the sine qua non of leadership

Sine Qua Non - a phrase often used to describe the essential condition, that which is most important,  a thing that is absolutely necessary.  It's literal translation is "without which, not"...and so, today's blog has me thinking about that one aspect of leadership that, if it is missing, leadership fails to exist.  For me (and this has changed in my thinking over the past several years) the sine qua non of leadership is EXECUTION.  There are multiple books about vision...there are multiple books about team work...there are multiple books about excellence...and there are multiple books about integrity; but without EXECUTION, all of these items are only "nice" things to see and recognize in a leader.  Don't be fooled - vision, team work, excellence, and integrity are all important and necessary if one is to lead well.  And if execution fails, so does one's leadership.

So what's needed for execution?  In order for leaders to execute well and execute regularly, they should commit to these five items:

• Goals: having an end game in mind is critical in execution. Most goals should have a starting point and an end point (from "x" to y") and they should have a time frame for completion.  Some goals will be very quantitative...others may be more qualitative...all goals should have some form of measurement.
• Collaboration: there are very few goals that can fully be reached by one's self.  Using the resources of others, bringing the right people together, and knowing how to work the collaborative process almost always helps in the ability to execute well.
• Tracking Tools: keeping track of progress and sharing that progress is an important part of achieving excellence in execution.  This can be as simple as a piece of paper that is always handy for reference or as complex as a software system that can be accessed throughout the entire organization.
• Regular Review: Whether by one's self or with a whole team, leaders need to be reviewing the execution process to hold themselves and others accountable toward completion.  Tracking tools help to make this easier, and calendaring the reviews help to ensure their regularity.
• Celebration: Execution is hard work and, when the goals are reached, it is time to sit back and party!  Bringing together the people who worked together to make execution a reality and letting them see the big picture result assists in the process of ongoing execution over time.

I would not be as adamant about execution if I had not had the chance to experience it myself over the past several years.  Having the right people in place (and often times the right individual leading the effort) helps to make execution possible.  There are also many great books and ideas on execution that have helped me along the way, most notably Chris McChesney's The 4 Disciplines of Execution.  This has become my bible of execution and has a permanent place on or near my desk.