Communication is the Key to Reducing Execution Risk

Difficult decisions aren’t done once you’ve made them. The biggest risks you’ll face with any decision is the result of execution risk – does your decision get carried out the way you wanted it to? The key to successful execution is good change management.

If you want to make a successful executive decision, communicate the rationale for the decision to the broader organization. Lay out the context you’re making the decision in. Tell people what the decision was and why it was made. Explain the goals for the making the decision. Tell people how you’re going to monitor execution. And also that you’re willing to make new decisions as you get more information. Perhaps even tell them what some of the contingency plans are.

The better people understand why you made the decision, the less they’re going to second guess it and the more they’re going to support it. Their support is critical to reducing the execution risks of making the decision. Their support helps you get the decision made and executed quickly because they’re bought into it and they’re not going to be obstacles.

For example, at one company I worked for, we did a large layoff. Those are always difficult decisions. Most of the time, layoffs are kept quiet and people don’t know they’re coming. This CEO did it differently. He laid out a complete presentation that explained the rationale for the layoff. He explained the strategic implications and the market dynamics that were driving this change. He also explained “here’s what happens if we don’t act. This is a possible future reality if we don’t do something today.”

Of course, people didn’t like the idea of a downsizing. Their friends were going to be laid off. Some of these people were going to be laid off. But they understood the strategic rationale for making the decision and they supported and executed the plan. They did so very well because they were bought into the rationale from the beginning.

As you’re looking at the executive decisions you’re going to make, be sure you put that context around it, tell people why you’re making the decision and how you’re going to measure success.

Managing Change

Making executive decisions requires you to manage change. Just because you made a decision doesn’t mean it gets executed. Operational risks exist and change management is how you’re going to mitigate that risk.

Some principles of change management you should think about as you’re implementing these decisions are first, you can never communicate too much. People will always have questions about the decision, why you’re making it and what your expectations are. Let them know what’s going on and let them know frequently.

Second, tell them what you know, when you know it. The worst thing that can happen is people think you’re withholding information. Sometimes, “I don’t know” is an acceptable answer. It lets people know the information is being shared is all the information that you’re able to share. When you hear rumors during the execution of a major decision, squash them as fast as you can. Get the right information out there.

During the period of change, reassure people about what they care about. In many cases, it’s their jobs or their job description. By assuaging their concerns, they can focus on executing the changes you’re requesting rather than gossiping at the water cooler.
Lastly, reward people for embracing and acting on the change. Sometimes, those rewards will be financial. Sometimes, it’s giving them a bigger role. Regardless of the reward, give them an incentive to move the organization through this period of change.

I know of a situation where change management wasn’t executed properly. The CEO and senior leadership team decided to make a change to how they were going to run their financial reports. This meant redoing all of their processes, recasting their data and making the reports very different from what they currently had.

The leadership team made this decision and they communicated it to the organization but they didn’t follow-up with the proper change management. Someone at the director level successfully blocked the rollout by making themselves an obstacle. They made it hard to get the data and they didn’t put together the reports as they were asked.

In this situation, a director overrode the CEO because the CEO and the senior leadership team hadn’t invested enough time in letting people know the rationale for the decision and letting them know how they would roll out the change.

When you’re making large scale decisions, make sure you’re communicating frequently and accurately. Give people the rationale and help them embrace that change rather than resist it.

To learn more about making and executing decisions, check out our training course Deliberate Decision Making. We’ll teach you how to get the most out of every decision you make. You can also watch my course Executive Decision Making on lynda.com, which includes a free chapter on assessing risks. Watch the course introduction here:

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Photo: IMG_1760 by Robert Couse-Baker