At a recent meeting of investment analysts, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company explained his biggest challenge as this: “Our business model is simple. But we have to execute it flawlessly, and that is a much more difficult thing to do.”
For many organizations, execution is indeed a most significant challenge. Executives assume that once a strategy is laid out, managers and the workforce will be able to take the ball and run with it, because that is what managers are paid to do.
The reality is that strategic initiatives (such as acquisitions, mergers, downsizing, restructurings, and large-scale system implementations) fundamentally change the way people need to do their jobs. And when jobs change, managers inevitably face workforce performance problems that need to be addressed in order to execute the strategy.
These problems are not only fixable; they are actually predictable and preventable. HR and Training professionals can make an enormous contribution to the bottom line by using Robert F. Mager’s renowned Performance Analysis process to help the organization diagnose and fix workforce performance problems that are obstacles to successful strategy execution.
