I Dare You to Execute

Now let me get it straight I don’t mean becoming a sword-wielding executioner in the literal sense. I don’t intend for you to start swashbuckling your cube mates around the office or yelling “off with their heads” during the next staff supervisors meeting. While there might be some value in that type of visualization for stress release carrying out such ideas will get you in hot water!

The type of execution I am referring to is execution on your goals. I know eye roll. The issue is that most people have problems not setting goals or making them, rather executing on the goals set. We all learn from early in life how to set a goal and make plans. Every New Year’s Eve millions of people make goals and statistically speaking most are forgotten shortly after Christmas decorations are packed away. So, what’s my answer? I’m glad you asked. My team embarked on this journey and use of the 4DX tool a little over two years ago. This is a team lead by some pretty remarkable visionaries. Due to that team visionary mentality, this team of senior leaders kept having an issue with executing the projects and goals they were out to achieve as a team and as an organization.  They were great goal setters, but they kept missing the next steps and in the process, they were wearing out their teams and staffs with every good idea that came along and not completion.  That is by some odd chance the Executive Director ran across a YouTube video on the Franklin Covey 4 Disciplines of Execution. The Four Disciplines are really simple in theory, but far more challenging in practice. Why? Because after Discipline 1 set a Wildly Important Goal (WIG) the next 3 steps are all about being disciplined. Discipline 2 Act on the Lead Measure-which means what are 2 things you/your team can do to achieve the Wildly Important Goal. Discipline 3 Keep a compelling scoreboard. It should visible to your team on the wall where every team

member passes by and you can tell if the team is winning at a glance. Disciplines 4 create a cadence of accountability. Each week same time, the same day the team checks in together and commitments to a small weekly goal that impacts the WIG. Each member reports out on whether they achieved last week’s goal and what next week they plan to commit to doing. We play differently when we keep score. This method has worked remarkably well for our team. We are not a group of sales professionals we are government workers who have learned to create efficiencies. I know government and efficiencies WHAT?? I’d love to share our story with you and explain how we achieved our results on execution; our story makes a great short workshop or luncheon speech. I Dare You to execute starting today, that’s “goal execution” no swords necessary.