The "execution gap" refers to the disconnect between planning and results. Many people fail to translate strategic vision into actionable steps, leading to unrealized goals. For example, Deloitte found that 66% of organizations fail to implement their strategic goals successfully. A lack of accountability, unclear priorities, and ineffective communication often contribute to this gap.
How to Improve Execution
To bridge this gap, focus on three key factors:
Clear Objectives: Define clear, measurable goals. A study from Kaplan & Norton found that companies with clear strategic objectives perform 30-40% better than those without.
Strong Leadership: Effective leadership drives accountability. Leaders who prioritize execution, provide resources, and motivate teams have a much higher success rate.
Continuous Feedback & Tracking: Monitoring progress and adjusting course based on real-time data ensures that execution stays on track.
This sounds pretty straight forward but in my 15 + years of experience many companies and leaders fall down on all 3. Whether it is vague "hand wavy" objectives (or lack of any objectives) or leaders too afraid to hold someone accountable or give critical feedback because of conflict avoidance, I've seen it time and time again. Execution is not just a task—it’s a mindset.
What you can do about it:
If you are struggling, remember these three things:
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Take the time to set meaningful objectives that tie to the company's mission and overall strategy. Curate them bottoms up and top down, so you get multiple views. Have leaders set the theme and get upwards feedback on the color. One very important and often ignored step is to map all dependencies to ensure there's no unexpected slow downs.
Clear is kind. It's crueler to "sugar coat" or stay silent on under performance. Remember, it's not a personal attack. Focus on the problem not the person. I.e. "The delivery times are lagging, how do we ensure better resource allocation and planning", versus "Bob, you are incompetent and slow". Invest in conflict, communication and feedback training. This should be a requirement for all employees. The ability to give direct and clear feedback should be a competency of all leaders and considered on performance assessments.
You need instrumentation to fly the plane. In order to iterate and pivot where needed, you need to be able to know where you are at any given time. Dirty data that is unreliable or inconsistent adds more confusion. I encourage one single source of truth for all KPIs so no matter who you are in the org, you are making decisions off the same data.
If you want to bridge your "execution gap", Activate.ly can help!
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