A Convenient Truth
Convenience. We value it more than we sometimes realize. We're willing to pay more for it and often sacrifice quality in exchange. This human tendency toward convenience shapes not only how customers engage with our products but also how our teams execute day-to-day. If people are naturally inclined to follow the path of least resistance, how can we make sure that path leads directly to effective strategy execution?
Let's take a look at the convenience effect through some popular innovations:
Mobile phones. We love our mobile phones, even though they’re more expensive and offer significantly worse sound quality than landlines. And yet, we browse the web on tiny screens—because it’s convenient.
Digital music. It still isn't quite up to CD quality, but we listen to it through earbuds that pale in comparison to high-quality headphones—because it’s convenient.
Camera phones. It took years for phone cameras to catch up to film or digital SLR quality, but convenience won. It’s easy to share photos straight from your phone.
Weight loss pills. They come with side effects, but people still choose them—because it’s more convenient than diet and exercise.
The threshold for inconvenience continues to get ever lower. We often complain about how many clicks it takes to get to what we’re looking for on a web page. Think about that for a moment. The energy required to cause our index fingers to press a button too many times is irritating. Some might say it’s not the energy, it’s the time. OK, fair enough. Then the “waste of time” threshold starts kicking in when we are forced to wait three to four seconds for a page to load. We’re busy! We haven’t got that kind of time to waste!
But here’s the thing—this isn't just about customers. It’s about our own teams, too. Convenience drives behavior, so how can we make executing our strategy the most convenient option?
1. Make decisions frictionless
We often talk about removing obstacles for customers, but we need to do the same for our teams. Where are the extra steps, the red tape, the unnecessary approvals? Simplify them. Create "pre-approvals" with clear guiding principles and well-defined constraints as a way to streamline decision-making and remove bottlenecks—this is something I've written about previously here. Execution should feel as effortless as buying something in one click. Reduce the number of steps it takes for teams to take action. If executing a strategy feels easy, it’s more likely to happen.
2. Centralize information for easy access
You know what's not convenient? Sharing the same information with different people in different ways. Equally inconvenient is having to sort through a ton of info to find the one nugget you need to know. Imagine if everyone could get the exact information they need, in the format and depth they need, simply by chatting with an AI tool. Instead of sharing the same information with different people in different ways, let's use a central repository where all the information lives, and let AI help guide our teams to it effortlessly. AI can provide answers, generate consistent messaging, and even adapt the level of detail depending on the audience—all from one centralized source. With the right AI tools, sharing and finding information becomes as easy as having a conversation, letting our teams focus on executing strategy instead of wasting time searching or re-explaining.
3. Employee usability
Think about our teams like our customers. What’s life like for them on a daily basis? How can we make day-today execution a natural, convenient part of their workflow? Are there processes that can be automated to reduce busywork? Can we make collaboration as easy as possible with clear channels and minimal friction? When we build convenience into the work environment, we guide teams effortlessly toward successful execution.
Executing a strategy isn't just about having a good plan—it’s about removing the obstacles that get in the way of making that plan happen. Just like retail growth happens through serving customers with great experiences, strategy execution accelerates with higher quality when we focus on serving our teams. When we make execution the path of least resistance, we’re far more likely to see our plans come to life. Convenience wins, every time. And when that convenience drives successful execution, it's a win for everyone.
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This post is an excerpt from my upcoming book, a practical handbook for executing strategy from an operator’s point of view. Drawing on decades of real-world experience, it’s designed to help leaders turn strategy into action through clear, actionable steps. Stay tuned for more insights and updates as we get closer to launch!
