“Any time you’re playing in a game this big, you don’t want to make any mistakes, and I made one. And as a team we didn’t execute the plays that were called well enough.” (emphasis added)
Logan Mankin, New England Patriots player, after the loss to Denver, 1/19/14
(from The Boston Globe)

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Let’s assume that you have the right people on board.
Now, let’s assume that you have the right strategy mapped out.
The right people, doing the right things.
This is maybe half the battle.

But, all is lost if the strategy is not fully implemented.  You know, done to the intentions of the strategy.  You know, it works in reality as well as it does on paper.

This “Doing It,” so that it works in reality as well as it does on paper, has a name.  The current name is execution.

One corporate coach I know is convinced that this is the big one.  In other words, failing to execute is the path to failure, period. 

The “term” execution is relatively new (I think I first read it in the book Execution, by Ram Cahran and Larry Bossidy), but the concept is as ancient as can be.

Here it is in the Bible.  The phrase here is “Doers of the Word.”

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (James 1:22 — King James Version).
(and from the New International Version of the same verse:  Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.).

By the way, I like the warning about “deceiving yourself.”  You do deceive yourself if you know what to do but you do not actually do what you know to do.

Here it is from Mary Kay Ash, from her book The Mary Kay Way.  She called it “follow-through” (I may like this phrase more than I like the word “execution.”  It seems so very clear).

Over the years, I have observed that those who are blessed with the most talent don’t necessarily outperform everyone else.  It’s the people who follow-through who excel.  This is true in all walks of life – in business, sports, and the arts.  I see it constantly in the sales field.  (emphasis added).

Here is another way of describing it.  A company or organization develops a strategy, but then does not “get it done.”  There is a gap between what they know to do and what they actually do.  Thus, the “knowing-doing gap.”  Here’s one description (from the book The Knowing-Doing Gap:  How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton ).

…the knowing-doing problem—the challenge of turning knowledge about how to enhance organizational performance into actions consistent with that knowledge.

Call it what you will – “be doers of the word” (whatever word it is that you “learn”); “follow-through;” overcome the “knowing-doing gap.”

But, the word execution seems to be the choice for the current era.  So, what is execution?

Here are some excerpts from my earlier blog post (and now a chapter in my e-book), #11 — A Healthy Organization Excels at Execution – (12 Vital Signs of Organizational Health):

“It’s better to have grade-B strategy and grade-A execution than the other way around.”

Michael Porter

So, what is execution?  From Merriam-Webster:
to carry out fully; to put completely into effect.

In other words:

This is what I am telling you I will do…
I did exactly this (or more than this – never less than this), to full satisfaction, on the schedule promised.

The book Execution is the book that introduced the subject in an in-depth way to me as a reader:  Execution:  The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan.  Here is a key excerpt:

In its most fundamental sense, execution is a systematic way of exposing reality and acting on it.
The leader who executes assembles an architecture of execution.   He puts in place a culture and processes for executing, promoting people who get things done more quickly and giving them greater rewards.
Organizations don’t execute unless the right people, individually and collectively, focus on the right details at the right time.
Every great leader has had an instinct for execution.

So, here is the third decision.  If you go to the trouble of hiring the right people; if you go to the trouble of developing a superior strategy; will you then actually execute that strategy?  Will you follow-through; will you get it done?

Consider this progression of questions:

Do you now how to execute?
Have you planned how you will execute?
Now, have you actually succeeded?  Did you execute?
If your answer is yes, then good!  Now, repeat.

The company that does not execute really has very little future…

So, you have four decisions to make.  (Make that five).  (Remember, the first four come from Verne Harnish, and the Gazelle’s Coaching organization).  Here are your first three:

Decision #1 — Have you put together the right people on your team?
Decision #2 — Do you have them doing the right things?  In other words, do you have a workable, challenging, but reachable strategy?
Decision #3 – Are you executing your strategy?