{"id":31465,"date":"2023-10-19T11:53:11","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T10:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turner.nl\/uncategorized\/a-leaders-main-task-reduce-complexity-and-cut-the-work-in-absorbable-pieces-period\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T15:15:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T13:15:52","slug":"a-leaders-main-task-reduce-complexity-and-cut-the-work-in-absorbable-pieces-period","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turner.nl\/en\/blog-en\/a-leaders-main-task-reduce-complexity-and-cut-the-work-in-absorbable-pieces-period\/","title":{"rendered":"A leader’s main task: reduce complexity and cut the work in absorbable pieces. Period"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Strategy = Execution<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A leader's main task: reduce complexity and cut the work in absorbable pieces. Period<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Get rid of the spaghetti trauma.\u200b<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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One important factor determining the success of your strategy execution is your ability to avoid creating an indistinguishable mess. Mess, you say? Yes, exactly. Avoid creating a muddle. This means you need to make a clear distinction between realizing the objectives for your existing organizations and realizing new initiatives best run in separate projects. In other words, make sure you distinguish between Running the Business and Changing the Business, as my book Strategy = Execution calls these two management principles.<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Suboptimal<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Turner\u2019s research has shown that leaders and managers regard strategy execution as their No. 1 priority, but have difficulty grasping the concept. They consider it too broad a term, too \u201cholistic\u201d even. To clarify matters, we need to make a distinction between the going concern and innovation efforts. Making a distinction between Running the Business and Changing the Business is crucial because it simplifies and expedites matters. Failure to make this distinction leads to suboptimal performance on both fronts. In my years as a consultant I have seen plenty of organizations that opted to have their line organization deal with every execution challenge, even though it\u2019s clear that most execution issues require a special focus and approach. The net result was an indistinguishable mess. By separating your change objectives from the going concern, you ensure you can properly manage and control both Running and Changing the Business, as figure 1 shows. In my study, many leaders admitted to having realized too late how important this distinction is.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Not only should we disentangle Running and Changing the Business, we must also distinguish between different Types of Change: Improvement, Renewal and Innovation (figure 2). Failing to make this distinction will once again create an indistinguishable mess. Obviously, every organization needs all three types of change, but also needs to find a way to offer a unique proposition. Every sexy startup that makes it big eventually becomes an established company. Even then, it needs to continue to innovate in order to remain successful. It must keep improving basic processes (Type 1 Change) and renewing its existing models (Type 2 Change).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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