The stages of creation, planning, definition of strategies are very important in every enterprise, whatever the business sector: industry, service, agribusiness, education and even in art in general.
But these steps, however well elaborated, can have negative results if they are not accomplished by the execution with excellence.
The father of modern business management, Peter Drucker, has a very famous quote that illustrates this well:
"Culture will eat strategy for breakfast." – Peter Drucker
What did Peter Drucker mean by that phrase?
An audacious strategic plan, with well-founded financial resources, well-determined objectives can be an absolute failure, if it is not compatible with the prevailing culture in the organization.
Strategy is an important part of any business. The problem is that many companies fail to put their strategic plans into practice. One of the causes is the disengagement and lack of commitment of the employees responsible for the execution.
So, what would be the main characteristics of an execution with excellence to realize a well-crafted strategic plan?
The first characteristic is related to the above-mentioned problem. In the dimension of their competence, the executing collaborators must also participate in the process of construction of the plans and projects. Participation in this process motivates them to commit more to execution. That's why the company's culture is directly related to executing with excellence.
The organization must cultivate a culture that stimulates and boosts its human capital, because it is the people who are the holders of the know-how. A culture lived by values based on the interaction between all involved: leaders, execution teams and suppliers. A culture that values the idea of cooperation and has a clear purpose for everyone. A culture more of sharing than of control, without underestimating the importance that control and quantitative evaluation have in the process. For, according to Richard Barrett,
"The power lies not in the ability to control, but in the ability to trust." – Richard Barret
The company culture that includes these elements and values, mobilizes and drives high performance, through the release of human potential, linking knowledge to practice. And the chance that the strategies work is much greater, because the employees responsible for the execution, endowed with efficiency and effectiveness, engage and commit themselves to the realization of what was strategically planned.
Engaged and committed, employees will have no difficulty maintaining focus during all stages of execution. With a focus on executing the programmed strategies, they will not run the risk of putting personal aspirations above the company's goals. And they will deliver, on time, what they have committed to deliver.
The good executor, after seeing a need, assumes that need as his own, considering himself responsible for it. Driven by the culture of execution with excellence, the employee always assumes to do the best, because he knows that the diligent, those who apply themselves with care and promptness in the execution of their tasks, will be rewarded.
By being committed to significance and excellence, the good performer always does what has to be done proficiently and not just what he is asked to do. And he is not always the one who speaks the most, because when he knows how to listen, he chooses to be in the company of the wise.
The good executor is concerned with what is constructive, even when he is in the time of waiting. Because it makes waiting, a time of growth, edification and learning.
According to psychologist Carol Dweck, author of the book Mindset: the new psychology of success, people endowed with the ability to execute with excellence, are carriers of what she called "Growth Mindset", of permanent learning.
They do not consider themselves ready, finished. That is, they do not have a frozen mentality, but are in a process of permanent personal and professional growth. These two dimensions converge in the executors with excellence: they want to learn more and more and are increasingly committed to the values and purposes of the organization's culture.
Not only do they rely on their innate talent, but with grit, constant exercise, and discipline they hone that talent every day. Endowed with the ability to learn to learn, they develop their skills to analyze reality, interpret and anticipate scenarios, incorporating new knowledge. The search for knowledge becomes pleasurable, motivated by the desire to overcome its limits, through the constant exercise of attention, memory and the act of thinking.
But they do not remain only in theoretical knowledge, as they have also developed the competence to know how to do it: to apply knowledge with proficiency to solve problems and perform the complex tasks of business organizations. And because they have the ability to know how to live together, they have the perception of the other, they know how to work in teams, manage crises, respect diversity, cooperate in the achievement of common goals and contribute to the personal and professional growth of partners.
Employees with the above competencies usually also have autonomy, are endowed with critical sense to give suggestions, correct directions and improve execution, without ever losing sight of the larger objectives of the organization. And most importantly, because they base their actions on the ethical sense, they have self-criticism to perceive their failures, learn from them and, overcoming them, make a qualitative leap in the execution process, always aiming at excellence.
That is why the process of selecting new employees is of paramount importance within the organization. Its leaders, in all sectors, should seek employees who in their profile, present the aforementioned characteristics: ability to engage, focus, know how to do what has to be done, work in cooperation with their partners and permanently invest in their personal and professional growth. Companies, in their culture, must create an environment to stimulate the exercise and learning of execution with excellence, in addition to keeping in their staff the employees who have this profile. And to value, personally and professionally, these professionals, who are overrated in the labor market.
"To lead is not to impose, but to awaken in others the will to do." – Márcio Kuhne
This postulate of Márcio Kuhne is appropriate for the conclusion of this podcast. To it I would add an addendum: to do well, with proficiency and effectiveness. Supported by an organizational culture based on the mobilization of the potential of its employees, which stimulates their engagement and commitment, it is certainly much greater the possibility of the execution reaching the level of excellence, concretizing the company's projects and enabling the strategies elaborated to build the best product in order to satisfy the customer's expectation. Satisfied customer should be the parameter for measuring the success of a project and even the organization as a whole. For as Peter Drucker categorically professed,
"The purpose of the company is to create a customer." – Peter Drucker
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