Flawless Execution Use the Techniques and Systems of America's Fighter Pilots to Perform at Your Peak and Win the Battles of the Business World.
Flawless execution is all about generating predictable results time and again. It requires three elements to be in place:
Element # 1 - Leadership
To execute flawlessly at an individual level is very worthwhile but to do so consistently at an organizational level requires sound ongoing leadership. You need to have leaders in place who will consistently specify three key parameters:
1. Picture of the Future - The goals your organization should achieve.
Every organization has loads of good options available to it. If, however, it attempts to achieve too much, it can end up diluting the impact of whatever is executed. It is, therefore, the first job of the leader to develop a clear and concise description of the future the organization would like to achieve at the expense of all its other alternatives.
2. Strategy - The precise strategy that can be used to achieve those goals.
The term "strategy" has a vast array of meanings in business. It's also easy to confuse strategy with tactics. From a flawless execution perspective, strategy is the connective tissue between the future picture articulated by the business leader and the individual plans your teams will develop and then execute.
In simple terms, strategy means to answer four key questions:
Where are we going to be in the future as an organization?
What are we going to deploy our resources into or against in order to get there?
How are we actually going to do this?
When and how are we going to exit and get out with some style and finesse?
3. Intent - The reasoning and rationale behind your preferred strategy.
It's not enough that everyone knows what your strategy is. They also need to know the rationale and deliberate decisions behind your strategy. That way, if circumstances change, they can adapt on the fly rather than waiting for a new set of instructions to be crafted.
Overall, the more open and inclusive the planning process is, the better the people at the frontlines will be able to execute in their area and the better they will be able to adapt the plan when the unexpected contingencies arise in the marketplace.
Element # 2 - Execution Engine
More than anything else, the execution engine is designed to accelerate the learning and hands-on experience of your team so they can execute flawlessly in the future. The execution engine has four steps:
1. Plan - Take the strategy and develop the tactics which will accomplish the desired effect.
Before you expect anything worthwhile to be achieved, you have to sit down and plan things out thoroughly. This allows you to anticipate what will happen as you attempt to execute and put in place the assets you will require. Ideally, this will allow you to proactively influence and shape events before they even occur. It also means you can avoid surprises and empower your people to be flexible. That, in turn, means everyone will be able to adjust their actions in the light of changing market conditions.
2. Brief - Bring everyone involved up to speed so they know what is expected of them.
In simple terms, briefing is all about communicating your plan to your people and getting everyone on the same page. The briefing is where you tell everyone how you're going to execute the plan and what will be done today.
3. Execute - Get out and use the tools provided.
Military aviators have found the biggest stumbling block to flawless execution is task saturation - having too much to do and not enough time, resources or tools. Many businesspeople can relate. In this era of layoffs and other structural changes, many people wear task saturation almost as if it were a badge of honor.
4. Debrief - Look at what went right and what went wrong so others can benefit the next time around.
This is a technique which is widely underutilized in business. The whole essence of a debrief is to evaluate what went right and what went wrong so the next time the same project is executed, the organization can do it better. Debrief is all about improving skills and getting better rather than who was right and who was wrong. In the flawless execution model, the debrief is the most important step of all. It's even more important than the execution step because it is the catalyst to the learning process and the foundation for future operations.
Notably the execution engine centers around winning. The engine cycles again and again. As soon as one cycle is completed, the entire team then moves smoothly onto the next cycle. You start planning how to win again using the benefit of all the experience garnered thus far. These same lessons are then transferred to others in your organization so they can avoid the mistakes you made along the way. The execution engine keeps cycling as you layer one achievement over another. This is the heart of flawless execution. In the aggregate, you then start outperforming your competition.
Element # 3 - Foundation
No execution plan is ever perfect when it is first conceived. When an execution plan breaks down or has to be adapted to changing market conditions on the fly, you have to rely on the three basic elements which form the foundation of flawless execution:
1. Standards - Your implicit and explicit organizational expectations of what is acceptable and what's not.
When your execution plan falls down or whenever unusual circumstances arise, your organization needs standards to fall back on. Standards specify the minimum level of competency and professionalism required in all parts of the organization. When you set standards across your organization and insist people adhere to them, you're creating a situation where even the newest and greenest entry-level employee will have an accurate idea of what's expected of them.
2. Training - Training is ongoing and consistent so as to meet the demands of a fast-changing world.
Training is essential to flawless execution. It provides the rock-hard foundation on which all your processes will be built. Many businesses think they're too busy acting to spend any time training. That's a fallacy. Military organizations find time to train and rehearse even in the middle of combat, and businesses need to do the same. A war is never won or lost in one mission or one battle, but is the cumulative result of a sustained campaign. If you aren't continually learning and grafting new insights into what you're doing, you're not going to get better. If you're not getting better over time, that hands a huge advantage to your competitors who are.
3. People - Getting the right people involved in the organization in the first place.
Everyone says "Our people are our company's greatest asset" but rarely do organizations put much if any thought into the people side of their business. Consider how much it costs your company for every employee who doesn't work out in terms of:
a. Training costs.
b. Travel costs.
c. Other employee's time spent training that person.
d. Lost productivity.
e. Lost opportunity costs.
In effect the foundation is your ultimate contingency plan. If your execution engine fails completely, you can count on your foundation elements to keep your organization working until the problems are fixed.
"It's the process that counts. The process is your tool. The process
helps you get ahead, and it's called Flawless Execution. You set it up in yourself.
You give yourself time to run through it in your head. You make quiet time to
debrief yourself. You stay honest with yourself. You feed your lessons learned
back into the process and you go out and do it again tomorrow." - James Murphy
"In business, think of the Flawless Execution model as a tool for energizing systems. A systemic approach is key to the Flawless Execution model. At the heart of the Flawless Execution model is a circular, continuous process you're involved in every day. When everybody's involved in the process, you suddenly have a very powerful, replicable, scalable organization, one where people can replace people and new initiatives come online smoothly." - James Murphy
"People want to do better. It's human nature. It's all about the basic
drive to better ourselves. But it doesn't have to be hard, and that's the message.
So much of what makes us better is literally locked inside of us! Flawless Execution
and all the associated tools simply show you the path of least resistance to
the person that wants to get out and strut. Fighter pilots come from hundreds
of different backgrounds and are born in countless cultures, but they all attain
a level of execution most would think impossible. It's simply because they follow
a process that unlocks the skills they need to excel. That's all there is to
it. The skills are inside of us; the Flawless Execution process simply gives
you a set of keys to work the locks. That said, Flawless Execution is a demanding
taskmaster. It's an overarching way to live. When you decide to make something
a pattern for life, you have to start from scratch and let the process, the
pattern guide you. Build your schedule - and your life - around Flawless Execution.
Then expect great things. Millions before you have. The essential ingredients
are in all of us."
- James Murphy
