You've had a great meeting with your team! You're energized by the strategy you've come up with, and you're excited about how this will change the future of your company! You exit your meeting like a team that's ready to step on the field and win the Super Bowl! Months go by and nothing really changes, and your passion and excitement start to drift away like an un-maned sail boat floating away into the abyss.
You reach your breaking point! You call for another strategy meeting. Obviously this new strategy isn't working, so we have to come up with a new strategy! Right? Soon enough you find yourself in this viscous cycle over and over again. The question of "Why isn't anything working?" fills your mind every day. You've fallen into the trap that most business owners fall into every day. The trap of thinking that implementation equals execution. The truth is, implementation does NOT equal execution.
Sure, implementing new ideas, growth strategies, direction, etc. is a very exciting process, and it should be. However, executing these strategies are an entirely different beast. Execution is where the rubber meats the road and this is a long difficult process but worth the journey.
Here are the Three D's to successful execution.
1) DEVELOP AN ACTION PLAN
A good action plan clearly identifies the steps to accomplish any idea within your organization. This is developing clear action points and appointing someone to oversee the completion of these action points.
2) DEADLINES THAT CREATE URGENCY
All successful ideas are achieved through setting appropriate goals. Set 90 day targets to go from implementation to execution. Depending on what needs executed you may need to set 180 day targets or longer.
3) DOCUMENT YOUR PROCESS
You can't assume that everyone is on the same page working toward the same goal without clearly documenting your process. Make sure everyone within your organization knows what needs to be accomplished and how they fit within the action plan.
Remember, new ideas and directions are exciting! Don't forget the hard work of making them a reality! That's called Execution!
May you execute well,
Tim
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