Thought Leadership Program

Book Brief

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done (Bossidy and Charan)

I hope this UPtimizm thought leadership paper spurs new ideas, actions and results. Michael Franken, UPtimizm President and author of this brief

Execution is a must read about creating results. It was a New York Times best-selling book for 150 weeks and remains among Amazons top 50 management titles. After a successful career at General Electric, Larry Bossidy became CEO at AlliedSignal. There, leaders and employees used execution management disciplines to produce 31 straight quarters of 13%+ earnings per share growth. Ram Charan has deep insight into drivers of business success. He taught at GEs leadership institute for over 30 years. Mr. Charan is a respected author and advisor to Fortune 500 executive teams. Note: citations from the book are in quotes.

Senior Management Must Lead Execution Management in their Organizations "Execution is the great unaddressed issue in the business world today. Its absence is the single biggest obstacle to success [within organizations]. The book challenges executives to address this gap: senior leaders often treat execution as tactics for othersdelegated while they focus on perceived bigger issues. Bossidy insists, ensuring execution is the major job of a business leader.

"Execution is not just tactics -- it is a discipline and a system. It has to be built into a company's
strategy, goals and culture. The leader must be deeply engaged in it cannot delegate it...

A leaders behavior is that of an organization. It's the foundation of culture. A leaders job: assign tasks [or ensure this happens] and follow up make sure people understand
priorities based on the leader's comprehensive view of the business, and asking incisive questions.

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Execution, often as reflected through initiatives, puts a senior leaders credibility on the line.

"The business world is full of failed initiatives. Executives launch and support efforts yet six months
later they're dead. Why? Managers dont seek nor readily accept responsibility for new projects. They ignore them, thinking this too will pass.

Leaders lose credibility often without realizing an initiatives failure is a personal indictment. [Their]
involvement is needed to overcome resistance make clear they expect employees to execute it." Execution Discipline is a Systematic Process Companies with execution behaviors and techniques gain competitive advantage. Rigorously reviewing how and what is happening, questioning, tenaciously following through, ensuring accountability." The authors say an inability to face reality is a major barrier to adopting an execution-oriented culture. Execution brings transparency. Innovation and flexibility are priorities for many firms. An execution-focused culture helps companies more quickly enter new markets, improve service and reduce costs. Discipline doesnt slow decisionmaking and action. Rather, it speeds results through clarity and a predictable environment for results. Accountability, Follow-Through and Cultural Change Failure to follow through is widespread and a major cause of poor execution. When used effectively, follow-through exposes lack of discipline and plus brings simplicity to an organization. "Companies must adopt behaviors where all employees are held accountable for creating results. Follow through is the cornerstone of execution, and differentiates the best managers from others.

It spurs learning about issues or obstacles and allows managers to give support Follow-through allows managers to see when employees overachieve a target
For most organizations, holding people accountable requires major cultural change. Where does this begin? At the top -- through actions and behaviors of leaders. They should seek out and maximize chances to send signals that all managers and employees must follow through on actions. Bossidy describes how a senior management team dedicated themselves to high standards of accountability. Then, they reinforced expectations for behaviors with 300 division managers. Next, this was extended to 3,000 supervisors. Eventually, all 17,000 employees were coached to perform their roles with strong accountability. Communications and Progress Meetings Besides logical support or head nodding, you must get emotional commitment to initiatives. This includes Page 2 of 3 February, 2012

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having open debate and dialogue, with misgivings or concerns being openly shared.

Progress reviews should not just be meetings - rather operating mechanisms. Ideally they're integrative, cut across the organization and break barriers among units, functions, work processes and hierarchies. Besides manager and employee checkpoints, its important that people, who normally don't have much contact with each other exchange views, plus learn about the company or a specific initiative. These interactions help spread a leaders beliefs, behaviors and priorities across an organization.

"We don't think ourselves into a new way of acting we act ourselves into a new way of thinking."

Closing comments from Michael Franken, author of this brief: Concepts and processes described in Execution can have the strongest impact when continuously implemented, practiced and refined to suit changing environments. Companies with a competency in strategy execution management are best positioned to adapt and achieve outstanding results. I welcome your feedback on this topic. This includes hearing about your experiences or challenges with execution. You may reach me at michaelfranken@uptimizm.com. Or by phone: (919) 676-7787, extension 2.

For more insights or information about UPtimizm, LLC, please visit http://www.uptimizm.com.

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