This blog series helps small and medium business leaders answer one simple question: “How can I best ensure I meet my business goals?” To review, the three key elements are:

1. Having a clear strategic direction
2. Fostering a culture of execution 
3. Creating a trusting and aligned leadership team

For part two, we will focus on the second of the of the three key elements: fostering a culture of execution. Here are three major ways to do so:

• Create a prioritized list of projects that map to each strategy
• Create a project road map determined by resources and budget constraints
• Define and track key performance indicators

It’s usually easy to compile a list of projects various departments or leaders want to pursue in the company. The more difficult step is to ensure each project can be aligned to one or more of the strategies. If a project or opportunity cannot be aligned to a strategy, it is not something that needs be pursued. This seems like common sense but various pet projects can make their way onto the list if there is not due diligence. The next step is to sort the projects by strategy and prioritize them. Most companies lack the resources and the budget to complete all the projects at the same time, so this step is crucial. 

Now that we have a list of the prioritized projects, a road map must be completed. You can think of a road map as the road the car will follow and the resources and budget as the gas to determine how fast and how far the car will move along the road. A frequent mistake is assuming that projects are only done by a single resource. It is common that most projects take a collaborative effort and require bits of many resources. Not recognizing this leads to employees being overloaded and overwhelmed as they get pulled onto various projects in an unplanned way. A road map usually depicts the strategies, projects and month or quarter of the fiscal year they will be worked on. There is an associated listing of resources and budget needed to accomplish this plan. 

Last but not least is defining key performance indicators to ensure that as the projects get completed, they are actually impacting the success of the business. Determining the key performance indicators is actually done at the strategy level as a company will choose a strategy to pursue only if it does indeed make the company more successful. Having measures that are tracked and reviewed regularly provide employees and leadership with a very tangible and visible sign of what is going well and what needs to be adjusted. 

The key to fostering a culture of execution is to have relentless focus on these three aspects. When a new opportunity or work request emerges, it is vetted against the strategic direction. If it aligns and contributes to achieving the strategies, it must then be prioritized against the existing projects and priorities and if moved on to the list, the resources and budget must shift with it. The companies that adopt this discipline and make it standard operating procedure are the companies that both deliver against the strategies of the company and almost more importantly, have a process to pivot when the business demands it.