Global business and leadership consultant, Ram Charan, shares seven simple tools for developing a culture of excellent execution to help your business achieve success.

The seven steps to excellent execution

Good ideas with no execution ends in no results. There are seven simple tools for developing a culture of excellent execution, says global business and leadership consultant Ram Charan. He has worked extensively with some of the world’s leading corporates including Jack Welch of GE and Honeywell CEO Larry Bossidy.

Closure

Whenever you have a group meeting or long call develop a habit of keeping the last minute to repeat what is to be done by whom and by when – be clear and specific. By repetition you are creating accountability and starting the process of synchronisation.

Follow through using transparent dashboards

Follow-through is the juice of execution – it covers what will be reviewed and when. A transparent dashboard that highlights and follows milestones creates initiative, trust and the energy you need for success.

Understand what is new

• Ask every team member once per week what they are picking up that’s new in industries across the global system to generate real insights into what’s happening on the outside
• Assign one person ahead of time of a weekly meeting and ask that person to describe any new idea in any industry they have encountered then spend five minutes discussing it – this creates a culture of new ideas.
• Read the Financial Times and the Economist each day for less than 10 minutes and search for what is new. This builds your antennae for innovation.

Have the right people in the right jobs

Search for the raw talent in your team. These talents should be observable and verifiable. Define three non-negotiable criteria for the job with no compromise. These should fall outside ‘givens’ like integrity, clear thinking, an ability to sort, sift and select out of complexity and communication. Determine what will prevent this person from succeeding in the job.

Develop laser sharp dominant priorities

Priorities align physical work; vision aligns emotions. Never have more than five priorities and they should be clear. Don’t use motherhood statements; have specific priorities.

Practice the art of asking incisive questions

Questions should be clear and motivating – and short. Questions can be less than 15 words and they can be basic, but they must be clear. If you ask questions the right way it opens the mind.

Find your integrators

Work is done horizontally but to bring everything together within a hierarchy at a reasonable speed take integrators. They are the unsung heroes in your organisation – find out who they are and reward them.

NAB was recently privileged to sponsor the World Business Forum in Sydney – two days of inspiration, collaboration and provocation by some of the world’s leading business innovators. These insights were generated live on the day by NAB and were informed by the guest speakers’ presentations.

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