“Flawless Execution” – I guess it’s appropriate to say that I’m haunted by this phrase since Halloween is this month.
Companies, hiring managers and – gasp – even I have used this term to describe what we expect from employees or ourselves when it comes to performance.
But is “flawless execution” really what we want?
To clarify, once we have identified a project, set goals, worked through the “kinks” and it’s now show-time – which in my world of marketing would be execution of an event, a major PR announcement or a product launch – then yes, the goal would be flawless execution.
When I was a college summer intern with another student at a chemical products plant (yeah, that was memorable), our job was to re-wire the electrical burners in a very long oven that was the entire length of the plant. Why they entrusted us with this job, I’ll never know. After working on this for about four weeks, we announced we had finished and all of the workers came to see us pull the switch to start the burners. Only one third of the burners started.
In this instance, flawless execution would have been a good idea, as well as testing it ourselves first.
Where I challenge us in our expectations of flawless execution is when we expect ourselves and/or our companies to be forward-thinking and to grow beyond what we are currently doing. To do so, we have to make allowances for “flawed execution”.
Without trial and error, we will never discover the next “big thing” or move beyond our current status.
Employees who are afraid to fail will not take the necessary steps to bring the company new ideas and test new concepts if their reviews are based on flawless execution. Would you take risks if your job was on the line? Maybe, but then again, maybe not.
It’s easier just to take the safe route.
I understand that we are all held to bottom lines and delivering results and budgets and pleasing shareholders. Really, I do. Been there, done that.
Yet there has got to be a way to allow for some calculated risk that allows the company and the employee to grow, with both reaping benefits.
The chemical company definitely took a risk allowing two college students to re-wire the electrical on a major piece of equipment. We thought we were in big trouble. But the company had taken a calculated risk, knowing we would probably not get it right the first time, choosing a slow-season in which the second oven could handle production needs.
As hiring managers we should rethink using the phrase “flawless execution” when reviewing potential candidates or developing job descriptions, and use that instead for a particular project. We should want to hire employees that will use critical thinking to take calculated risks, especially when developing new ideas or planning for the company’s future.
There really are ways to take risks and still meet goals, allowing some wiggle room for “flawed execution”.
Like Tami, I was terminated once (By my best friend, BTW – he is now on the board of the agency I lead, so I got him back – ha!), but you don’t have to be unemployed to learn something from this book. 
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