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