Summary – The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, Jim Huling

Who is this book for? This book is probably suggested to individuals feeling overwhelmed with never-ending To-Do list. Or someone trying to find answer to endless obsession of doing more to achieve more. Or someone trying to stay afloat amid flurry of reminders, checklists. Are you used to missing timelines, pushing the long pending wishes endlessly. This book is an excellent guide to ignore the distractions and be able to focus on what really matters. This is great help for anyone looking for bit of guidance in navigating through workplace priorities and looking to instigate leadership qualities in themselves.

What, according to you, is more important? The plan itself or your ability to execute that plan? Is it the “What” that matters more or the “How”? When it comes to producing sustainable results, what influences the result more- the strategy or how do you implement it? The answer to all these are “Execution” or the “How” part. Then, why it becomes so difficult to execute plans. The key finds here are- Clarity on the objective, lack of commitment, accountability. However, the real challenge is the balancing task between what is urgent (know as day-to-day whirlwind), often linked to the day job and what is important, often linked to Goals. This book serves to prioritize what is important amidst of whirlwind.

Discipline 1 – Focus on the Wildly Important Goals

Believe it or not, one key obstacle to accomplish more is the desire to do more. That in turn slices your focus thin enough that you actually end up achieving less. Start discipline 1 by selecting ONE extremely important goal known Wildly Important Goals (WIGs). WIGs are the goals that matter most. Even if it comes at cost of sacrificing several good ideas. WIG is that goal that gives meaning to most of other goals. Without WIG, achieving other objectives will be meaningless or possibly even irrelevant. It’s that important! Boil down your wish list into lesser number of goals. Continue pushing until everything come down to that ONE goal.

Discipline 2 – Act on the lead measures

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it”- Peter Drucker

Measures are the quantification of parameters which if used properly, indicates progress towards achieving certain goals. Identifying appropriate measures is essential in order to influence outcome of any goal. There are two kinds of measures are possible- lag measure and lead measure. Lag measures are merely an indicator of what has happened. You can’t fix it. For a business- revenues, market share, profit margins are examples of lag measures. They are, however, measure of success. They are ones you would be aiming to achieve. Lead measures on the other side are the measure that drives you towards lag measure. They call for action. Acting on lead measure.

(With this section, I could establish connections with “Measure what matters” by John Doerr. The author introduced the concept of OKR through great success stories across to show how they arrived at what mattered most to them, and how key results helped them achieve. A summary of the book can be found here.

Discipline 3- Keep a compelling scoreboard

Because lead measures are controllable and action driven, create a scoreboard that focuses on lead measures. A scoreboard is a great tool to instill discipline to focus on controllables. It keeps the things moving despite of whirlwind and turbulence. A compelling scoreboard aligns action orientation with the results for individual or business.

Discipline 4- Create a cadence of accountability

No discipline can create wonders, unless put into practice. Discipline 4 takes it to execution through instilling sense of accountability. At team level, accountability stands for securing individuals’ commitment to goals. High accountability sets the groundwork for delivering exceptional results. Exceptional results drive strong engagement among team members.

How to embrace behavioral changes

The author has pivoted upon the importance of behavioral change as enabler to successful adoption of disciplines through five definitive changes. The first stage appears with clarity of understanding the need to better the execution level. Then the second stage comes when the team gets going with the WIGs. This needs to be laser focused with intense energy from the team. The third stage stand for complete adoption of 4DX and formalized through making it a parts of business process. The stage four seeks for improvisation and optimization. It makes the 4DX process more purpose driven and tailored to suit the specific business needs. Finally, the stage five make the great level embedded as part of high performance culture for the organization.

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