Many Fail To Plan, More Fail To Execute!
Martin Harshberger

As the owner, CEO or senior executive of a business, you share
many things in common with the coaches of professional sports
teams. Can you imagine the head coach of a team - say in the
National Football League - going into a game without a game plan?
Of course not! That coach would soon be out of work. Coaches
literally spend hundreds hours preparing for a 60-minute event.

A good coach not only develops and documents a strategy to win;
he makes sure it's understood by every player on the team. Every
successful coach knows that a plan is essential for success.

But every successful coach also knows that a plan alone is not
sufficient for success. The best plan in the world is useless if
it's not implemented. When the whistle blows to start the game,
the players can't simply stand on the sidelines and talk about
what a great plan they have. They must take the field and play to
win.

A coach that doesn't learn from failures and make adjustments so
that his team consistently wins soon finds out what the letters
NFL really mean: Not For Long.

Why should you view your business as any different?

Your Role As An Executive Is To Execute!

It never ceases to amaze me - I'll work with a company for weeks
to develop a comprehensive strategic plan, and then nothing!
Nada! It's as if management says, "OK, now that we've finished
the plan, we can check that off our list and get back to business
as usual."

They know they have issues that need to be changed. They pay good
money to hire outside assistance to facilitate a planning
process. They complete their plan. Then they proceed to ignore
it!

Why? Is it fear of change? Fear of making a mistake? Fear of
confronting people? A lack of confidence in themselves and/or
their staff? Probably it's a mixture of some or all of these.

For most executives, implementation is harder than planning. It
takes determination and courage to actually do what you say you
want to do. Implementation requires commitment, accountability,
and change. That's where the majority of companies fail.

Bold Actions Require Bold Leadership.

The absence of a decision is a de facto decision. That goes for
all aspects of business planning and execution - from
acknowledging problems to resolving them.

Tolerating poor personal performance from a staff member is
choosing mediocrity. It lowers the bar for the entire staff.

Failing to take action about substandard quality is a decision
about quality. It sends a message about core values to everyone
in the organization.

It's wise to gather the facts before making decisions. But
postponing action "until there's a better time" or "until
there's more data" is too often a cover-up for plain old fear
to act.

Want to diminish focus and credibility in your organization?
Here's a sure-fire way: Develop a plan, communicate it to your
people, and then fail to execute it.

When you fail to act on your plans, you undermine motivation,
enthusiasm, pride, respect, commitment, and productivity. Yet 90
percent of American companies do just that, as shown by the chart
below.

See Image: http://thephantomwriters.com/client-img/7314-execute.jpg

Talk about an alarming statistic! If only 10 percent of American
companies take the necessary actions to implement their plans, no
wonder we're losing our edge.

Many executives confuse busyness with effectiveness. They think
they're accomplishing a lot when people come to them all day
long with questions and problems. It makes them feel important.
They like being the center of the storm.

But executives who react instead of act accomplish little. They
don't produce progress because they're concentrating on the
minutia and ignoring the momentous. They're playing around
instead of playing to win.

But remember that your employees are watching your actions.
They'll respond to your leadership based on how you execute your
plan.

To help you maintain your focus on decisive action, here are four
principles for you to periodically review:

* If the status quo isn't working, change it.

* If you don't make a decision, you're making a decision.

* If you don't like making tough decisions, you're not alone.
But winners do it anyway.

* If you want to exercise real leadership, you must act.

You have to "walk the talk" every single day to attain
excellence in any organization. You must take the field and play
to win!

"Action without vision is a nightmare. Vision without action is
a daydream." --- Japanese proverb




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Martin Harshberger is Managing Partner of Measurable Results LLC.
Marty specializes in strategic planning, pre- and post-merger
integration, as well as business process improvement.
He can be reached at 662-844-9088 or by email at:
mailto:info@bottomlinecoach.com
His new book Bottom Line Focus is available on Amazon
and his website: http://www.bottomlinecoach.com/