To get out of this situation companies need a culture of execution. As Erik Berggren, Director of Customer Results & Global Research at SuccessFactors, said in a lively discussion at the ASP meeting this morning, you can’t have strategy without execution. SuccessFactors’ research identifies business alignment and performance management as the two critical pillars of an execution culture.
I wrote in RoX is the New ROI about SuccessFactors’ bold focus on business execution and about the first pillar of successful execution, business alignment. Being stuck in fire drill mode undermines the second pillar of execution, performance management.
Performance management is about ensuring the right resources are applied at the right place and time to meet your strategy. Effective performance management ensures that the battle you are fighting is the one with the external competition, not the internal one over turf and resources. “Everything’s a priority” destroys your ability to effectively deploy your troops.
Business alignment and people performance are two pillars of an execution culture. As Bossidy and Charan describe in Execution, The Discipline of Getting Things Done, an execution culture is “Not simply tactics, but a system of getting things done through questioning, analysis and follow through. A discipline of meshing strategy with reality, aligning people with goals and achieving the results promised.”
The days of “this is the strategy – go do it” are over. You’re not done until you build a culture of execution. And what SuccessFactors is offering is a software platform and a roadmap to build one.
Go do it.
