Decision Vs. Execution!

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Decision Vs. Execution! / 112, 18 Feb 2024

We look back at our professional journey as a series of decisions. It is tempting to believe that what we have achieved is the net sum of all these decisions, some good, some bad or merely ineffective. With the benefit of hindsight – understanding of a situation after it has happened – we think “...thank god I took that decision…” or “...I should’ve said no…” or “I could’ve decided differently”. But what is completely missed in all this is the quality of our execution – or our actions after we took the decision. I believe that execution is as important as the decision. Execution can actually influence the outcome; and can improve the quality of our decision. That’s the theme for today. Do read on!

Why is execution as important as the decision? Let us explore this a bit:

• As a necessity: Mere decisions are not enough; they need diligent execution on the ground to make them successful.
• For course correction: Situations change, new challenges arise, and there is a need for rethinking some of our decisions and adapting the executions accordingly.
• To reach the conclusion: With execution comes timely review and monitoring and the final conclusion when we know that the outcome has been realised.

Now that we have established the importance of execution, let us review the momentous decisions of our professional journey. Did we execute diligently? Did we do the necessary course corrections? Did we review and monitor the actions till conclusion?

I personally find that when my execution was good, it made the decision also look good. When I moved to a corporate role, I was hesitant, because in my work life until then, I had been in line business roles, and the grapevine feedback was also mixed. Hence, I wasn’t sure whether it was a good decision. But having taken the plunge, I threw myself into the role and executed diligently, adapting and reviewing constantly, and the decision turned out pretty well, in hindsight.

And the reverse was also true; poor execution made certain decisions look poor. In one of my roles, I believed in the strength of the product and technology so much, that I didn’t execute well enough, and the product didn’t really take off as I thought. That decision turned out to be a poor one, in hindsight. Today when I look back, I know exactly what I should have done to make it a success!

While execution can cover up many a gap and still make a decision look good in hindsight, it cannot correct an inherently flawed decision. That is rare, but true as well. In those cases, we need to read the signs during the execution and take the hard decision to accept that our decision was poor and stop our execution. Here too, it is our execution which gives us a true report card. ?

I hope you enjoyed reading this one, and – as always – look forward to your continued feedback and perspectives as we build a buzz of discussion on this topic. Warmest regards, Krishnakumar.

Image courtesy:

How to Make a Right Decision? | Different Types & Important Steps (educba.com)

Reference Sources:

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