Execution

We have been most fortunate to have J. Downey Bridgwater, Sterling Bank's Chairman, President, and CEO, as a speaker for our Sterling Bank Women's Business Initiative groups in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Fort Worth.  I'm delighted to provide a recap of his presentation on Business Plan Execution.

Downey described putting together model airplanes as a child. He looked at the picture on the box, opened it and started gluing things together. He ignored the plans altogether and charged full steam ahead! Invariably, he had a few key parts left over that would have allowed certain things to work, like the flaps or the wheels.

He labeled this method, “Aggressive and Energetic Execution with Little or No Planning” (which, of course, is a recipe for disaster).

In our haste to get going we must restrain ourselves in order to start at the beginning with a plan. As General George Patton said, “Executing on a good plan today is far better than waiting to execute on a perfect plan someday in the future.”

According to MIT’s Peter Senge, there are five distinct stages of strategic planning:

Telling – “We’ve got to do this. It’s our plan. Be excited about it or reconsider your vision for your career here.”

Selling – “We have the best answer. Let’s see if we can get you to buy in.”

Testing – “What excites you about this plan? What doesn’t?”

Consulting – “What plan do members recommend that we adopt?”

Co-creating – “Let’s create the future we individually and collectively want.”

Most companies evolve to somewhere between Selling and Testing and very few get to the extremely advanced stage of “Co-creating.”

The first phase of strategic planning requires agreement by you, your management team and board on the following:

• What is your marketplace opportunity?
• What is your mission?
• What is the vision that you as the leader have for your company?
• Who are your competitors, and what is your competitive advantage?
• What operating model are you going to adopt?  

Next, identify 3 or 4 key Objectives.

Third, formulate a Strategy (or plan) for how you’re going to achieve your objectives;

Fourth, delineate the Tactics or Initiatives that your company will undertake in order to fulfill your plan;

Fifth, ascertain specific Action Steps or Projects that will allow your tactics to be realized.

Finally, prepare a financial forecast that you believe will be the result of the activities that you’ve outlined in your plan.

Now that you have a plan, the most important thing you can do to ensure success in execution is to consistently track and report results.