Speeding your Organization - Fast Execution

Once you have anticipated the future and shortlisted business ideas, it is time to execute them expeditiously. Speed comes from clarity of purpose. It is no longer enough to have a goal. We need a launch a crusade. The crusade is born from revolutionary ideas, not incrementalism.

Alex Osterwalder developed the Business Model Canvas (BMC). He provided us with a framework to identify and exploit the interconnections between various elements of a business. The BMC is the representation of strategy in action. However, to energize the BMC, we should first innovate the business concept. The competition is no longer between products and services. It is between business concepts. For example, eating out in a restaurant and ordering food from Swiggy are two completely different things. In a nonlinear world, linear changes and incrementalism no longer yield results. We need to break industry norms and revolutionize elements of the business model. Mere vision does not suffice. We should launch a crusade. Every team member has to have a part to play in it. Only then, it becomes a movement.

Every industry works on some established norms and faces certain constraints. Unless we move to control the bottleneck in the industry, speed cannot be achieved. Whatever is our strategic advantage, we should own it. There is no point in fettering resources on things that be easily duplicated by others.

It is impossible to achieve speed without the active involvement of suppliers and partners. Do we spend time clarifying the expectations and setting performance goals for them in advance? If not, that's another thing to do asap.

Today, it is almost impossible to keep things secret. However, unless your innovation hits the market, it is best to stay under the radar. In the launch phase, only a few people should be involved. It helps in maintaining secrecy, better communication, and coordination.

Finally, complicated business models slow things down. Simplifying things is the most critical thing in expediting execution. Most often, we look at our competitors and calibrate our actions. Ultimately, our customers care for speed, value, and performance. We can simplify things by eliminating the friction points between the company and the customer.

Plans with milestones and KPIs should be reviewed every day, week, month. Immediate actions and re-planning should be done after the review. That is the core discipline of execution.

• Subodh