INDIANAPOLIS BUSINESS
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Avoid ‘analysis paralysis’ when implementing new ideas
By CJ McClanahan
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Tell me if this story sounds familiar.
You attend an amazing two-day industry conference and take 10 pages of notes. The speakers provide you with tons of ideas that you are certain will help you double sales and increase profits. On the plane ride home, you lay out a detailed strategy for implementing all of these amazing ideas.
Then it happens. You return to work on Monday morning to no less than 117 e-mails, 11 voicemails and a jam-packed schedule. The next time you check the clock, you realize that it is 6:30 p.m. on Friday and all you can think about is a relaxing night with your family.
I’m certain that if I stopped by your office and asked you about the great conference you attended, you wouldn’t be able to find your notes, much less your implementation.
In his bestselling book, “The 8th Habit,” Stephen Covey points out that,“To know and not to do is really not to know.” In other words, you might as well skip the conferences, stop reading all those books and put away the motivational CDs if you aren’t going to put into practice what you’ve learned.
The difference between knowing and doing can be summed up in one word: execution. Your ability to execute what you have learned is critical if you want to move up the ladder from situational manager to transformational leader.
We all know the type of leader who can execute. He/she is the type of person who always delivers. They don’t hold threehour meetings to make 10-minute decisions. They make it happen no matter what else is taking place in the organization. These individuals get better results and inspire confidence in those around them.
Right now you’re thinking, “CJ, you have no idea how busy I am each day. There’s no way I can add anything to the mix.” I know it’s hard, but if you don’t change and try new approaches, you will continue to get the same results.
And unless you are completely satisfied with your current title, workload and salary, it’s time for some better results. (By the way, it’s impossible to maintain the status quo—you’re either getting better or getting worse.)
The good news about execution is that improving this skill does not translate into late nights at the office. Execution has nothing to do with putting in more hours. In fact, improving your ability to execute will reduce the amount of time it takes to accomplish your goals.
So, how can you develop this skill? It boils down to a set of very simple rules that are easy to understand and simple to implement.
First, don’t stop learning even though you feel you can’t handle any more information. You will never be able to implement every idea that you absorb, and that is OK. What’s important is that every time you read a book or attend a seminar
most important two or three lessons you learned. It’s the prioritization and documentation of the most important lessons learned that will ensure you implement the key concepts.
Now that you have narrowed it down to a top few, it’s vital that you make a quick decision about how you will implement what you have learned. Notice, I did not say rushed and stupid decision; I said quick. Many leaders suffer from “analysis paralysis” meaning they over-think every single decision and end up doing nothing. Look at the facts, understand the risks and then go. (And be prepared to have a misstep from time to time—it’s part of the process.)
Finally, it’s time to let your team know about this new initiative. Unfortunately, here’s what typically happens: You hold a meeting to discuss the rollout of this new idea and 90 minutes later you have a white board full of thoughts without assigning tasks to anyone.
The entire room is convinced that it’s best to let the idea “sink in” and talk about it more next week. Guess what? By next week you will have other issues to deal with and this once-promising initiative is forever simmering on the back burner. The obvious lesson is to never, ever leave a meeting without a clear set of “to-do’s” that will keep the plan moving forward.
Even if you have done a good job of setting expectations with your team, most leaders struggle with the last phase of the execution cycle—holding people accountable. No one likes confrontation and we all have let an employee off the hook when they failed to complete a task.
Here’s the fix: When you first give out job assignments, tell team members to commit right then and there that they will accomplish their task no matter what happens. It makes holding them accountable at a later date much easier.
Remember, you are in complete control of your development as a leader. This year, choose to improve your ability to execute.
CJ McClanahan is the president of ReachMore Strategies, a leadership training and management consulting firm. You can reach him at info@goreachmore.com or by calling 576-8492.
