The difference between companies that consistently outperform and the rest of the crowd does not lie in designing better strategy, but in greater ability to execute.
Our experience in designing and executing strategy with different companies, at different stages of maturity, in different industries, has given us empirical insight into what great execution looks like. It boils down to four principles that any organization can apply.
1 – DO LESS
One thing we see too much of, is organizations trying to do too much at once. The most effective teams narrow their focus down to just a handful of critical initiatives. This is simple but it’s not easy. The effort of ruthless prioritization is worth it. When everyone in the organization knows exactly what the top priorities are and what their contribution to the effort is, everyone rows in the same direction and the needle moves where it counts.
2 – TRACK LEAD INDICATORS
Performance indicators that leaders and shareholders care about, like revenue, profit or market share, are lagging indicators. They tell you what’s already happened. The ability to move the needle comes from tracking leading indicators of performance and moving them in the right direction. For example, tracking the number of calls and booked meetings of a sales team can give a good indication of where revenue is heading. Again, this is simple but it’s not easy. You need to figure out which lead indicators have the greatest causal relationship with the lag indicators of interest and are thus worth tracking. That takes trial and error.
3 – SHOW PROGRESS TO PLAN
Showing is not the same as telling. People are much more engaged when they can see how they’re doing. That’s why visible scorecards are so effective. Salespeople are more engaged if they see progress to target on the homepage of Salesforce every time they log in. When the team is ahead of plan, seeing it keeps everyone motivated to stay ahead. When the team is behind, seeing the gap keeps everyone motivated to close it. This applies to any employee involved in any initiative that matters.
4 – KEEP YOUR TEAM ACCOUNTABLE
Even with the best intentions, it’s easy for priorities to slip because urgent matters take precedence. To keep priorities on track, a short interval of control is best, and done with a regular cadence of short, focused touch points. People who are on point to move the ball down the field share the progress they made and where they need help. They also commit to the things they will get done by the next touch point. This isn’t micromanagement. This is creating a culture of accountability, where commitments are made and kept, week after week. After all, how can you trust a salesperson to hit annual numbers if he can’t do the three things he said he’d do by next week, for two weeks running?
EXECUTION KICKS IN
When these four principles are applied, and repeated, execution kicks in.
We’ve seen organizations unlock faster performance, stronger alignment, and a culture where results aren’t just hoped for—they’re delivered. When you’re running against the clock, especially if you’re a PE-backed company with 5 years to triple enterprise value, this execution discipline can mean the difference between crushing your value creation target and missing them by a mile.
If you’re ready to talk about how this approach could work for your team, we’d be happy to share more about what we’ve seen work in practice. If you’re not, get started by reading 4DX: the 4 Disciplines of Execution, by FranklinCovey
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