing people.

These are the 3 main building blocks which are the foundation for the three core processes of execution as explained later. These processes are linked to one another and can not be separated.

As per author, “If you have leaders with the right behavior, a culture that rewards execution, and a consistent system for getting right people in the right jobs, the foundation is in place for operating and managing each of the core processes effectively.”

Part III: The Three Core Processes of Execution

Part III discusses the three core processes that require focused management attention to ensure effective execution. The heart of the working of a business is how these processes link together. Leaders need to master the individual processes and the way they work together as a whole. They are the foundation for execution. They are the real differentor between you and your competitors.

The People Process:
“A robust people process does three things. It evaluates individuals accurately and in depth. It provides a framework for identifying and developing the leadership talent – at all levels and of all kinds – the organization will need to execute its strategies down the road. And it fills the leadership pipeline that’s the basis of a strong succession plan.” The people process is regarded by the authors as the most important of all three processes and the devote a large part of the book discussing the importance of candid dialogue required to hold individuals accountable. The key is getting the right people in the right jobs.

The Strategy Process:
“A good strategy planning process also requires the utmost attention to the hows of executing the strategy” The authors emphasis the importance of creating strategies that involve all parties and encourage robust debate, appropriate resources and regular strategic reviews throughout the year.
The Operations Process:
“The strategy process defines where a business wants to go, the people process defines who’s going to get it there. The operating plan provides the path for those people. It breaks long-term output into short-term targets.”
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Catch you next time,
Mahesh Masurkar, PMP