Vision and Execution
5/23/09 - 1:30PM I spent the last few days analyzing basic profit and loss information for both my primary job and my personal side business. I find the similarities astounding. I think in both instances the problems come down to vision and execution. Let’s examine.
Execution:
A business needs to execute on the tactics/strategies that have been set up. Everyone has a job to do. My job is to oil the machine and examine what parts are causing the machine to run less than optimally. Thankfully, I have a great team who points out the sticky “gears”. Our first problem was our production team was not executing on the work load. We had a back load of work piling up and we weren’t producing. Again thanks to a motivated (rather than duty or responsibility driven) team we quickly learned to execute at a higher level. Now here was the kicker. As soon this part of the machine started running we realized the sales/planning part of the business didn’t have the capacity to execute on the new found throughput. We brought on capable individuals to increase throughput and they essentially did it. Next as a leadership team we ran into our biggest problem. Vision, or a lack of.
Vision:
Up to this point we had been executing with an extreme lack of vision. Whare are we targeting? Who is our audience? What is the most beneficial work? This is where vision plays a HUGE role. It is incredibly difficult to assess and address a problem with leadership, especially in a small company with a single owner who runs the place. When leadership has gotten by for some time without having to have any direction this makes establishing real goals and vision incredibly hard. Goals of growth. Goals of excellence and establishing yourself in a certain market. Essentially all our leadership was doing was acting as management.
Management should help teams execute on goals, leaders need to help define goals. This is one reason leaders can come from any part of an organization. Problem with our company was that our leadership was function and management without goals. They were and still are managing against no standard, no set goals, no accountability. DANGER! This calls for a change of mindset.
Mindset:
What do we as a company focus on? What are the values that have helped us establish our vision? The problem I found was that because bills had been getting paid (kind of) and we had been growing a bit in stature (thankfully) it was impossible to get management to think beyond. How do you prepare for a downturn in business? Where do you want to be in 10 years? How do you want to give back to those around you? How is your growth reflecting on your values and your teams values? Because growth was happening without vision the mindset was impossible to change. Let me be clear though: This growth had nothing to do with leadership, rather it was a reflection of an excellent team of producers. Producers who were slowly going mad with their perception that there was no goal. Ownership could reap some rewards from financial growth, but without vision and real leadership very few benefits of growth trickle down to employees. This creates angst within the work force.
Change?
Imagine if we changed from management to leadership, from mindless execution to goal driven growth. We could point this great execution and production towards set and achievable goals. Moral goes up, people see what they are working for, and management can better gauge success. A vision may not seem valuable to a leader who is driven solely by growth, but to a team who shrinks in value as numbers go up this vision is something to go towards.
Back to Execution:
So how do you set up something like this?
- Know your values.
- Build a vision around those values.
- Find a team who can embrace those values.
- Use values and vision to set goals.
- Measure execution eagainst these goals.
Am I right? What am I missing? Is it okay for small businesses to throw things at a wall and see what sticks? Does this inhibit growth? Should I back off? I’ll yell no all day long, but I am young and fully admit I could be wrong. Let me hear it if I am.
