Kenny Chapman
Contributing Writer
Blue Collar Success Group

There are many things that come up during any given day as business leaders and managers. It’s not uncommon to have your task list as you head into the day completely change by the time the day is over. When you’re dealing with the people side of the business there always has to be “buffer time” built into your schedule because people are unpredictable.

Even though our schedules can become very challenged at times, we must protect our positive and productive implementation time. However, implementation is not enough. We spend a lot of time talking about implementation and attempting to get things done in somewhat of a methodical manner. If progress is the root of all growth, then how can I be saying that implementation is not important?

First off, implementation is absolutely critical! I’m not implying for a minute that it’s not. The most successful companies on the planet are masters of implementation. Nothing happens without implementation, period! However, I see a lot of contractors that can implement a certain task, strategy, program, or plan of some sort. The problem develops when we simply implement swiftly, but then just leave the new program or system completely alone.

We need to monitor progress after the fact!

There are a lot of great ideas born from all the industry specific organizations, conferences, coaches, and trainers many times a year. There are new programs introduced all the time and I see contractors implement the new “thing” they just learned about, but never go back and check the results and monitor if it’s doing what it’s supposed to do.

When thinking about implementation there needs to be an entire process followed. This begins with identifying the specific need and why change is necessary. Once we understand the need, we must develop the plan. When we have a good idea of what the plan looks like, we must involve our team. This is a step that is too often missed by most leaders. We see a need, so we develop a plan to fix it, but don’t inform our team and get them on board.

Going to our team with change is never easy. It’s certainly culture dependent as to how challenging it might be, but most people resist change. As leaders we need to sell the problem to the team first. If we want something new implemented, they need to understand why. Once we get the proper buy-in from the team, it’s all hands on deck and implement as quickly and efficiently as possible.

We want to have things well thought out, but challenges will arise. We all know this because if you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you already implement a lot and have plenty of experience. The part of the system that is missing at times is the next piece of monitoring.

Things change, people change, technology changes, and the marketplace is an ongoing evolution. Because of this fact, we must begin to get better at monitoring progress. When creating a system of implementation, make sure you incorporate a component that will allow you to monitor your progress and fix any challenges sooner rather than later.