It's Not Rocket Science

4 Simple Strategies for Mastering the Art of Execution

Dave Anderson

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781119116653
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Development
• Index: Business

Stop chasing hot trends and start driving real growth

It's Not Rocket Science blasts through the trends and false promises permeating the business world to help you and your company get back to basics and get things done. Why doggedly pursue the "next big thing" when the most effective drivers of growth are right under your nose? This book asserts that you've already heard, been taught, and know well the key fundamentals that spell business success, and presents a compelling, four strategy blueprint for returning your business culture and strategies to a rock solid foundation of execution excellence. Each chapter opens with The Challenge, which outlines a current condition that exists due to a departure from common sense behaviors, and tasks you with following the appropriate execution principles to get your business on the right track. After a thorough explanation of "what" and "why, " each chapter gives you the actionable "how" so you can implement these valuable steps and master the art of execution in your organization.

Shifting sands do not make for a sustainable structure. If your organization is to be robust and strong enough to weather any storm, the strength must come from the very core; the ability for each member of your team to execute daily and effectively towards your organization's most compelling goals. Frankly, the last things most organizations need is another goal they'll miss because they can't execute well. This book reminds you of the four timeless execution methods and strategies that have proven themselves over centuries, and shows you how they are implemented in today's business environment.

• Get the leaders right
• Get the culture right
• Get the people right
• Get the process right

Today's flash in the pan may be superficially intriguing, but is it really that much different from yesterday's "hot tip"? Fundamentals are fundamental for a reason, and It's Not Rocket Science is the common sense guide to putting away flavor-of-the-month toys and getting down to business.

Part One
Get the Process Right!

Sadly, most leaders do not have a step-by-step process for executing (a specific mechanism to help them convert corporate vision and strategy into results). It is that key ingredient—that missing something—that they intuitively know is lacking but are not exactly sure how to articulate or fix.

Strategy one, “Get the Process Right!,” is the glue that will bind the three subsequent strategies for mastering the art of execution (MAX) together. Technically speaking, “Get the Process Right!” should be the strategy that follows the other three: “Get the Leader Right!,” “Get the Culture Right!,” and “Get the Team Right!” However, because I will be referring to the execution terminology related to MAX extensively throughout the book, it is important to present it first so that you have a clear understanding of how it works before moving forward.

As a matter of priority, there is no doubt that without getting the leader, culture, and team right first, any process is likely to devolve into chaos. However, when the right leader, culture, and team are in place, the stage is then set for an execution process like MAX to lift an organization from good to great or from great to greater.

If a step-by-step, highly effective execution process sounds like what you have been lacking, then you have just found what you've been looking for—dear reader, meet MAX.

Chapter 1
Why Your Team Cannot Execute and How to Fix It

The Challenge

Leaders have a tendency to spend immense amounts of time creating goals and strategies. Many mark the start of a new year with a fresh vision to unite and excite their organization. All too often, however, their results miss the mark as the months wear on and the latest campaign fizzles into the most recent failed flavor of the month, so to speak. Why does this seem to plague many leaders? At the end of the day, conceptualizing vision and strategy is easy compared with the execution prowess necessary to convert them into results. In reality, the last thing most organizations need is another goal they will miss because their people cannot execute, oftentimes simply because they were never taught how. Ask a leader to outline his or her step-by-step execution process, and you will likely receive a blank look or hear general palaver like: “We hold meetings, prioritize strategies, and follow up.” Rarely, though, will he or she have a series of sequential actions that comprise an execution blueprint. Leaders do the best they can but still fall short of where they could be, and often should be.

MAX Is the Rx for Execution

Master the art of execution (MAX) is that step-by-step execution process for more effectively converting your vision and strategy into results. The five steps will be covered in depth over the next several sections. Although the following description of the five steps will not mean much to you yet, be encouraged by their simplicity:

1. Step 1: Get TUF!
2. Step 2: MAX it!
3. Step 3: MAP it!
4. Step 4: RAM it!
5. Step 5: Prune it!

MAX is more than a process; it is a skill set that will make you more valuable as a teammate. It is a structure you can take into almost any endeavor, department, or industry and immediately begin to improve results. Similarly, you can use it to achieve personal goals as well. In many respects, MAX is nothing new. Weight loss companies have used similar principles to help their clients achieve results, and many consultants across the continents have taught different versions of these principles for decades. You will notice, however, that MAX is unique in using these five particular principles in the sequential manner in which I present them throughout this section. The MAX system also stands out in that what I present is essentially easy to apply and nonacademic.

The need for my company, LearnToLead, to spend more time teaching execution principles evolved after years of observing what differentiated our elite clients from those who worked hard and had great intentions but repeatedly fell short of their potential. This need became particularly clear as I taught my most popular workshop, the Strategy Summit.

Now in its second decade, my annual three-day Strategy Summit is consistently ranked as our most helpful workshop offering of the year. I traditionally teach this course in the fourth quarter to help clients prepare for the upcoming year. The format is simple:

• The first day covers how to create a compelling vision that unites and inspires the team for the upcoming year.
• Day two covers strategies to reach that vision. I present dozens of sample strategies and teach the implementation principles to ensure they succeed.
• On the final day I teach tactical execution (how to convert the strategies into results).

Because a significant number of attendees return each year with their leadership teams to once again plan the upcoming year, they are comfortable sharing with each other their biggest challenge with the process. Those enterprises that are most frustrated with the past year's results consistently sound the following chorus: “We started the year with a vision people were excited about, and the strategy was sound. We knew what we needed to do; we simply didn't do a good enough or consistent enough job of getting it done. In a nutshell, we did a poor job of executing.” If you have ever said something similar, cheer up. You are well on your way to solving your execution woes once and for all.

What's Next?

• Resolve up front to close the gap between knowing and doing. You may know many of the principles in this section but still end up missing the mark because you do not do them consistently, if at all.
• Embrace consistency. Even if you are executing some of the disciplines in this book, you may not be doing them consistently enough to maximize your results. By the time you finish the final chapter of this book, every day means every day (EDMED) will become a valuable addition to your vocabulary and culture.
• Involve other teammates in the MAX journey, because regardless of how great you are, you cannot do it alone. You need others on the same page—others speaking the same language and creating peer-pressure accountability for the five disciplines of MAX throughout your organization.
• Keep an open mind and find reasons why MAX can and will work for you, rather than dismissing aspects because you believe your situation is unique.
• Look in the mirror. Be prepared to look reality in the eye and deal with it. This will be key as we delve into the book's second strategy, “Get the Leaders Right!”
• Understand that no process will save you without getting the leader(s) right, the culture right, and the team right (strategies two, three, and four). MAX is maximized when driven forward by effective leaders, supported by a strong culture, and executed by high-quality people at all levels within an organization.
• Accept that for a process to work, it does not have to be complicated or extraordinary; often, what is simple, concise, and ordinary works extraordinarily well when implemented consistently and with excellence.
• Contemplate the potential difference in results when you, and everyone on your team, are more focused on maximizing results each day through more focused execution—which is exactly what the next section will explain in detail.

Parting Thought

Most of us have fallen short of enough goals during our lifetime to understand that execution is where results really happen. In addition, common sense tells us that the most effective processes or systems in life should naturally have the fewest steps. MAX, then, in many respects, is simply a structured and sequential set of principles that helps us execute by addressing what we know has been missing from our approach and by organizing what we already intuitively know is best. See? It's not rocket science!

Chapter 2
Make Each Day a Masterpiece

The Challenge

Leaders often spend immense time giving thought to, creating, and communicating annual visions or forecasts for their enterprises. These are then broken down into monthly objectives for their teams to achieve. These big pictures provide essential direction, unity, and meaning in the workplace. Although vision-casting is vital, the conversation must quickly shift to “What must we execute daily to get there, and how must we do it?” Your focus should first prioritize the where, but then be invested disproportionately toward identifying and managing those essential daily behaviors that convert what I call TUFs (short for the ultimate few objectives that mean the most) into reality. Without this specific focus on the what and the how, you will succeed only in creating more goals that will disappoint because their execution failed.

Commit to a Ferocious Focus on Activities—the Daily MAX Acts...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction
• Part One: Get the Process Right!
• Part Two: Get the Leaders Right!
• Part Three: Get the Culture Right!
• Part Four: Get the Team Right!
• About the Author
• Glossary of Master the Art of Execution Terms
• References
• Index
• End User License Agreement