Lou Gerstner was the CEO of IBM credited for saving them from going out of business and returning to technology prominence during his rather short tenure in the early 1990s. In his book Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? Gerstner does not take credit for the ideas that made that happen. They had been outlined by his predecessor. In his words, "fixing IBM was all about execution" and required "an enormous sense of urgency."
In business, I have found there rarely is a shortage of ideas. When you surround yourself with smart, motivated professionals, ideas will flourish. Where companies often come up short is in the execution. Most leaders recognize the importance of planning. Great leaders recognize the importance of effective execution of the plan.
It is our expectation at Marco that we not only foster new ideas, but also hold ourselves accountable to implementing the ones that really matter–it’s part of our culture of continuous improvement. Here are five clear steps we take to transform ideas into action:
- Create a culture that cultivates ideas: Marco has developed a system to solicit input related to strategic planning from the field (sales and service representatives). Our leadership team, then, identifies a series of suggested strategies that could drive the business in the coming year. These are not just great ideas. It is imperative that we can make them happen.
- Focus your energy: A common mistake organizations make is that they either have too many initiatives or do not have the resources for effective implementation. Setting realistic goals and expectations helps guide our decision making. We narrow a pool of 30 to 40 suggestions in any given year to no more than five top strategies that we commit to in our business plan.
We focus on ideas that will have the highest impact over the next 12 months. In one instance, we only committed to two executable strategies because they were that important and would consume significant resources to achieve. - Hold someone accountable: The lack of accountability often stands in the way of fully executing an idea. At Marco, we identify key leads for every strategy and develop action teams. Our leadership team meets every Wednesday, and once per month the appropriate managers present their progress report for executing their initiatives. We’ve found peer pressure can be a motivator for successful execution. You don’t want to be the person who doesn’t implement your part.
We evaluate our managers on their ability to execute on their initiatives. This important skill is seen as a “promotable behavior.” We’ll talk more about those behaviors in the next blog. - Set a timeline: Once we commit to an initiative, it is up to the manager in charge to develop a timeline with executable action steps, realistic goals and deadlines over the 12-month period.
At times, executing an idea will take longer than one year. In those cases, it’s important to break the large, complex changes into smaller parts that can be accomplished in one year. Trying to achieve too much in a short period of time sets up the team for failure. When we chose to implement a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system at Marco, we knew it was not achievable in 12 months; therefore, we extended the implementation to 24 months. - Celebrate success: This is the fun part. When the mission is accomplished, take the time to recognize those involved and share the results. But don’t celebrate too long; remember you’re only as good as your last game.
Tackling the Complex
Its human nature to execute on the easiest ideas first and procrastinate on the more difficult implementations. But I always challenge leaders to take on the complex ideas because when done right, they will take you farther. I find that our company is at its best and gains more momentum when we’re juggling multiple complex initiatives.
It’s not enough to think of the idea or even create a masterful plan. Executing the plan trumps best efforts every time.
