Strategy is easy to devise but hard to execute, as it requires changing ingrained behaviors. People get caught up in daily urgencies and don't make time for strategic initiatives. The key is to execute strategy concurrently with daily work. This involves four disciplines: focus on the wildly important goal, act on lead measures, keep a compelling scoreboard, and create a cadence of accountability. Together these provide a framework for driving strategic execution and goal achievement amidst the whirlwind of daily activities. Though simple in concept, the four disciplines profoundly change how teams approach goals, representing a major breakthrough in organizational progress.
An undeniable reality is that the more you attempt to accomplish, the less you will usually achieve. People lose sight of this and try to cram more and more into each day. Therefore, the first step to executing goals is to determine what exactly is vitally important to what you want to achieve, and then focus solely on that. Select one or at most two wildly important goals and make them your top priority. Make it clear to everyone that these are what matter most. Execution always begins and ends with focus. Concentrating your best efforts on one or two major goals will be more productive than giving a mediocre effort to dozens of goals. In fact, research shows this dynamic exists in most organizations: When setting goals, the law of diminishing returns always applies no matter how inconvenient. Thus, one of the keys to accomplishing more is to change conventional thinking to align with a 4DX principle: In any organization, the leader's test is to resist the pressure to expand rather than narrow goals. Leaders are often aware of many areas needing improvement and face intense external pressures to pursue more and more goals. The leader's job is to decline those well-intentioned invitations and keep everyone focused on the one or at most two wildly important goals that will genuinely move the needle. “We are the most focused company I know of. We say no to good ideas every day, to great ideas, to keep our focus narrow so we can put enormous energy into the few we choose. Everything Apple makes today would fit on this table, yet our revenue last year was $40 billion.” – Tim Cook, Apple CEO "You must decide your highest priorities and have the courage to pleasantly, smilingly, unapologetically say no to other things. A bigger 'yes' inside allows that." – Stephen Covey, author For a high-performance team, the first step is a high-focus environment. Learn to be like Apple and decline good ideas to focus on one great idea. Also say no to simultaneously improving the whirlwind of everyday activities. Instead, concentrate like a laser on one or at most two wildly important goals, investing all time, energy and resources into them. This will only happen by correctly choosing the goals. Ask: “If everything else stayed at current performance, where would change have the greatest impact?” Identify where small changes would have huge impacts, and make those your goals. Good goals, once achieved, fundamentally redefine and enhance performance. So how do you narrow organizational focus? Often, goals are lofty but imprecise operationally. People wonder what and how to do. Follow four rules to implement Discipline 1: No team should have more than two wildly important goals - get real about deciding what's important. Chosen battles must win the war - ensure your team's goals achieve the organization's. Leaders can veto but not dictate wildly important goals - they come from the front lines then cascade up. Provide clarity then let teams choose. All wildly important goals must have a finish line: "From X to Y by When" - they must be specific. Discipline 1 requires translating strategy from concepts to targets, from intent to finish lines. These rules provide a framework to do this successfully. The process for organizational wildly important goals: Note that wildly important goals must challenge teams to perform their best. They must be both worthy and winnable. Keep in mind: Spend whatever time needed to get this right - it's vital. Don't be surprised if the final goal is completely different from expected. With high stakes, this is normal. Consider many options for highest quality goals. Focus just on the "what" first. Don't set unrealistic stretch goals. Challenge teams to rise to their highest level, not beyond. Set a goal that is specific: "Increase X from A% to B% by Date." It must have a clear measure of achievement. Projects can also be wildly important goals based on their business outcome. Concentrating on vital few goals is common sense but uncommon practice. Wildly important goals define that greater goal and are a discipline.
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