By Chris McChesney
"To achieve a goal you've never achieved before you must start doing things you have never done before." Jim Stewart's observation meets time-tested principles of execution in The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals 2nd Edition: Revised and Updated.
I read The 4 Disciplines of Execution in 2016 when I was serving as Senior Pastor of Spanish River Church in Boca Raton, Florida. Scott Thele, a contributor of the book and friend of mine, was also a member of our church. The 4DX model proved incredibly valuable in our efforts at Spanish River. Since that time, I have utilized the approach generally, but assuming the presidential role at Lancaster Bible College | Capital Seminary and Graduate School gave impetus for a re-read.
I packed my copy with my summer reading stash only to discover the revised and expanded second edition had made its way to the shelves. I jumped on it, purchasing both the Audible version and a hard copy of the new book. I am so glad I did!
The authors contend the biggest organizational struggle is not creating a strategy, but executing ones strategy in the whirlwind. The whirlwind is our "day job," the important day-to-day matters of operational initiatives, strategic plans, KPIs, and the never-ending mound of work awaiting us. The whirlwind is not a bad thing, but it is a distracting thing and contributes to lack of organizational clarity, commitment, and accountability. This is where the 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) comes into play.
4DX is not designed to manage the whirlwind, but to help teams accomplish breakthrough results when it comes to their organization's single most critical objective. This all-important focus is what the authors call the "Wildly Important Goal" or WIG. Here's a snapshot of the four disciplines:
Discipline 1: Focus on the Wildly Important: The key question: “If everything stayed the same, where do we need to see the most improvement?” The authors note: “Attempting to spread limited capacity across multiple goals is the most common cause for failure in execution” (19).
Discipline 2: Act on the Lead Measures: Lead measures focus on each team’s most impactful actions/behaviors. They are predictive of achieving the goal and can be influenced by team members.
Discipline 3: Keep a Compelling Scoreboard: People play differently when they keep score.
Discipline 4: Create a Cadence of Accountability: The cadence of accountability is a rhythm of brief, regular, and consistent meetings to (1) report on action taken, (2) review the scoreboard, (3) identify specific action steps (commitments) to act on lead measures.
My takeaways:
1. Ouch! "Attempting to spread ...limited capacity across multiple goals is the most common cause for failure in execution." This was an "oucher" for me because it is so true of me. Whether it comes to my car hobby, writing projects, or LBC | Capital objectives, I think I can operate more broadly than I can. 4DX is once again helping me narrow focus.
2. It's about the long haul! "As a leader, how you launch 4DX with your team is not as important as how you run 4DX with your team" (23). I have really appreciated this approach. 4DX isolates one aspect of the whirlwind, improves it and then sends it back in the whirlwind, all the while improving how the team operates because they have embedded new disciplines in their culture.
3. The battle between LAG and LEAD measures. Okay, it's not a battle, more of a tension. Most organizations thrive on lag measures (outcome measures), which are important, but also in some ways like looking in the rear view mirror. Lead measures are predictive and influenceable. Since they move the LAG, they deserve our attention. 4DX equips you to leverage LEAD to accomplish the LAG.
4. Jack's words are worth repeating. The authors quote Jack Welch on goal clarity: "Goals cannot sound noble but vague. Targets cannot be so blurry they can't be hit. Your direction has to be so vivid that if you randomly woke one of your employees in the middle of the night and asked, 'Where are we doing?' you could still get an answer in a half-asleep stupor" (97). What I love about 4DX, is that it helps teams get to what Welch promotes. Discipline 4: Create a cadence of accountability, is so impactful.
5. Tim's words are changing me! I have a son and son-in-law who are Chick-fil-A operators. When the authors quote CFA President and COO, Tim Tassopoulos, I take notice. Tim said, "The first thing I want to know when I am talking to a leader is, where has that leader chosen to spend disproportionate energy?" (117). Game changer!
6. A new maxim for my collection. "People have to have their say, but they don't have to have their way." I love this. People need to be heard, for if they are they will feel respected. If respected, they will more likely move with a decision even if it is not their "first choice." Because those at the top have taken the time to listen, they have built a trust worth following.
7. 4DX is both model and field guide. This book is full of real-life examples, years of wisdom, helpful exercises, and practical tools. The 4DX app is an additional value-added tool. The book is organized in a way that provides an overview followed by guidelines for leaders of leaders as well as the front-line leaders whose role, because different from leaders of leaders, requires specific insight.
8. Well, is it "Top-Down" or "Bottom-up"? Do WIGs come from the leader or team? I appreciate the way the authors navigate this tension. The answer is "Both." As they note, "Only the leader can clarify what matters most. The leader is ultimately responsible... but should actively engage team members in the process" (214). I appreciate 4DX because the authors share how the "should" gets done.
9. A question I want to ask again and again: When it comes to 4DX, and particularly lead measures, they ask, "Is this a leader's game or a team game?" (233). "If only the leader (or one individual) can move the lead measure, the team will quickly lose interest in the game" (233).
10. It takes more than 4DX to win! The book ends by highlighting "The Missing Ingredient," that is, "that without which execution never reaches its highest level: the personal characteristics of the leaders themselves" (279). They highlight humility, determination, courage, and most importantly, love. They conclude: "But in the end, we believe love will be the greatest determiner of your success. And that's a legacy that can't be measured" (284). Hmm, seems I've heard that focus somewhere before (1 Corinthians 13).
The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals is -- in my opinion -- the organizational equivalent of Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. It is a game changer, an organizational changer, a life changer.
BTW... as I noted, I have this book in Audible and Hardcover, but apparently the ISBN is the same as the 2012 edition since Goodreads has no separate link for the revised and expanded hardcover edition.