Grow or die. 

For most companies, that's both an aspirational mandate and an economic reality influenced by market conditions.

So when a company's growth stalls, declines or otherwise falls short of expectations, the impetus for action is clear. Something must be done. . . and fast.

The temptation is to look at the problem as a simple matter of sales and profit. Just grow your sales and you'll make more money. Easy, right?

And when companies are falling short, they typically focus on one or both of two issues:

1. The quality of the strategic plan, i.e. do we have the right strategy in place?
2. The quality of execution consistent with the operating plan priorities for that fiscal year, i.e. where are we failing to execute according to plan?

However, the “silent killer” of growth is one that goes beyond strategy and plan. More than likely, the root cause is the lack of a disciplined adherence to processes that are necessary to establish a performance-based culture.

Done correctly, these processes:

• Focus on linking strategy, people, operating plan and people processes.
  
• Are led by operating executives.
  
• Align the executive team and are at the heart of making the process of execution a discipline and a system.
  

The issue in many companies is that strategy oftentimes can become an academic process where things look good on paper but are not realistic or practical and are difficult to execute.

On the execution side, many executives look at this as the “tactical” side of the business and, therefore, activities to be delegated. Further, many of these companies have the core strategy, people, operational and people processes in place but they are not integrated so each informs and influences each other. Finally, these processes are often times static processes and not dynamic – meaning they are an active part of executional planning, evaluation and decision-making.

Good thinking on this topic is well-documented by some of the leading executives and business consultants in books including Larry Bossidy’s Execution, Verne Harnish’s Scaling Up, Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, and more recently, A.G. Lafley’s Playing to Win.

In the end, a company's board should expect the CEO to develop a compelling plan for growth. It should also expect to hold the CEO accountable for putting into place a management process that clearly defines:

• Roles.
• Responsibilities.
• Strategic and operating KPIs.
  
• Alignment to goals and outcomes.
• Reporting that is focused on what truly matters over time. 
  

This last piece is the key “enablement process” that will drive performance and create a performance-based culture.