The Cornerstones of Execution

In today’s new order, what makes or breaks a new venture is the execution. With financial markets making it easier than ever to get ‘cheap’ money to put your ideas into action, whether you are a small local start-up or a “unicorn”—a company raising $1 billion or more—to succeed in the long term, it’s all about the execution. How do you get there?

Culture and Relationships

The cornerstones of successful execution in business are culture and relationships. Sure, you can have the staff, the brainpower, the creativity, the strategies—the list goes on and yes, all great plans, but as Peter Drucker famously said, “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Let’s look at what that means.  

Culture reflects relationships. A healthy, thriving culture in your business is all about how the people you have on your team react at the crucial moment, how they problem-solve a key challenge, and how their teamwork gets the ball into the end zone. It’s all about the strength of relationships rooted in competency and trust.

How to Walk the Culture Walk

Forging a strong culture within any workplace is a skill requiring strong intent and honed by experience. There are four key takeaways when building a culture that will turn your business strategy into reality.

1. Align your mission and values with your recruitment process. Too often, the people trying to build a team become distracted by shiny things that do not, in fact, fit into the culture they are going for. Shiny things can be fancy educational pedigrees or a heavy hitter on the reference list. These factors are often positive indicators when hiring and must be weighed in the mix, but if they blind you to a lack of alignment regarding the things that really matter to your business, they are not helping you create culture. And that means you may not get the execution of your goals that you are banking on. Literally.
   
   Make sure that, starting with the job listing, through the vetting process, interviews, and reference checks, you are infusing your recruitment messaging with your key mission and values. Look for confirmation of alignment at every step.
2. Establish clear goals and expectations within the company. Once you have a team that you’ve hand-picked, ensure that each team member understands the mission-informed and value-driven expectations and goals for the business.
   
   Being linked by a common vision and shared goals helps create a tightly bonded team that is intent on executing those goals. A culture based on relationships and competency will bring about your strategic outcomes without having to do the heavy lifting, fix problems, or constantly adjust expectations.
3. Prioritize open and clear communication and an ethos of collaboration. Communication and collaboration are the key factors in a team actually working as a team. Seamless workflow and communication between and among team members mean greater efficiency, morale, motivation, and, ultimately, execution. They are also linked to staff retention, which leads to ever-improving teamwork and communication as colleagues who have familiarity and trust keep the flow flowing.
   
   To prioritize a culture of open collaboration and communication, it is important that the manager be a fully engaged part of that culture.
4. Build trust through transparency and honest feedback: no secrets, no back-door conversations, no hinted criticisms. If you are honest in your dealings with your team, they will trust you and feel confident in their ability to contribute.

An atmosphere of trust and transparency means your staff will not be crippled by fear and uncertainty about what you think, where they stand, and what might be in store. They’ll feel supported, understand what the expectations are, and know how they’re doing. They also will not resent co-workers due to competition and uncertainty about where everyone stands. You’ll establish a healthy culture instead of a pecking order.

When Execution “Happens”

A positive culture breeds success for your business, your investors, and your team. When your entire team embodies the same values and goals, you will experience workplace flow; a state in which all members of a team are working together to execute the plan. There is little or no need for pushing or pulling your people along. There is no need to “fix” broken relationships, derailed projects, or unproductive teams. The culture you have carefully curated allows execution to happen, naturally.