PERSPECTIVES Achieving Disciplined Execution By Mark W. Womack

Attaining consistent organization performance in accordance with prescribed standards and operating principles seems to be the Holy Grail for a preponderance of leaders, regardless of their industry or arena. The following is a discussion of some of the critical success factors for leaders who yearn for their organizations to achieve “disciplined execution.”

First, what is disciplined execution? Let’s look at a few definitions:

Dis•ci•pline: n.
A set of rules or systematic methods.

Ex•e•cu•tion: n.
The act of performing; of doing something successfully;
using knowledge as distinguished from merely possessing it.

These definitions are especially helpful because they imply two of the most crucial elements that are required to achieve disciplined execution.

Although many organizations do not have one or both of the above elements in place, many other organizations do. But even of those that do, few attain disciplined execution. In other words, disciplined execution is rare even in organizations that do have clearly established methods and standards and do ensure that organization members are fluent in them. This is true even though the benefits of achieving disciplined execution typically far exceed the investment. In fact, a majority of the overall investment is already incurred in establishing the two foundational elements, so to not do what it takes to leverage this investment is not only self-limiting, it’s incredibly wasteful of organization resources.

With so much at stake, why do most organizations fail to achieve disciplined execution? The main reason is that most leaders resist or don’t feel capable of exercising the daily on-going leadership that is required to develop an organization that performs with disciplined execution. Most leaders want solutions that they don’t have to pay very much attention to after decisions are made and implemented. They want to move onto the next thing. But disciplined execution cannot be achieved that way. Whether it’s the historically great execution of Dell or the best run restaurant you’ve ever experienced, it’s not achieved by making good decisions and implementing sound practices alone.

So how is it done then? In this three-part series, I’ll discuss 12 Critical Success Factors for leaders seeking excellence in this area. Each discussion assumes that the two foundational elements already covered are in place (clearly established methods and standards exist for each performance area and organization members are fluent in them).

In this first part of the series, I’ll discuss Critical Success Factors 1 – 4, with the discussion of 5 – 8 and 9 – 12 in parts two and three, respectively.

CSF #1: Focus organization members on super-ordinate goals. One of the best ways to get organization members focused on good execution of the important little things is to keep an inspirational focus on the biggest things. People generally possess an innate desire to be part of something that’s bigger than themselves and their everyday activities. They also want to be inspired. This is where super-ordinate goals come into play. Super-ordinate goals represent the overarching ambitions for an enterprise. These are goals that require an entire organization to band together to achieve them. To effectively mobilize organization members over the long-term, they must also be inspiring – they must be deemed worth pursuing. If a super-ordinate goal is inspiring enough, organization members are moved to rise above the many political and emotional barriers that are obstacles to achieving less inspiring objectives.

“Become the Harvard of the West,” as Stanford declared in the 1940’s, is a good example of a super-ordinate goal. So is “A man on the moon by the end of the decade,” as JFK stated in the early 1960’s. It’s worth noting that both of these huge ambitions were indeed realized. The continuous focus on the inspiring vision of achieving these lofty goals drove organization members and stakeholders to execute countless tasks and activities at a higher proficiency than they previously had. A more recent example of the enormous impact a super-ordinate goal can have on an organization was in 2004 when the Detroit Pistons stunned the sports world by dominating the Los Angeles Lakers to win the NBA Championship. The Piston’s season was driven by the mantra “Play the right way.” Every team member bought into this and it led to the development of an uncommonly unselfish team that consistently did all the little things right, resulting in a performance ethic and execution which is virtually unheard of in the NBA. Conversely, the Lakers were uninspired and not at all on the same page and Detroit consequently made the extremely talented Lakers appear to be mediocre.

CSF #2: Be unreasonable when setting performance and behavioral standards and expectations. Let me first be clear about what is meant by unreasonable. Let’s recall George Bernard Shaw’s bold declaration about the reasonable man:
”The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” Following Mr. Shaw’s lead, if a leader wishes to lead an organization to uncommon results, then uncommon (aka unreasonable) standards and expectations are necessary.

A leader who aims for an organization to achieve extraordinary things must be willing to put forth expectations that challenge the status quo and make the leader seem to be unreasonable to most observers. At certain points in such a journey, it can be quite lonely for the leader. Often, it is the lack of general agreement with a leader’s expectations that is the sign that positive progress is afoot. This requires courage, tenacity and a thick skin.

Was Walt Disney unreasonable about his vision of a family theme park that would represent ideals that were the antithesis of that industry at that time? He was supremely unreasonable, which led to the creation of one of the most beloved places on earth, a stunning accomplishment in an industry long considered utterly corrupt. Is Bill Belichick unreasonable in his approach to assembling and leading his New England Patriots NFL football teams? His vision for the team and standards for his players are quite unreasonable as compared to the rest of the NFL. In Belichick’s view, counterproductive individual egos, self-aggrandizing flamboyance and lack of disciplined focus are unacceptable, while smart strategy, solid fundamentals, toughness, and integrated team performance are the standards. The result of his alarming lack of reason is three Super Bowl Championships in the last four years and the 31 other NFL teams chasing the Patriot’s shadow. These accomplishments were made all the more impressive because those Patriots teams included very few players considered to be top-tier individual performers by league experts.

CSF #3: Pay attention to how things are being done in the day-to-day aspects of organization performance. Achieving disciplined execution requires that organization members are doing things in certain ways and in accordance with certain principles. Few things are more helpful towards that end than a leader who personally pays attention to how things are being done in the day-to-day aspects of organization performance. It’s common for top leaders to leave the responsibility for this solely with the front-line managers and supervisors. It’s also a mistake. If a leader isn’t regularly observing a sampling of the actual execution of the activities that are the lifeblood of the enterprise, how can he or she really know what’s happening on the front lines? A leader shouldn’t over-focus on such details at the expense of paying attention to the big picture, but under-focusing on these details is equally detrimental to the performance of the organization. The tangible and intangible rewards of this attention are plentiful. One of the rewards is it enables a leader to have the knowledge required to assess how well aligned the organization’s actions are with its vision and operating principles. Another is that it improves the quality of decision-making by top leaders because they can synthesize what the quantitative performance indicators are saying with what they have observed in the trenches. At the root of many poor decisions in organizations is a lack of knowledge of what’s really going on at the front lines. One more reward of this attention is that it also role models this critical behavior for all other leaders in the organization. And perhaps the most important reward is that it infuses the organization with an extra jolt of positive adrenaline because this type of visible attention by a top leader makes day-to-day organization activities feel more important to those executing them.

CSF #4: Be constructively intolerant about performance and behavior variances related to disciplined execution – EVERY TIME. By constructive intolerance, I mean: a positive but steadfast adherence to the expectations, standards, principles and values that an organization has defined for its members. This is meant to be “positive” as it relates to the methods for achieving adherence as well as because the defined expectations and standards should be good for the organization and its members. I believe a leader is better off to not define and communicate a particular standard at all than to inconsistently adhere to it. Inconsistent adherence to standards creates confusion and breeds institutionalized anarchy, while eroding the credibility of leaders and the overall organization. Standards of performance and behavior are like cultural traditions in that they only take on great importance if adherence is consistent. A requirement for achieving disciplined execution is to address variances to defined standards virtually each and every time they occur. The form and format of how performance and behavior variances are addressed can vary endlessly as appropriate for the specific situation, although a preponderance of the interventions should be in the form of on-going coaching and teaching as opposed to more extreme measures that are sometimes required. In addition, real-time immediate feedback is typically best whenever feasible. There are few ways a leader can more rapidly have a profoundly positive impact on an organization than to instill a culture of constructive intolerance. Leveraging the power of this behavior, a leader can literally change the molecules of an organization within weeks, resulting in a positively different atmosphere, tone and energy.

As with many worthy leadership ambitions, many of the things that are required to develop an organization that achieves disciplined execution are based on easily understood and accepted concepts. Ironically, for leaders who are successful in achieving this objective, it’s largely in the execution.

If you wish to learn more about the “12 Critical Success Factors for Achieving Disciplined Execution,” see parts two and three of this three-part series which will include discussion of Critical Success Factors 5 – 8 and 9 – 12 respectively.