Eight guidelines for closing the knowing-doing gap

From The Knowing-Doing Gap, a nice summary for closing the gap between knowing what to do and actually doing it:

1. Why before How: philosophy is important. Focus on Why (philosophy, general guidance) before How (detailed practices, behaviours, techniques)
2. Knowing comes from doing and teaching others how. "Knowing by doing develops a deeper and more profound level of knowledge and virtually by definition eliminates the knowing-doing gap."
3. Action counts more than elegant plans and concepts. Ready, fire, aim. Act even if you haven't had the time to fully plan the action.
4. There is no doing without mistakes. What is the company's response? Forgive failure. "Reasonable failure should never be received with anger"
5. Fear fosters knowing-doing gaps, so drive out fear. "Organizations that are successful in turning knowledge into action are frequently characterized by leaders who inspire respect, affection, or admiration, but not fear."
6. Beware of false analogies: fight the competition, not each other. Collaboration and cooperation over competition. "The idea that the stress of internal competition is necessary for high levels of performance confuses motivation with competition."
7. Measure what matters and what can help turn knowledge into action. "The foundation of any successfully run business is a strategy everyone understands coupled with a few key measures that are routinely tracked." Focus on measuring the business model / process (aka why outcomes are achieved) over the outcomes.
8. What leaders do, how they spend their time and how they allocate resources matters. "Leaders create environments, reinforce norms, and help set expectations through what they do, through their actions and not just their words.