Execution has always been important, however, what has changed in recent years is the expectation to be able to measure execution almost immediately (not at the end of a project or once every quarter).
Boards are becoming increasingly frustrated with using vague “on track” terminology in regard to progress reports. As a result, boards want to see exactly what has been accomplished in a period of time and what, if anything, hindered or caused delays to the accomplishments.
I look back on a transformation programme, where several milestones were reached, but I am uncertain what affect those milestones had on the business. Also, while new systems were in place the actual usage of those systems has not met expectations, and therefore the information in the progress report did not adequately align to the metrics being analyzed.
As a result of this misalignment, justifying the differences between the information in the progress reports is becoming a greater challenge due to access to more information and expectations of having dashboards available.
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However, there are also risks associated with measuring results immediately, as numerous things are important (for example culture) but are not easily measured. Therefore, there can be an overemphasis on quantifiable data as opposed to understanding the totality of the situation.
An additional challenge created from measuring execution on a continuous basis is the tendency for teams to focus on completing the short term tasks at the expense of reallocating resources from accomplishing long term value.
Thus, the challenge will be to balance – measuring the things you wish to measure, yet not reducing everything to numbers.
At JAMS Advisory, we encourage leaders to think about what we refer to as “Meaningful Metrics”, which are performance indicators that reflect that actual progress has been made, not just activity.
At the end of the day, execution is about much more than just completing tasks. Execution is about understanding whether the tasks that were completed had an overall add to business value.
