Four Disciplines of Execution

Two Principle we can influence when it comes to producing

results

of strategic failure come from poor execution of

leadership; its rarely for lack of smart people or vision.

REAL
CHALLENGE

Strategies that you execute just by ordering

or authorizing them to be done. Simply put,
if you have the money and the authority, you
can make them happen. While executing you
may require planning, consensus, guts, brain
and money you know that in the end it is
going to happen.

You cant just order them to happen,

because executing the requires getting
people often a lot of people to do
something different. And if youve tried to
get other people to change their ways you
know how tough it is. Changing yourself is
hard enough.

Massive amount of energy thats necessary just

to keep operation going on a day-to-day basis
and ironically its also the thing that makes it so
hard to execute anything new. The whirlwind
robs from you the focus required to move your
team forward.

The real enemy of execution is your

day job! We call it the

WHIRLWIND

The goals youve set for moving forward are

important, but when urgency and importance
clash, urgency will win every time. Once you
become aware of this struggle, you will see it
playing out everywhere, in any team that is
trying to execute anything new.

Four Disciplines of Execution

DISCIPINE 1

WILDLY IMPORTANT GOAL

Measures of the activities most connected to achieving the goal. Tells you if your
likely to achieve the goal.

Narrowing the focus as it relates to you and your team. This in itself is a huge challenge. Narrowing
the focus for an entire organization or even a large portion of an organization however is a much
bigger challenge.
No team focuses on more than two WIGs at the same time.
There ay be dozens or even hundreds of WIGs across the entire
organization but the key is not to overload any single leader team or
individual performer.
The battles you choose must win the war.
The only reason you fight a battle is to win the war. The sole purpose of
WIGs at lower levels in the organization is to help achieve the WIGs at
higher levels. Lower-level WIGs must ensure the success of the highest
WIGs
Senior leaders can veto, but not dictate.
While the senior leaders will undoubtedly determine the top-level WIG, they
must allow the leaders at each level below to define the WIGs for their
teams. This not only leverages the knowledge of these leaders, but also
creates a greater sense of ownership and involvement.

All WIGs must have a finish line in the for of from X to Y by when
Every WIG at every level must contain a clearly measurable result, as well as
the date by which that result must be achieved.

HOW DO WE FIND HIGH LEVERAGE WILDLY IMPORTANT GOALS

STEP 1
Consider the
possibilities

STEP 2
Rank by
Impact

Brainstorm on possible
WIGs. Although you
might feel you already
know what the WIGs
should be, you might end
the process with entirely
different WIGs.

1.

Brainstorm with peer leaders, if you all are

focusing on the same organizational WIG.
2. Brainstorm with your team members.
Obviously if they are involved in selecting
the WIG, they will take ownership of it
more readily.
3. Brainstorm alone. You will still be able to
validate the WIG with the team when you
develop lead measures.

STEP 3
Top Ideas

STEP 1
Consider the
possibilities

STEP 2
Rank by
Impact

When you are satisfied with your

list of candidate tea WIGs, youre
ready to identify the ideas that
promise the greatest potential
impact on the overall
organizational WIG.

STEP 3
Top Ideas

STEP 1
Consider the
possibilities

STEP 2
Rank by
Impact

STEP 3
Top Ideas

1.

Is the Team WIG aligned

to the overall WIG?
2. Is it measurable?
3. Who owns the results our team or some other
team
4. Who owns the game
the team or the leader.

Ideas for the

WIG

Current Result
(From X)

Desired Result
(From Y)

Deadline
(By When)

Rank

FINAL WIG(s)

WILDLY IMPORTANT GOAL WORKSHEET

www.4dxbook.com

DISCIPINE 2

LEAD MEASURES
Measures of the activities most connected to achieving the goal. Tells you if your
likely to achieve the goal.

If lead measure changes,

you can predict that the
lag measure will also
change.

Can be directly
influenced by the team.

Lead measures that

focus the team on
achieving a weekly
result.

Lead measures that

track the specific
behavior you want the
team to perform
throughout the week.

Acting on lead measure is

essential to superb performance.
Three reasons for this
Can be counterintutive
Are hard to keep track off
Often look too simple

HOW DO WE FIND HIGH LEVERAGE LEAD MEASURE

STEP 1
Consider the
possibilities

STEP 2
Rank by
Impact

Brainstorm on possible
lead measures. Resist
the temptation to
choose quickly more
ideas generated higher
the quality of lead
measures.

1.What would we do that weve never done

before that might make all the difference to the
WIG?
2.What strengths of this team can we use as
Leverage on the WIG? Where are our pockets
of excellence ? What do our best performers
do differently?
3.What Weakness might keep us from
achieving the WIG? what could we do more
consistently ?

STEP 3
Top Ideas

STEP 4
Define the lead
measure

STEP 1
Consider the
possibilities

STEP 2
Rank by
Impact

STEP 3
Top Ideas

When satisfied with your list of candidate lead

measures, youre ready to identify the ideas that
promise the greatest potential impact on the team WIG.
*After list of candidate lead measures we often hear
We need to do all of these things. Narrowing focus to
FEW lead measures permits stronger leverage . The
team must press hard on the lead measure to move the
lag measure and you dissipate the pressure.

STEP 4
Define the lead
measure

STEP 1
Consider the
possibilities

STEP 2
Rank by
Impact

STEP 3
Top Ideas

STEP 4
Define the lead
measure

Once identified couple

of high leveraged lead
measures test against
the following criteria.

1.Is it predictive?
2.Is it influence able?
3.Is it an ongoing process or a once and
done?
4.Is it a leaders game or a team game?
5.Can it be measured?
6.Is it worth measuring?

STEP 1
Consider the
possibilities

STEP 2
Rank by
Impact

STEP 3
Top Ideas

STEP 4
Define the lead
measure

1.Are we tracking tea or

individual performance?
2.Are we tracing the lead
measures daily or weekly?
3.What is the quantitative
& Qualitative standard?
4.Is it simple

Ideas for lead measure

How to measure

Rank

FINAL LEAD MEASURE

LEAD MEASURE WORKSHEET

www.4dxbook.com

DISCIPINE 3

SCOREBOARD
Key of engagement is a big, visible, continually updated scoreboard that is
compelling to the players.

STEP 1
Choose a Theme

STEP 2
Design the
scoreboard

STEP 3
Build the
Scoreboard

Theme for your

scoreboard that
displays clearly and
instantly the measures
you are tracking.

TREND LINES
Scoreboard that easily communicates from X to Y.
SPEEDOMETER
Shows the status of the measure instantly. Ideal for time
measures
BAR CHART
Useful for comparing the performance of teams or groups
within teams.
ANDON
Consists of colored signals or lights that show a process is
on track.

STEP 4
Keep it
Updated

STEP 1
Choose a Theme

STEP 2
Design the
scoreboard

STEP 3
Build the
Scoreboard

After the desired

theme the team should
design the scoreboard.

1. Is it Simple?
2.Can the team see it easily?
3.Does it contain both Lead and Lag
measure?
4.Can we tell at a glance if were
winning?

STEP 4
Keep it
Updated

STEP 1
Choose a Theme

STEP 2
Design the
scoreboard

STEP 3
Build the
Scoreboard

Let the team build the

scoreboard. The greater
their involvement the better
they will take ownership
of it if they build it
themselves

STEP 4
Keep it
Updated

STEP 1
Choose a Theme

STEP 2
Design the
scoreboard

STEP 3
Build the
Scoreboard

STEP 4
Keep it
Updated

The design of the scoreboard

should make it easy to update
at least weekly If the
scoreboard is hard to update,
youll be tempted to put it of
when the whirlwind strikesand your WIG will disappear
in the noise and confusion

1. Who is responsible for the

scoreboard?
2.When it will be posted?
3.How often it will be
updated?

Lead measure

Scoreboard

Lead Measure 1

Graph

Lead Measure 2

Graph

SCOREBOARD WORKSHEET
www.4dxbook.com

DISCIPINE 4

ACCOUNTABILITY
Key of engagement is a big, visible, continually updated scoreboard that is
compelling to the players.

A WIG Session is unlike any other meeting you will ever attend. Is has a singular
purpose refocus the team on the WIG.

Report on last weeks

commitment.
Each team member
reports on the
commitments to move
lead measures that he or
she made the prior
week.

Learn from success and

failure.
Assess whether their
commitments are moving
the lead measures and
whether the lead
measures is moving the
lag measure.

Clear the path and make

new commitments.
Based on this, each team
member makes
commitments for the
coming week that will
raise the lead measures
to the required level of
performance

STEP 1
Demonstrate
respect

Sara: Paul, last week was a

huge success and without you it

could have been a disaster. We
know how hard you have
worked, Thank you for
everything you did.

Crucial first step, Sara shows

Paul that she respects her as a
team member, but she also
shows the tea that she respects
whirlwinds. If she skips this
step it means she doesnt value
Paul and whirlwind is not
important.

STEP 2
Reinforce
accountability

STEP 3
Encourage
Performance

STEP 1
Demonstrate
respect

STEP 2
Reinforce
accountability

STEP 3
Encourage
Performance

Sara: Paul, I also want you to

know how important your

contribution is to this team.
Without you, we cant reach the
goal. This means when we make a
commitment no matter what
happens during the day we have to
fulfill the task.

This is challenging moment for

both, but because Sara has made it
clear that she respects Paul and the
demand of the whirlwind. He has
to see the importance of doing the
best for the team.

STEP 1
Demonstrate
respect

STEP 2
Reinforce
accountability

STEP 3
Encourage
Performance

Sara: Paul, I know you want to

help us follow through. Can we

count on you to catch up next
week, by fulfilling last weeks
commitments as well as one
you were planning on making
for nest week?

Sara gives Paul the

opportunity to report with
real pride that all
commitments have been
fulfilled.

Where

Individual Reports

When

Team Member

Commitment

Status

Scorecard Update

ACCOUNTABILITY WORKSHEET
www.4dxbook.com