The Secret to Getting Things Done
Three overlooked processes between vision and completion.
by Ed Rowell

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan, Charles Burck Crown Publishing Group 288 pages; $19.25

Like the townspeople to the boy who cried "Wolf!" my friends have long grown weary of my raving about "the best book I've ever read." So now I qualify my latest find by saying, "This is the best book I've read since �?

That said, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done (Crown Business/Random House, 2002) is the best (business) book I've read since Good to Great.

For the 15 years I've been in ministry, the leadership buzzword has been "vision." I'd say a lot of us are getting pretty good at painting a picture of a preferable future. It's helping, but we still aren't lighting and salting the world as much as we'd hoped. We usually experience breakdown between the vision we've cast and the results our churches experience.

So what's the answer? According to this book, it's execution. "Strategies most often fail because they aren't executed well�?. Either the organizations aren't capable of making them happen, or the leaders of the business misjudge the challenges their companies face �?or both."

Authors Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan insist that the role of the leader in what they call "productivity cultures" requires paying strict attention to three core processes—picking other leaders, setting the strategic direction, and conducting operations. "These actions are the substance of execution, and leaders cannot delegate them regardless of the size of the organization."

They explain: "The strategy process defines where a business wants to go, and the people process defines who's going to get it there. The operating process provides the path for those people."

These three are not compartmentalized, but intrinsically connected, with each serving as a link to the other two. Thinking in terms of this strategy/people/operations triad was liberating for me in its simplicity.

I realized that my big mistakes have usually been on the operations link. I've been timid about setting what the authors call "stretch goals." I've failed to build contingencies into the action plan, so the first time we hit a snag, we get stuck. I've too often assumed agreement from all participants in both goals and action plans just because no one speaks up against them. Big mistake. "All the people accountable for executing the plan need to help construct it."

Time consuming? Absolutely. An opportunity for the snipers to take shots? Sure. But when you read chapter nine you'll instinctively realize the authors are right and that our failure to take time for buy-in is exactly the reason too many of our brilliant plans bite the dust.

As they put it, "Dialogue is the core of (a productivity) culture and the basic unit of work."

Bossidy speaks from his experience as a senior executive at General Electric (where he was mentored by Jack Welch), AlliedSignal, and Honeywell International, where as ceo and chairman, his current job is "to restore the discipline of execution to a company that had lost it."

His co-author, Charan, pulls from 35 years as an adviser to the highest-ranking corporate officers on the planet.

The takeaways from this book are many; here are a few hot ones for me:

» The leadership assessment on page 151 helps separate issues of personality and productivity when evaluating staff and lay leadership.

» On page 229, find out why our budgets never match up with our action plans.

» And on page 188, a list of critical questions that every strategic plan must answer.

Finally, a few quotes I'll remember:

» "You cannot set realistic goals until you have debated the assumptions behind them."

» "Consistent behavior is a sign of a contained ego, and inspires confidence in me from those around me."

» "Emotional fortitude comes from self-discovery and self-mastery."

You'll find Execution a valuable tool as you create a productivity culture in your church.

—Ed Rowell is pastor of Tri-Lakes Chapel in Monument, Colorado.

Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Leadership Journal.
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Summer 2003, Vol. XXIV, No. 3, Page 99