5 Keys to Executing Your Strategy: Things You Can Do Today to Achieve Your Desired Future State
In the world we live in today, something we’re never lacking is information. If you need to figure something out, there are blogs, articles, YouTube videos, podcasts, documentaries, peer-reviewed studies, and conspiracy theories to help you do it (okay, maybe not that last one).
It can feel like too much!
That’s why I want to break down some information, right here, right now, clear and simple. I want to talk about EXACTLY what you can start doing TODAY to get a jump on executing your business strategy.
These keys are simple, applicable, and, above all, EFFECTIVE. These are not tips for next month or next year: they’re action steps for today.
Implementing these agile practices into your business leadership will allow you to tackle the small, annoying nuisances that try to get in the way of your goals.
Key #1: Prioritizing
When setting out to accomplish tasks, it’s important to stay flexible and agile in your approach. Remember, don’t sweat the details! Getting stuck on the smaller aspects of your objectives will hamper your progress and slow your momentum.
Instead, prioritize your goals.
Take a look at your list of tasks. Separate them into high-priority, mid-priority, and low-priority objectives. If the mid- and low-priority tasks can be delegated, then do so. Focus your time and energy on the things that require your direct attention.
Sometimes it can be all too easy to say, “I just don’t have the time to do this.”
What this really means is that it’s not a priority. Delegate.
By prioritizing your tasks, you turn your large, company-wide goals into small, readily achievable targets. Set it, achieve it, repeat. Doing this over and over will chip away at your big goals and allow you to keep your energy focused on what’s most crucial.
Key #2: Problem Solving
The best way to solve problems is to nip them in the bud.
Stay on the lookout for potential problems and eliminate them before they manifest.
Problem identification and problem solving should become a part of your routine as a business leader. Finding this rhythm of identifying, addressing, and solving prevents these small, potential problems from becoming roadblocks in the future. Ignoring problems, no matter how small they may seem, only allows them to grow and interrupt your workflow at a later date.
Don’t sabotage your own business!
As with most things in business, and in life, it is always better to be proactive rather than reactive - being prepared for the problems before you need to be.
Key #3: Communication
Communication is going to be a key concept in any collaborative effort you undertake. Leading a team requires keeping them on the same page and updated on any changes to a given plan.
Consistent, honest, effective communication. That’s the key.
Share your ideas. Your vision. Your goals. Keep your team and colleagues up to date and respond to their questions in the same way you would want someone else to respond to yours.
Remember: Mind-readers don’t exist!
It’s better to be overly-clear than not clear enough. Your team will do better when they don’t have to read between the lines. Keep your control over your vision and maintain clarity in every action you take. Remember: Clarity is kindness.
Above all else, maintaining this type of clear communication in your business will spread to the others around you. When you’re clear on what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, the right people will be attracted to help you, which brings me to…
Key #4: Structural Alignment
“First who, then what - get the right people on the bus.”
This concept, developed by Jim Collins, business researcher and author of Good to Great, speaks to the importance of people in your business. Vision is important, goals are great, and strategy shows you how to get there, but PEOPLE are the ones who get you there.
Once the goals and strategies are set up, you need to make sure you have the right people in the right places to get stuff done. Ensuring that your business structure is aligned with what you want to accomplish will make it so your bus isn’t too heavy or light on one side or the other, but instead is perfectly balanced and cruising in the direction that you want to be moving.
An organizational chart is not a static diagram, but rather a living, breathing, dynamic tool for your business.
This organizational chart, when properly executed, will reflect how you ideally want to be operating, not just how you have been operating. It will draw from the vision that you have for your business and will best utilize your team to make this vision a reality.
Be deliberate about your structure and plan, then find the right people to implement and take action.
When you’re intentional and decisive in your placement of people in your business, you control the playing field and can facilitate the outcome you desire. Being in control means you can keep your team and your business accountable, allowing for greater scalability.
Key #5: Metrics
Metrics are the hard data points that quantify how your business is performing. They allow you to concretely determine the functions of your business that you might otherwise only have a vague sense about. Important things like sales, profits, and customer feedback.
Metrics keep you on track. Plain and simple.
Measuring your key performance indicators (KPIs) serves as the “M” in your SMART goals. After a few months of setting a goal you can look back and ask, “How is this going? Are there areas I need to pivot and improve?”
As always, your intuition and core values are key. You must feel aligned with your goal and the direction of your business. But the flip side of that coin- which cannot be ignored- are the metrics. No matter how good something may feel, if the metrics are indicating that it’s not working, something has to be tweaked.
Metrics allow you to make educated, calculated decisions about the future state of your business.
We’re all works in progress and no business is above improvement. Implementing these approaches and allowing them to become routine will take some of the pressure off you as the business leader. You and your team will find a steady rhythm of prioritization and problem solving, guided by clear communication, proper structural alignment, and reinforced by the metrics showing you what you’re doing right- and what you can do even better.
There is no magic bullet for operational excellence, but these 5 keys are a great place to start!