Now that the decision has been made to proceed with the initiative, it is important to have a strategy for implementation and success. For this reason we will be following the 4DX process. The 4DX disciplines allow us to create clear Wildly Important Goals (WIGs), identify lead and lag measures, create a compelling scoreboard and commit to regularly updated accountability. (McChesney C. 2012, p.107)
This Strategy plan focuses on the Preparation and Sustainability sections of the implementation outline.
Stage 1: Getting Clear
As leaders of your School, you will need to assemble a team of respected faculty and influencers from your school and broader organization. REF Giving your team a name will motivate the members and help them focus on the important tasks ahead.
Our team will be the Fine Arts Strategic Team (FAST). Together we will determine WIGs, lead and lag measures, and commit to regular meetings.
Discipline 1: Focus on the Wildly Important Goal
Acting on one or two wildly important goals instead of many helps team members focus on the goal as they work against the whirlwind of day-to-day tasks and activities.
Step 1 Brainstorm with the FAST team
Key Actions
•Even though the FAST team members may have already agreed on the Why of the initiative, It is important to listen to all ideas for what WIGs may be most effective in embodying the Why mission. “We believe all learners have the power to make something great that can impact others”
• Although you as a leader may have WIGs in mind, it is important to get many ideas. “The longer and more creative the list of possible WIGs, the higher quality of the final choice.” REF The Fast team members should have a good idea of the organization’s strengths and weaknesses. By working together to select the WIG, FAST team members will take more ownership in the WIG if they choose it together.
Step 2 Rank by Impact
Key Actions
• Meet to review the best WIG candidates as they relate to the overall organizational mission.
• Narrow down the WIG candidates to the one or two that will have the most impact.
Step 3 Test Top Ideas
Key Actions
Test your WIG candidates against the four specific criteria for a Wildly Important Goal.
• Is the team WIG aligned to the overall WIG
• Is it measurable. Can it be tracked in the scoreboard?
• Who owns the results.? Which team? A team must own at least 80% of the team WIG.
• Who owns the game, the team or the leader? Are the result driven by the leader or the team.
Step 4 Define the WIG
Key Actions
• Begin with an word that means action
• Define the lag measure in terms of X to Y by When
• Keep it simple
• Focus on What not how
Note: The FAST team can use the WIG builder tool on Pg. 133 of the 4DX book. (McChesney C. 2012, p. 173)
For example, we know that getting all instructors familiar with the iPad Pro is key to success and has been identified as a vital behavior. Therefore our WIG is “ Incorporate iPad Pro into 25% of all fine arts courses within 6 months.”
Discipline 2: Act on the lead measures
Now that the goals have been decided, we can measure our progress by the lag measure. A lead measure is an activity that influences or levers the goal.
Step 1 Brainstorm
• Focus on things you may not have done in the past.
• Consider strengths and weaknesses. What do we do well and what can we do better?
Step 2 Rank by Impact
Which Ideas will have the greatest potential to influence the WIG
Step 3 Test Top Ideas
“Once you’ve identified a couple of high-leverage lead measures, test them against these six criteria”:
• Is it predictive?
• Is it influenceable?
• Is it an ongoing process or a “once and done”?
• Is it a leader’s game or a team game?
• Can it be measured?
• Is it worth measuring?
Step 4 Define the Lead Measures
For our lead measure we will be: “Learn a new skill on the iPad Pro”
• Is it predictive? Yes, it will help instructors incorporate iPad
• Is it influenceable? Yes, the team of instructors have at least 80% control over the measure
• Is it an ongoing process or a “once and done”? Yes, while learning one skill is a great start, continually learning new skills will make it easier to achieve the WIG
• Is it a leader’s game or a team game? It is a team game because instructors drive the measure
• Can it be measured? Yes, Instructors can demonstrate the skill
• Is it worth measuring? Yes, It directly influences the WIG
For team members to be engaged, we will measure achievement daily and weekly so that individuals and the team can see their influence on the lead measure even if an individual has not learned a skill that week.
Discipline 3: Keep a Compelling Scoreboard
The purpose of a players scoreboard is to motivate the participants to win. People play harder when you are keeping score.
Step 1 Choose a theme
For our scoreboard we will be combined with the online Apple Teacher badge tracking system. This allows instructors to learn skills on iPad at their own pace and receive a badge for each skill. The Apple website tracks the lead measure.
Step 2 Design a compelling scoreboard
For our example, the scoreboard here displays the Instructor’s picture when they earn eight skill badges. As instructors earn their picture on the board it compounds to reach desired levels and lets them see their effect on the board. This makes the lag measure easy to see at a glance.
Step 3 Build the scoreboard
Encourage the FAST team to help develop the scoreboard to encourage ownership of the process.
Step 4 Keep it Updated
Make sure the FAST team determines who and when the scoreboard will be updated. Regular updating reenforces the WIG and the commitment to the lead measures.
Stage 2: Launch
It is important to make the launch of you WIG and scoreboard a very big event.
Key Actions
• Recognize that a launch phase requires focus and energy, especially from the leader.
• Remain focused and implement the 4DX process diligently. Trust the process.
• Identify your models (those who are most engaged), potentials (those who have the capacity to be top performers), and resisters (those who will make excuses against engagement )
Stage 3: Adoption
At this stage the team members adopt the 4DX process and behaviors that will help to achieve the WIG. You will need to use vital behaviors and influence strategies from the influence plan to deal with resistance and fading enthusiasm.
| Motivation | Ability | |
| Personal | • Get faculty to identify with and agree to the why.• Share existing success stories that can motivate faculty to the possible.• Ask faculty to discuss how their influence leads to student success. | • Show usage examples for faculty to emulate.• Let Faculty practice with iPad Pro and ask for ideas and insights for lesson use• Provide regular hands-on training and new experiences. |
| Social | • Identify opinion leaders to serve as examples to faculty.• Provide a public measurement “Leader Board” to track progress towards the goal and create a competitive environment.• Highlight faculty moving in the right direction on integrating iPad Pro. | • Offer a feedback channel for faculty to express needs, issues and obstacles.• Provide coaching with Leaders and Instructional technology team to overcome obstacles.• Provide a time for Faculty to share what they have learned on iPad Pro with colleagues. |
| Structural | • Leaders show their commitment to the initiative by using iPad Pro in their own daily work.• Provide iPad Pro to students as soon as possible to gain feedback and show progress.• Provide Innovation award to faculty who successfully integrate iPad Pro into lessons. | • IT installs equipment that complements iPad Pro for instruction• Instructional Technology creates team focused on feedback and integration.• Leadership commits to to providing financial support for iPad Pro environment. |
Key Actions
• Focus on the process and on the results.
• Make commitments to hold each other accountable in weekly WIG sessions wit the FAST team.
• Track results every week on the scoreboard. Social motivation influence
• Make adjustments to help instructor learn new iPad skills. Structural influences
• Invest in the “potentials” through additional training and mentoring. Personal ability influence
Discipline 4: Create a cadence of accountability
The leadership and FAST team should meet weekly.
Step 1 Review the Scoreboard
Step 2 Report on last week’s commitments
Step 3 Make commitments for the coming week
Stage 4: Optimization
At this point the team should be fully engaged in using the 4DX process and should be looking at ways that they can optimize performance through lead measures.
Key Actions
• Encourage and recognize abundant creative ideas for moving the lead measures, even if some work better than others.
• Recognize excellent follow-through and celebrate successes. Social motivation influence
• Encourage team members to clear the path for each other and celebrate it when it happens. Social motivation & Structural motivation influence
• Recognize when the “potentials” start performing like the “models”. Social motivation influence
Stage 5: Habits
You will know when 4DX is habitual when you are regularly setting and achieving WIGs and the performance of your entire team to a new level of excellence. Your team has installed a new operating system.
Key Actions
• Celebrate the accomplishment of the WIG.
• Move immediately on to new WIGs in order to formalize 4DX as your operating system.
• Emphasize that your new operating standard is sustained superior performance on lead measures.
• Help individual team members become high performers by tracking and moving the middle.
References
FranklinCovey (2012, April 19). Executive Overview of The 4 Disciplines of Execution . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZR2Ixm0QQE
Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The new science of leading change. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
McChesney, C., Covey, S., & Huling, J. (2016). The 4 disciplines of execution: achieving your wildly important goals. New York: Free Press.
Download PDF -> https://vmillerlearn.files.wordpress.com/2021/05/4dx-strategy.pdf
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