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4DX
Integrating an ePortfolio within the business department as part of the curriculum within the next two years requires the creation of an execution strategy. The 4 Disciplines of Execution model provides a path for implementing our plan in a process that includes collaboration and ownership by our team members at every step.
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Covey, McChesney, and Huling (2012) define the 4 Disciplines of Execution as "an orderly pattern of conduct that leads to achievement of an organizational goal with excellence" (p. 297). The video on the right outlines what the 4 disciplines of execution are.
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Execution Strategy
For our project we can apply the 4 disciplines of execution as follows:
Discipline 1. Focus on the Wildly Important
It is crucial that the business faculty, the business dean and the university leadership fully understand the initiative and its importance. Understanding how implementing the ePortfolio will support student learning and make them more aware, more inspired and more engaged with the subject will create a sense of commitment with the project. Together as a team we will identify our Wildly Important Goal (WIG), decide on our lag and measures, design our scoreboard, schedule our weekly sessions and support this innovation at every step.
Discipline 2. Act on the lead measures
The success on any goal you try to achieve is based on Lag and Lead measures.
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Lag measures are indicators of past performances, and they tell us how we did. They are called lags because by the time you see them the performance that drove them has already passed, and so you can’t do anything to fix them anymore.
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On the other hand, lead measures track the activities that drive a lag measure and predict its success. Lead measures are influenced directly by the team members.
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Our lag and lead measures for our WIG are:
Lag measure - Courses in the business department at the university adopt an ePortfolio as part of their curriculum by the end of the previous spring semester 2024
Lead measure 1 - Students will be given 1 hour to engage in ePortfolio development each week
Lead measure 2 - Learning activities using ePortfolio will be incorporated as part of each lesson
Lead measure 3 - Practice reflection with students twice a week. Students will upload 1-3 reflections per unit throughout the semester
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Discipline 3. Keeping a Compelling Scoreboard
People lag differently when they are keeping a score. The lag and lead measurements won’t have much meaning to the team unless they can see the progress in real time. We designed two different scoreboards per faculty member, so they can track their progress. We will display it in the faculties’ meeting room.
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One scoreboard per professor
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Scoreboard 1 will record how the number of times activities have been used on the ePortfolio:
Scoreboard 2 will compare our progress toward the desired target - weekly performance score
Disciplines 1.2 and 3 are the parts of a formula meant to create a winnable game. Discipline 4 is how we play that game.
Discipline 4. Create a Cadence of Accountability
We will schedule regular and frequent team meetings (ideally these won’t last more than 20 minutes per week) to focus solely on the Wildly Important Goal and its progress. This will ensure that our WIG won’t be lost in the whirlwind of daily activities. We will update the scoreboard and display them in the meeting room. The intention is to make each member aware of each other’s progress, and hold each other accountable for commitments made to move the score. When individuals commit to their fellow team members, and not only to the boss, the commitment goes beyond professional job performance and becomes a personal promise (Covey, 2012).
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Questioning ourselves “What are the one or two most important things I can do this week that will have the biggest impact on the scoreboard” will help redirect our efforts towards our goal.
Commitments report during the meeting:
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Did I meet last week’s commitments?
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Did they move the scoreboard towards our WIG?
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Which commitments they will make for the upcoming week?
By being aware of the progress they are making, their morale and engagement towards the Wildly Important Goal will grow.
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5 Stages of Change
Creating change is difficult. To create effective change in our organization we will use 5 different stages of behavioral change to help us throughout the implementation process:​
Stage 1. Getting Clear
Faculty members will focus in the 4DX work session​
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Develop and focus on WIG (Courses in the business department adopt an ePortfolio as part of their curriculum at the end of 2024 academic year)
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Identify lag and lead measures
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Create compelling scoreboards
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Plan monthly sessions
Stage 2. Launch
Put the plan in motion
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Hold a formal kickoff meeting
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Focus energy into putting the 4DX plan into action on the WIG.
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As a leader, be involved intensively and model desired behavior
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Stage 3. Adoption
Enthusiasm will begin replacing resistance
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Focus on the process before results
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Be open to new ideas and behaviors to reach lead measures
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Encourage team members
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Promote accountability to each other
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Give feedback
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Add training and mentoring when needed
Stage 4. Optimization
Start to see results
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Team becomes more purposeful and engaged, and they see that they are making a difference
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Recognize when faculty members experience success
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Model encouragement for faculty members
Stage 5: Habits
Create a culture of excellent execution
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Celebrate success
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Expect permanent rise in the level of your team’s performance
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Set a new WIG using 4DX
X6 Sources Of Influence With 4DX
The Influencer and the 4 Disciplines of Execution approaches can be used together to lead to a more efficient process. Both models focus on the importance of leadership and accountability to reach our goals. Both are designed to create an effective change within our organization and the two approaches complement each other.
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The Influencer book helps us identify our desired results, give us strategies to find vital behaviors to make them achievable, and offer us tools to measure our outcomes. The six sources of influence help us influence our team’s behavior to reach our goal. The 4DX on the other hand, presents a strategy to clarify our Wildly Important Goal (WIG), identify lag and lead measures to reach our WIG and stay focused despite the day to day urgent tasks that we must confront (whirlwind). This model involves the entire team in all aspects of the process, from creation to execution, which allows them to have a sense of ownership over the project. I believe that working with both approaches will benefit the implementation process and the involvement of the whole team.
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References:
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​​FranklinCovey. (2016, December). The 4 disciplines of execution in a Nutshell [Video file].
Retrieved from https://youtu.be/aEJDliThj7g
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. (2012). The 4 disciplines of execution: achieving your wildly important goals.
New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.