Execution: Why Is It So Hard?

In their new book, "Get It Done! A Blueprint for Business Execution" business advisors Ralph Welborn and Vince Kasten offer some insight into the questions:

• "Why, oh, why is it so hard for companies--successful companies filled with very smart people--to align their objectives with their activities?
• "Why does "getting it done" seem so, well, impossible?"

Their research findings:

• Conflicting organizational activities, silos, redundant processes, and confusing governance policies block effective, consistent execution.
• 64% of C-level executives have said that being able to execute, to react quickly to changing business opportunities and technologies, is critical for their success.
• Yet nearly 80% of them said that it is nearly impossible to achieve.

They uncovered a wealth of reasons why so many companies have trouble getting it done. Here are ten common challenges:

1. Knowing what connects with what, when, where, how, and how much.
2. Internal struggles around new products/services development.
3. Getting T-shirts, Turtlenecks, and Suits to agree.
4. Silos: Corporate antibodies to change.
5. Integrating "existing" with "emerging" technology.
6. The "invisibles." (What you don't know will bite you.)
7. Conflicts between what's good for the company and what's good for your team.
8. The Botox Effect: managing the impossible decisions.
9. The Peter-Out Principle and the rise of horizontal loyalty.
10. Underestimating the Bull's Eye Effect.

Read the summary here.