coaching, Management

strategy.exe or Why we failed?

“We failed…”, “What went wrong?”, “We had a great vision!”, “We had a great strategy”, “What happened?”…

I tell you what happened: nothing. And that is the keyword of your failure.

How many times during your career have you faced this situation: great vision, amazing strategy and… failure? I hope you haven’t, but I’m quite sure you heard some stories at least. Of course there could be many reasons, however the one I faced the most times with my Clients was the problem with

Execution

This is not only the problem of large enterprises as one can think. This is the common problem of small and medium size, of startups, of LE… This is a the problem of presidents, directors, managers, individual contributors, job seekers…  Ask yourself, how many times have you thought: “I need to do [x]” and you never did?

Execution skill is something that many people lack nowadays. To give you an idea, how it works and how it should work, lets use simple example from the IT world.

Example

You created the file. Is it a program, Word document or Excel sheet – doesn’t matter. Inside you put the best vision or strategy you could invent and yes, I agree with you – it is really the best. Your file is on your PC, exactly in the middle of your Desktop. It is there. You were even kind enough to share it with your colleagues/employees/family/whoever, so now it is also on their computers. And they also agree with you – this is The Best File They Have Ever Seen.

One week later this file is still there. And still everyone is happy. Because remember – this file is The Best One That Ever Happened To This Company.

Three months later it is still there, I’m quite sure.

Six months later the company is out of the business. But the file, guess what, still everyone has a copy! And they still say it’s The Best File Ever.

What went wrong? I tell you what: noone opened that file and noone followed the instructions, noone created his own ideas. Noone executed this Amazing File.

And this is just one of the ways something can go wrong. The other one is when The Boss doesn’t control the execution. Is it executed, is it not – (s)he expects that everyone is doing his job: (s)he created the strategy, now others need to implement it. That is only partially true, as the real Boss, sorry – Leader, should at least check, how the execution is going on the lower levels. No, I’m not telling you to go into micromanagement! I’m telling you to make sure, that execution is in place. Sometimes just “Hi John, how is it going? What you did today regarding the file I sent?” is enough. Show, that you care.

In life

As I said – you can be The Boss, student, jobseeker – you need not only to plan, but also to execute.

Jobseeker, how many times you told yourself “I need to find a job” today? And how many times you picked up the phone and called the recruitment agency or your friend from school, to let them know you are seeking?

Student, how many times you thought “I need to pass the exams” this semester? And how many times you went to the library to read something?

Mother, how many times you looked at your kid thinking “I hope he will have a good life” last years? And how many times you let him discover and excel his skills?

Reader, how many times you thought “Hm, I know all that!” while reading this article? And how many times in your life you have used that knowledge?

If you have any questions – leave a comment or reach me by email and linkedin (link at the top of this page).
Jakub
Latest posts by Jakub (see all)

 

Standard