Book Summary | The 4 Disciplines of Execution

Book Title: The 4 Disciplines of Execution.

Author: Chris McChensey, Sean Covey, Jim Huling

One of the common risks that organizations have identified and publish in their annual reports is ability to execute. For execution, getting the commitment of hearts and minds requires a lasting change in the behavior of the people. ?Typically, change is driven in two ways, through stroke of the pen and through behavioral change. Change driven through stroke of pen is very easy to execute, however driving change in behavior through processes and systems is hard. ?Behavioral change strategies are very different from stroke of the pen strategies. Studies have identified that, lack of clarity, commitment, collaboration, and accountability exacerbate the difficulty of strategy execution. ?Execution is not just tactics – it is a discipline and a system. the leader of the organization must be deeply engaged in it. ?

The book, the 4 disciplines of execution (4DX) is a simple, repeatable, and proven formula for executing the most important strategic priorities in the midst of the whirlwind. The book is divided into three sections – Section: I: The 4 Disciplines of Execution, Section II: Installing 4DX with your team and section III: Installing 4DX in your organization.

?The real enemy of execution is the day job or whirlwind.? The whirlwind robs the focus required to move the team forward. However, when urgency and importance clash, Urgency will win every time. This leads a void in the execution, as Important goals require doing things to be done differently. People want to win. They want to make contributions that matters. However, organizations lack the kind of discipline – the conscious, consistent regimen needed to execute key goals with excellence.

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Section 1: The 4 Disciplines of Execution:

4DX is an operating system for achieving the goals that must achieve.

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Discipline 1: Focus on the widely important:

Execution starts with focus. The first discipline is to focus the finest efforts on the one or two goals that will make all the difference. However, the greatest challenge we face in narrowing the goals is simply that it requires us to say no to a lot of good ideas.? In the organization whirlwind, track countless numbers, finances, customer satisfaction scores, product life cycles and so forth. A new, wildly important goal can get lost in the storm.

Discipline -1 requires intense focus of one number – the measure of success on the “widely important goal”.

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Rules for applying Discipline 1.

1: No team focuses on more than two WIGs (Widely Important Goals) at the same time.

2: The battle we chose must win the war.

3: Senior leaders can veto, but not dictate

4: All WIGs must have a finish line in the form of from X to Y by when.

WIG is not a strategy; A WIG is a tactical goal with a limited time frame.

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Discipline 2: Acting on Lead Measures

Discipline 2 defines how the leveraged actions that will enable the team to achieve the goal using lead measures.? While a lag measure tells us, if we achieved the goal, a lead measure tells us when likely to achieve the goal.

A good lead measure has two basic characteristics; Its predictive of achieving the goal and it can be influenced by the team members. Lead measures they foretell the results. Lead measures also eliminate the element of surprise that a sole focus on lag measure can bring.? The key principle behind lead measures is - leverage.

Lead measure data is almost always more difficult to acquire than lag measures data and hence most of the review happens on lag measures. Following are the criteria that can be adopted for identifying the lead measure.

·???????? Can it be measured.

·???????? Is it simple.

·???????? Is the lead measure worth measuring.

·???????? Is the lead measure for tracking Team or individual performance.

·???????? Lead measure review frequency daily, weekly, or monthly.

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Discipline 3: Keeping a compelling scoreboard.

Highest level of performance always comes from people when they are emotionally engaged, and the highest level of engagement comes from knowing the score. It’s all about winning or losing. The scoreboard is for leaders, as well as for the whole team.

Characteristics of score board

·???????? Is it simple?

·???????? Is it visible easily?

·???????? Does it show lead and lag measurements?

·???????? Can it tell at a glance if we are winning?

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Discipline 4: Creating a Candance of Accountability.

The Candance of accountability is a rhythm of regular and frequent meetings of any team that owns a wildly important goal. ?Discipline 4 is where execution actually happens.? Accountability means making personal commitments to the entire team to move the score forward and then following through in a disciplined way.

?Section II: Installing 4DX with your team.

?Key steps for implementing 4DX.

·???????? Focus first on adherence to the process, then on results.

·???????? Make Commitments and hold each other accountable in weekly WIG sessions.

·???????? Track results each week on a visible scoreboard.

·???????? Make adjustments as needed.

·???????? Invest in the potentials through additional training and mentoring.

·???????? Answer straightforwardly any issues with resisters and clear the path for them if needed.

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?Section III: Installing 4DX in your organization.

1.????? Design the implementation to fit the culture of the organization.

2.????? Senior leader must focus on holding all leaders accountable.

3.????? Resources & infrastructure are available to support implementation.

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Bottom-line.

The 4DX is a practical guide for organizational excellence in implementing priorities or change management, by inviting every frontline employee to commit to and then execute on the highest priority goals. ?

The 4 disciplines is a process and not as event.