Brian Brennan is a Chartered Accountant and an experienced leader in the business community. He is a Chair with TEC Canada where he works closely with numerous CEO’s to help them become great leaders in their organizations.
Imagine being at the top of an organization – calling the shots and being where the buck stops. What a thrill!
Leadership is exciting, invigorating and tremendously motivating for those who are in positions of authority and prominence in an organization.
Developing business strategies is a key function that leaders fulfill and executing them well is a tremendous responsibility. The long term success of your company depends on it.
The process of business planning is often conducted annually and is completed in one or two meetings of the senior management team. Too often this is as far as executives go with their well-considered plans. When the meetings are over it is back to the rigors of running the business.
Strategies need to be carefully thought out and passionately executed.
In their book, Execution – The Discipline of Getting Things Done, Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan present the leader’s role with business plan execution as this – “The leader has to be engaged personally and deeply in the business. Execution requires a comprehensive understanding of a business, its people and its environment….only the leader can make execution happen, through his or her deep personal involvement in the substance and even the details of execution.”
The vast majority of business planning fails at the execution phase. Some estimate that the failure rate is as high as 90%. That is astounding considering the quality of the people involved in strategic planning.
I think that Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan have it right. Successful business plan execution requires passionate leadership from the CEO and senior executive team working together. Solid teamwork is a caveat, something that cannot be ignored if business planning is to succeed.
Those who will be responsible for executing strategy will need to be intimately involved in its development. As a CEO or business owner it is your responsibility to direct the activity, stay close enough to understand it thoroughly and ensure that strategic initiatives are followed through.
Keeping your senior team focused and on track to achieve the results that you expect is critically important. Coaching and assisting your team where necessary is all part of the process.
Leadership is all about providing direction and assistance wherever and whenever it is needed – with passion and a deep sense of commitment.
For more information on Brian Brennan visit www.maxpotential.ca and www.tec-canada.com
Tags: Brian Brennan, business plan, business planning, business strategy, execution, Jim Stewart, leader, Leadership, ProfitPATH, strategic planning
Not sure I agree with Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. If the plan is without purpose and intent, then personality is implementing the plan. People in the company will implement a plan that is aligned to their values and that they believe will be best for them and the company. Too many plans I have been involved in writing and implementing have failed because of misalignment of both the values and the purpose. Why should we rather than that sounds like a really good thing to do.