Ever heard about ‘execution culture’? May be or not. Simply stated, the execution culture in an enterprise is that culture of action, accountability and responsibility. It is the culture of getting things done right and expeditiously, including following through to conclusion to ensure results are achieved. It involves setting clear and realistic targets and ensuring that goals and objectives are achieved in a continuous way. Executives execute. Your enterprise executives (including yourself) and other staffs must execute. Without this, you can forget about serious progress in your business. But don’t you need progress?

Now, I do hope you understand and appreciate the above simply description of the execution culture. While it’s easy to talk about execution in an enterprise, the reality in the business world out there is that countless enterprises don’t really put emphasize on this. This is one of the reasons for mediocre business performance. Worse, you find some entrepreneur blaming competition, bad luck, bad market etc when there is hardly any iota of the execution culture in their enterprise. Anyway, what must you as an entrepreneur know about the execution culture? Let’s quickly consider this below, right?

  • Execution lies on three main issues namely – the people, strategy and operations. Human capital or the people you have must drive execution. You are not going to think that machines, money, materials and other production factors are going to drive execution, because they are secondary. Isn’t this straight forward? Again, what direction are the people taking anyway while they execute? This is where the strategy comes in. What is your long term perspective? What competitive advantage or difference are you bringing into the market, or it is just business as usual? Be smart, Mr. Entrepreneur. How about operations? What is the core of your business? Your execution must rotate around these issues.
  • You can achieve client delight through getting execution right. Now, I am assuming that you know what client delight is. If not then get around researching. Go and find out what client delight is as fast as you can, because it matters in every good enterprise. Assume you are a house decorator and you get a contract for someone’s residence, and two months down the road the work is not started, because you are ‘mobilizing’ materials or equipment. Assume you distribute home-made cakes to supermarkets in the city, but instead of sticking to the agreed early morning delivery your delivery van lands at around five in the evening. I will leave the rest to you. Whatever field of enterprise you are in. You get what I mean? Do you fulfill commitments? Do you delight your clients and keep them coming back forever?
  • Enterprise efficiency and effectiveness revolves around execution. I have indeed mentioned efficiency and effectiveness so many times in my blog – that it may become boring or even irritating to some people. But it’s vital. Are you efficient in your enterprise? In other words what do you achieve for every unit of input? How about effectiveness? Do you achieve your set targets, goals and objectives? Just ignore building the execution culture, and I can guarantee you that ten years down the road you will still be that minor hardly known business. Do you understand? Do you look for alternatives to deliver well? Which market or clients/customers like associating with inefficient and ineffective business? Not on planet earth at least!
  • Transformation of business ideas and plans into reality hinges on execution. Have you ever met the kind of entrepreneurs who are ever planning but never acting? Of course they will never fall short of excuses or reasons to explain away their non-action. Won’t they? Do you want to be a part of that pack of business folks? Not me. I desire to execute. Get my ideas and plans rolling, and roll with equally like-minded team of people. Now, this is one of the cores of entrepreneurship. You are accessing this resource using the internet, because there are people dedicated to execution, ensuring that you have internet 24/7. Get what I mean?
  • What are some of the ways you motivate your staffs by the way? A good execution culture also motivates people who work in the enterprise. Imagine marketing and sales guys having nothing to market and deliver because the procurement guys have not executed procurement, or the production team is just offering excuses! Or that human resource officer who has been sitting idly for the last six months waiting for your promise to draft her job description including roles and responsibilities! Mr. Entrepreneur, can you and your team get moving please?
  • Revenue generation, profitability, enterprise growth and expansion all rely on execution. Now, money speaks a language that everybody understands. Do you want to cry about money, poor bank balances, losses, lack of business growth always year-in and year-out? Don’t execute. This is a sure way of remaining in that state. May be it’s your goal. Some people like small things anyway. Things they can contain in their smallness and little minds. If you want to move above and beyond that; execute. Period. You might relegate yourself to negative thinking about your competitors who are making waves, and in this process you become so hopeless that logical and creative thinking disappears.

I guess that’s enough for today. I don’t think I need to compel you to adapt a good execution culture anyway. By the fact that you are an entrepreneur you might have some of it already, but what matters is where you execution culture is taking you. Isn’t it? One thing is certain, and this is what I am saying. Mediocre execution cultures make mediocre enterprises. Mediocre enterprises can only satisfy mediocre customers. Mediocre enterprises cannot compete in the current dynamic business world, and will soon become extinct.

Till then,

The Wise Entrepreneur

June 18, 2016

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