Execution Is a Discipline, Not a Phase. A Leadership opinion article by Dr. Anjo De Heus
Execution Is a Discipline, Not a Phase
Every organization I meet has a strategy.
Very few have execution discipline.
That gap—between intention and action—is where value leaks, trust erodes, and months quietly disappear.
What’s striking is that execution rarely fails because of bad ideas.
It fails because ambiguity is allowed to survive too long.
The Illusion of Progress
In complex environments—healthcare, public systems, emerging markets—motion is often mistaken for progress.
• Pilots are launched
• Roadmaps are refined
• Committees are formed
• Alignment meetings multiply
Yet ownership remains vague.
Decisions don’t land.
Nothing irreversible happens.
Progress becomes theatrical.
A pilot feels safe.
Execution feels exposed.
Where Execution Actually Breaks
Most breakdowns follow the same pattern:
• Goals are declared, but not bounded
• Objectives are named, but not measurable
• Strategies are chosen, but not resourced
• Plans are approved, but not operationalized
• Activities are assumed, but not owned
At that point, execution doesn’t fail suddenly—it slowly dissolves.
And everyone wonders why momentum stalls “despite strong intent.”
Execution Is a Leadership Choice
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Execution failure is rarely a capability issue.
It’s a leadership tolerance issue.
Teams don’t fail to execute.
Leaders allow ambiguity to linger—because clarity forces accountability.
The moment someone must own the next concrete action, things get real.
And reality makes many organizations uneasy.
A Discipline That Survives Reality
Over the years, I’ve relied on a simple execution discipline:
Goals → Objectives → Strategy → Plan → Activities
Miss one layer, and everything downstream collapses.
Execution doesn’t happen at the strategy level.
It happens at the activity level—where time, money, and credibility are actually spent.
No software can replace this discipline.
No dashboard can compensate for missing ownership.
The Real Question
The real question isn’t whether your strategy is sound.
It’s this:
Who owns the next concrete activity—and by when?
If that answer isn’t immediate and explicit, execution hasn’t started yet.
And no amount of planning will change that.
No pilots. Only execution.
ExecutionDiscipline StrategyToExecution OperationalExcellence LeadershipInAction FromVisionToValue AfricaExecution HealthTechAfrica EmergingMarkets SystemsThinking 360Disruption NoPilotsOnlyExecution Africa CDC Africa GCC - Council The World Bank World Health Organization African Development Bank Group
Closing Remark
This piece is part of how we operate at 360Disruption.
Not frameworks for presentation decks, but execution disciplines that hold real projects—and real people—accountable.
It also serves as a direct follow-up to the “Pilots as a Red Flag” series. Because when execution matters, clarity beats experimentation, ownership beats intent, and discipline beats noise.
Execution is not a phase.
It’s the work.
Comments
Post a Comment