Picture yourself holding a shiny three ring binder that contains the new strategic plans for your company. If that seems dated or not tech savvy enough, then picture a detailed PowerPoint presentation or well written email with a colorful PDF attached. Next, you read through the strategic plan and feel that this will be exciting if the company can achieve the objectives. Now what? Hopefully, the company has the execution plan in place on how to achieve the strategic plan. Unfortunately, many companies do not have the execution plan in place, or it is not well defined.
If only more companies had a road map on how to create and then successfully start implementing their strategy. That resource exists in Ben Wann’s new book Getting Sh*t Done.
The book provides a framework of 13 stages on how to move successfully from Strategy to Execution. Ben does an excellent job providing details on why many companies are not successful in executing their objectives. I love how the book discusses involving people at all levels in shaping the strategy. If the plans are simply created by executives the company misses out on the vast amount of knowledge from the other employees. Also, lower-level employees may struggle with motivation to carry out targets they themselves did not set.
Ben also touches on the fact that many initiatives fail because there is not a clear picture of who will do what and by when. In the book he reinforces the point on 3 questions that must be answered to ensure success.
1. What needs to be done?
2. Who is going to do it?
3. When is it going to be done?
I highly recommend this book for current leaders/managers and those aspiring to grow in their career. Ben has written this book through his own experience as well as extensive research. Simply reading the sources list in the back of the book helps you appreciate the level of research by him.
This book is a must read as we now have a framework to close the strategy-execution gap.
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