Progress to necessary conditions is the prime measure of how well your operational team executes its operational plan.
To track progress, you expand your operational plan by monthly progress indicators:
- Green: The owner reports progress on track and expects to deliver on time,
- Red: The owner reports progress off track and/or expects to not deliver on time.
(There is no "amber" state of a necessary condition: either you are on track - or not).
Three recommendations for right execution of operational sales plans
1. Only track progress to your goal and in necessary conditions, nothing else
By tracking long lists or scorecards of performance indicators you waste your own and everybody else's time.
For tracking progress spend as little time as possible. Just follow two indicators:
- Progress to your operational sales goal, visible in your sales goal chart(s) and
- Progress to your plan's necessary conditions, visible in tracking charts for necessary conditions.
2. Ask owners of sales goals and necessary conditions to keep the operational team updated
If owners of sales goals or necessary conditions do not keep the entire operational team continuously updated neither the team nor you will know about progress, constraints and eventually the requirement to adjust operational plans.
Agree with owners of sales goals and necessary conditions on regular communication about their assignments.
3. Institutionalize quick reviews with a key events schedule
Not reviewing progress in operational sprints is equal to abandoning your personal measure of success. Both you and your operational team will defocus from the operational sales goal and quickly give higher priority to other things.
For each sales unit agree to an iron-clad schedule of "quick reviews" (depending on urgency weekly or monthly) to review progress to the operational goal and necessary conditions.
If every participant has kept the operational team update such quick reviews should take not more than one hour.
More information
More about execution of operational plans in book SURF THE WAVES OF OPPORTUNITY, Chapter 13 "Right execution". (Website, Look inside)