---
title: "Lack of Execution Means Management Problems!"
description: "Case 1: Who will bell the cat? A group of mice held a meeting to discuss how to deal with a cat's attack. A clever mouse suggested putting a bell around the cat's neck so they could hear it coming. Everyone agreed it was a good idea, but when asked who would do it and how, they were all speechless. The commentary: A scientific and reasonable strategic deployment is the prerequisite for execution! If the strategy is divorced from reality, execution is impossible."
author: "New Distribution"
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published: "2015-08-04"
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# Lack of Execution Means Management Problems!

> Case 1: Who will bell the cat? A group of mice held a meeting to discuss how to deal with a cat's attack. A clever mouse suggested putting a bell around the cat's neck so they could hear it coming. Everyone agreed it was a good idea, but when asked who would do it and how, they were all speechless. The commentary: A scientific and reasonable strategic deployment is the prerequisite for execution! If the strategy is divorced from reality, execution is impossible.

Case 1: Who will bell the cat?
A group of mice held a meeting to discuss how to deal with a cat's attack. A mouse considered clever suggested putting a bell around the cat's neck. In this way, when the cat walks, the bell will ring, and the mice hearing the bell can run away in time, right? Everyone agreed it was a good idea. However, who will bell the cat? How can it be done? As soon as these questions were raised, the mice were all speechless.
Commentary: A scientific and reasonable strategic deployment is the prerequisite for execution! If the strategy is divorced from reality, execution is impossible.

Case 2: The busy farmer
A farmer got up early and told his wife he was going to plow the field. When he reached field No. 40, he found the tiller was out of oil. He planned to go get oil immediately, but suddenly remembered that the three or four pigs at home had not been fed, so he turned back home. Passing by the warehouse, he saw some potatoes nearby and remembered they might be sprouting, so he went to the potato field. On the way, he passed a woodpile and remembered he needed firewood at home. Just as he was about to get the wood, he saw a sick chicken lying on the ground... He ran back and forth several times, from morning until sunset, without adding oil, feeding pigs, or plowing the field... Obviously, in the end, he did nothing well.
Commentary: Setting goals, planning, and budgeting are the foundation of execution. Time management is the guarantee for improving execution efficiency.

Case 3: The confusion of buying copy paper
The boss asked an employee to buy copy paper. The employee went and bought three sheets of copy paper. The boss yelled, "Three sheets? How can that be enough? I need at least three reams." The next day, the employee bought three reams of copy paper. The boss saw it and yelled again, "Why did you buy B5? I wanted A4." A few days later, the employee bought three reams of A4 copy paper. The boss scolded, "Why did it take a week to buy it?" The employee replied, "You didn't say when you needed it." A small matter of buying copy paper: the employee made three trips, and the boss got angry three times. The boss would shake his head and sigh, "The employee's execution is too poor!" The employee would think, "The boss lacks ability; he can't even explain a task clearly, just making subordinates work in vain!"
Commentary: To effectively improve execution, in general, you must first communicate fully and reach a relatively consistent agreement on completing the target task.

How to solve the problem of poor execution in enterprises?
Once the reasons for poor execution are clear, the solution becomes obvious: it is necessary to achieve "clear goals, feasible methods, good communication, reasonable processes, adequate incentives, and effective assessment."

1. Clear goals
For the sales business line, clear goals mean implementing indicators. Accurate and implementable indicators are the foundation for budgeting, policy-making, and incentive assessment, and are the most important thing in sales management.

2. Feasible methods
Yue Fei defeated Jin Wushu's "guai zi ma" (cavalry) by inventing the hook sickle spear and teaching soldiers to hook the horses' legs. Without this feasible method, even the brave Yue family army might not have won. Since the execution layer's task is to execute, managers should provide specific operating methods.
Developing a feasible method requires effective coordination of three links: decision, support, and feedback.
First, the decision should not be made arbitrarily based on the leader's will, but should be fully demonstrated in combination with market conditions.
Support can be business guidance from senior employees to subordinates, or professional internal or external training. It should be noted that for the execution layer, imparting tools and methods is far more important than conveying ideas. Motivational training will not bring much business growth; solving problems relies more on methods than enthusiasm.
Any method has shortcomings, and feedback during execution helps to further improve it.

3. Good communication
A representative opinion is: to effectively improve execution, in general, you must first communicate fully and reach a relatively consistent agreement on completing the target task. Otherwise, even the best decisions from above will be distorted after being "discounted" by middle and lower-level execution.
If the direction of execution is wrong, there is only one consequence: you are not planning how to succeed, but how to fail.
If there is anything that can make employees clearer about the direction of execution, it is good communication. Passing decisions to employees at all levels, helping them understand the goals to be achieved, and gaining their support is the guarantee of success.
During execution, the role of communication is even more important. Suppose the executor encounters difficulties and cannot communicate with the supervisor through convenient and fast channels, he has to solve the problem according to his own understanding and methods. As the saying goes, "A miss is as good as a mile." The way the executor handles the problem may be quite different from what the supervisor thinks, and eventually, the execution deviates, which is inevitable.
How to communicate? How to communicate effectively? The best way is to ask questions one after another until the plan is fully understood and accepted by the executor. Before execution, such communication should be continuous, spreading the leader's beliefs, behaviors, and dialogue patterns throughout the organization, making the behavioral norms and beliefs of the upper-level leader the model for lower-level leaders to emulate, and ultimately making the entire organization accept these behavioral norms and beliefs.

4. Reasonable processes
In most enterprises, the process is not problematic in form, but it appears unreasonable in execution. There are two reasons for unreasonableness: (1) laymen managing insiders; (2) mismatched responsibilities, rights, and interests.

5. Adequate incentives
So-called adequate incentives have three meanings: sufficient intensity, clear description, and timely fulfillment.
Incentive intensity should be competitive in the market, attractive to employees, and affordable for the company.
The description of incentives should be concise and easy to understand, preferably visualized.
Fulfillment means that the company must keep its word; policy changes due to company reasons should not affect the annual bonuses of business personnel.

6. Effective assessment
Effective assessment must achieve three points: first, the assessment should truly play a guiding role; second, avoid interference from human factors; third, penalty measures must be strictly implemented and not be lenient.

Viewpoint: Without execution, there is no competitiveness. If execution problems are not solved, no matter how beautiful the blueprint, it will only be a moon in the water or a flower in the mirror. Execution is a discipline that any leader needs to master, and it is also the only way to establish leadership authority. "Three parts strategy, seven parts execution." For individuals, execution is part of leadership; for companies, execution is the key to success or failure. "Without execution, no matter how good the strategy and decisions, they cannot be realized."

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