Last week I talked about a groundbreaking study (the Evergreen Project) of 200 management techniques reveal a surprising result: most techniques have no direct impact on superior business performance. What does is the mastery of business basics. To achieve superior performance you have to excel in four primary practices – strategy, execution, culture and structure. This week we focus on execution.
Whatever your service or product you must develop and maintain a flawless operational execution. You might not always delight your customers, but you must make sure you never disappoint them.Some tips to achieving this:
- Deliver products and services that consistently meet customers’ expectations
- Put decision making authority close to the frontline so employees and managers can react quickly to changing market conditions
- Constantly strive to eliminate all forms of waste. Look to improve productivity at a rate that is roughly twice your industry average
