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Case 1: Who Will Bell the Cat? A group of mice held a meeting to discuss how to deal with a cat's attacks. A mouse considered clever suggested putting a bell around the cat's neck. That way, when the cat walked, the bell would ring, and the mice hearing it could run away in time. Everyone agreed it was a good idea. But who would hang the bell on the cat? How could it be done? As soon as these questions were raised, the mice were all speechless.
Comment: A scientific and reasonable strategic deployment is the prerequisite for execution! If the strategy is divorced from reality, execution is out of the question.
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 intended to go get oil immediately, but then remembered that the three or four pigs at home hadn't been fed, so he turned back. 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. Just as he was about to get the wood, he saw a sick chicken lying on the ground... He ran back and forth like this several times, from morning until sunset, but never added oil, never fed the pigs, and never plowed the field... Clearly, in the end, he accomplished nothing.
Comment: Setting goals, making plans, and budgeting are the foundation of execution. Good time management is the guarantee of improving execution efficiency.
Case 3: The Confusion of Buying Copy Paper A 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 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 trivial matter of buying copy paper made the employee run three times and the boss 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 makes subordinates run around in vain!"
Comment: To effectively improve execution, first, there must be sufficient communication to reach a relatively consistent understanding of the goals and tasks.
How to Solve the Problem of Poor Execution in Enterprises? Once the reasons for poor execution are clear, the solutions become obvious: "clear objectives, feasible methods, good communication, reasonable processes, sufficient incentives, and effective assessment."
a. Clear Objectives For the sales business line, clear objectives mean implementing targets. Accurate and implementable targets are the basis for budgeting, policy-making, and incentive assessment, and are the most important thing in sales management.
b. Feasible Methods Yue Fei invented the hook sickle spear, taught his soldiers to hook the legs of the enemy's horses, and thus defeated Jin Wushu's "Guai Zi Ma" (a type of cavalry). 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, decisions should not be made arbitrarily based on the leader's will, but should be fully demonstrated in light of 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; feedback during execution helps to further improve it.
c. Good Communication A representative opinion is: To effectively improve execution, first, there must be sufficient communication to reach a relatively consistent understanding of the goals and tasks. 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 becomes even more important. Suppose an executor encounters difficulties and cannot communicate with their supervisor through a convenient and fast channel; they have to solve the problem according to their 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 intended, and the final execution will inevitably deviate.
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 upper-level leaders the model for lower-level leaders, and ultimately making the entire organization accept these norms and beliefs.
d. Reasonable Processes In most enterprises, processes are not problematic in form, but appear unreasonable during execution. There are two reasons for unreasonableness: (1) laymen managing professionals; (2) unequal responsibilities, rights, and benefits.
e. Sufficient Incentives So-called sufficient incentives have three meanings: sufficient intensity, sufficient description, and sufficient 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 the company must keep its word; policy changes due to company reasons should not affect the annual bonuses of sales personnel.
f. Effective Assessment Effective assessment must achieve three points: first, assessment should truly play a guiding role; second, avoid interference from human factors; third, penalty measures must be strictly enforced 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 every 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 strategy or decision can be realized."
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