As a business coach, I often explain the differences and importance of vision and execution. It is one thing to have a brilliant idea and another to bring it to fruition. Having a vision is a desired quality in an entrepreneur. Employees, clients, and investors want to work with someone who doesn’t settle for mediocrity. But the execution is a necessity. Without it, you have no business. So my question to you this week is: ‘Do you have a culture of execution?’ This article looks at what it means to have a culture of business execution and how you can use positive pressure to create/improve it.
Hidden costs of inaction: Why you must execute
The hidden costs of inaction are rarely thought about. When you don’t execute an idea, you’ll never know if it’s good or bad. Without a culture of execution, this is the fate of most of your thoughts. You’ll never have the insights and data to push the business forward. And how can you plan and predict business growth when you don’t know what works?
Execution isn’t just a matter of “doing stuff” but also prioritising which things should be done ahead of others. It’s about managing your time effectively to concentrate on those for success and growth in your business.
Execution is not easy; it takes time and commitment on your part, and everyone else’s involved in bringing this project to life! Your colleagues will need clarity on what must be done before fully committing to making something happen.
Cultivating a culture of execution using different types of pressure
It’s straightforward to fall into a routine. But routine can be the enemy of growth. The only way to break this pattern is to apply pressure.
You, as a leader, can apply two types of pressure or feel yourselves: negative and positive. Awareness of how these pressures impact you and your employees is critical to creating a culture of execution.
Negative Pressure
It is where you get pushed to breaking point because you or your team feel as if you’re stuck. You don’t know what you don’t know. You can’t see the next step.
If you feel like this, you have two choices: either run away or hang around and get through this emotion to the point of breakthrough.
Instead of working collaboratively through challenges and finding solutions, you repeat the same actions but hope for different outcomes.
Negative pressure goes hand in hand with increased stress as this stress rises to unhealthy levels, productivity, efficiency, and morale decrease.
Until you break away from this type of pressure, you and your team won’t go anywhere and ultimately will not realise your vision.
Positive pressure
It is setting goals that you and your team are excited to achieve because you have the plan to get there. Setting targets and having planned activities to reach them creates positive pressure that will pull you forward.
Your team will buy into your vision because they can visualise the destination and are ready to tackle the journey with you at the helm. Working together to reach the next milestone creates positive pressure, which instils a culture of execution, which in turn triggers growth mode.
You can’t get to positive pressure without getting rid of negative pressure first, so your initial task is to deal with whatever issues you and your team face now before you try to move on. Once you have cleared away the negative together, you can start thinking long-term. You will stay aligned with your strategic plan and build a culture of execution. Everyone can focus. No one will be forced to make hasty decisions to avoid missing deadlines and delaying projects.
How to create positive pressure
There are many ways to create positive pressure in your business:
- Improve team meetings – ensure everyone has their chance to speak and bring ideas and challenges to the table. Getting several minds in one room is the perfect time to problem-solve and discuss activities. Always discuss action points and assign tasks with deadlines so the whole team is on the same page and working as a unit.
- Use short-term goals – if you’re unsure how to make a plan, reverse engineer your long-term goals and break them into sizable chunks. For example, what has to happen to get there if you want to reach a specific profit goal in 12 months? You might need to revisit your pricing structure, look at what jobs you’re saying yes to, and the customers you’re attracting.
- Check-in regularly on team development – Your team should strive to improve daily. Do you have the plan to help them get there? It might mean some stuff decisions, but it’s to everyone’s benefit that your team is on the same page and moving at the same pace.
- Encourage open communication – Have you ever been told, “Just get it done?” It doesn’t encourage efficiency and simply puts more stress on the person on the receiving end. We don’t know what we don’t know, and that’s OK. Roadblocks can often be overcome with a few questions or a discussion, saving you time and money in the long run.
Culture starts with the leader
How can you expect your business to create a culture of execution if you, the leader, do not have your attitude of execution? A business coach can help you reignite your drive, identify what is essential in your business, set a vision, and execute your plan.
