The 4 Disciplines of Execution

Execution of ideas/goals makes the real difference.  Any one can set goals and objectives but when it comes to implementation, it is totally a different game.   You might have seen excellent concepts being converted into highly visible projects and later the project being cancelled or product being shelved.  Its all how you execute.  As Will Weider said in his blog – I am surrounded by people with good ideas.  I need more people that implement them well.

I just finished another audio book by Stephen R. Covey – The 4 Disciplines of Execution.  This book talks about prioritized goals and how to achieve results with excellence.  It is important that team is involved in the development of important goals and methodology of measuring the goals.  The best ideas come not from the leaders, but from the interaction of the leaders and the front line. These are 4 disciplines -

Discipline 1 – Focus on the wildly important (goals) 
Discipline 2 – Create a compelling scoreboard
Discipline 3 – Translate lofty goals into specific actions
Discipline 4 – Hold each other accountable – all of the time.

 

In this book, Jennifer Colosimo gives workshop style lessons and points out that Human beings are wired to do only one thing at a time with excellence.

Discipline 1 – Focus on the wildly important (goals) - Work with your team and boss to have well crafted goals (that make sense) and can be measured against some deadline.  At high level, goals should be aligned with organization’s corporate strategy.

Discipline 2 – Create a compelling scoreboard – People play differently when they’re keeping score.  Scoreboard should reflect three things – where are we now; where we want to be; and when do we need to be there.  These three points should be communicated visually.  It enables us to track progress and  make corrective actions, if we get off-track.

Discipline 3 – Translate lofty goals into specific actions – What do we do all about goals to achieve them?  To achieve goals you’ve never achieved before, you need to start doing things you’ve never done before.  It is Goal Breakdown Structure i.e. breaking the goals down to specific actions.  We need to employ creative new and better thinking process to break goals into specific actions of weekly bite-size chunks.

Discipline 4 – Hold each other accountable – all of the time – It is level of mutual accounting and knowing other are counting on you raises your level of commitment.  It requires that team stay engaged and aware of results being achieved.

Have a wonderful day!

Reference – The 4 Disciplines of Execution, Stephen R. Covey and Jennifer Colosimo