HBX Management Essentials on Execution

1. Set goals  and define deliverables.
2. Determine roles, responsibilities, and relationships.
3. Delegate the work.
4. Execute the plan, monitor progress and performance, and provide continued support.
5. Take corrective action (either minor adjustments or major revisions).
6. Get closure on the project and agreement on the output.
7. Conduct a retrospective or review of how the process went.⊕ (Fuller and Garvin n.d.)
   
   

In determining roles, a manager should consider the following questions:

• What types of knowledge, skill, and prior experience will each role require?
• Whom do I know who fits the bill?
• Who will be the leader?
• Who should not be involved in this project?

In determining responsibilities, a manager should consider the following questions:

• Who will be ultimately accountable  for project success?
• Who will own and be accountable for each deliverable?
• What needs to be delivered? When? With what quality? With what budget? With what variance?
• If key deliverables require multiple people, which pieces should each person work on?

In determining relationships, a manager should consider the following questions:

• Who will report to whom
• Who will have access to what information?
• Who will have decision rights on key choices that we know must be made down the road?
• Who needs to provide status updates and progress reports?
• Who needs to communicate regularly with whom?
• Who gets to provide information, input, and recommendations on key decisions?
• Whom should people go to if they need help, come into conflict, or have trouble?⊕ (Fuller and Garvin n.d.)
  
  

• Don’t cast the wrong roles or assign the wrong parts. Basing decisions on political expediency or personal interests rather than ability to do the job is a recipe for resentment and disaster. As Jim Collins notes, “[great companies] start by getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.”
• Clearly outline responsibilities, accountabilities, and decision rights. Make sure these are crystal clear to prevent trouble down the line.
• Don’t mistake responsibility for accountability. Many people may be responsible for working on a deliverable, but only one person should be accountable for its delivery. Often, the more people are responsible for something, the less accountable each may feel and the less chance the project will succeed. 
• Don’t forget to appoint a single authority in charge. Without someone in charge and able to hold others accountable, assign decision rights, and make the tough calls, projects often devolve into turf wars or stasis. 
• Don’t fail to lay out relationships up front. Managers must lay out the rules of the road early. Specify reporting relationships, dependencies, and communication channels. Make clear how peoples’ roles and responsibilities affect one another and what’s expected of people daily. Otherwise, people will be confused about who’s who, who’s in charge of what, and how they are expected to work together.⊕ (Fuller and Garvin n.d.)