Forum

Reduce time to value and increase value over time by accelerating execution

Universally, leaders crave speed. And for good reason: shareholders have never been quicker to dump stock than at the first whiff of underperformance. New and nimbler competitors pose risks in key accounts and future market opportunities. Sluggish execution no longer only results in suboptimized ROI or decreased realized gains; today, it can result in missing market opportunities altogether.

The formula for strategic speed is pace + process + people. The people factors require the most attention.

Strategic speed is urgency meeting execution—and many leaders fail to achieve it because they often overlook critical people factors while focusing too narrowly on work processes and systems. Efficient processes, traditionally the main drivers of speed, are now merely the price of entry to the race.

The formula for strategic speed is pace + process + people. The people factors require the most attention.

There are three primary people factors that drive speed:

• Clarity: A shared, clear understanding of the situation and direction
• Unity: Whole-hearted agreement on the merits of the direction and the need for people to work together to move ahead
• Agility: Willingness to turn and adapt quickly while keeping strategic goals in mind

Why be so concerned about speed? Forum research shows that faster companies demonstrate 40 percent higher sales growth and 52 percent higher operating-profit growth, on average, than do their slower peer companies.