High Velocity Execution: A Leading News Teleforum

Every month the Leading News group has a free teleforum on various executive / management / leadership topics.

This month's topic was "High Velocity Execution" with Leland Russell, author of Winning in Fast Time and Larry Levin of the Levin Group. You can access the Mp3 of the 60 minute call on their archives page or read the one page summary of the meeting here.

Some of what i took away from this:

• to  "win" (achive what you've set out to do), you have to move faster than your competitors and faster than the rate of change.
  
• planning assumptions: the longer the timeline for a project is, the more the value of the plan depreciates because the world changes while you're trying to impliment it. The longer you take to impliment something, the more chances there are of mistakes and failure.
• the "new normal" environment = more complex + more change + higher speeds
• When you move quickly, key assumptions don't become obsolete and the less opposition you encounter.
  
• you need to balance the right amount of time to get the depth to be able to think and align teams with the need for speedy excecution.
• you need to have a real time feedback system to evaluate what's working and what isn't so you can make adjustments as it happens. 
• Tactical direction comes from goals. The goal will remain the same, but your path may change. Be flexible.
• adult learning needs follow-up and follow through.

Suggested actions to impliment some of the ideas from the call:

1. tell yourself the hard truth about how well we execute. 
2. benchmark yourself against the 7 gaps (as listed in the pdf)
3. create conversations. talk not about what's wrong, but about what could be more right.
4. look at yourself- what are your own execution gaps
5. challenge yourself to think strategically. How often do you do it? How often should you do it?
6. What do you focus your energy on? Are they the right things?
7. How quickly can you move? How quickly do you move? How much are you learning along the way? Do you know when to move fast and when to stop?

Focus on Velocity (speed + direction = velocity). Balance the drive for change with very little distuption in whats important in the day to day.