Strategic Discipline Blog

2013’s begun and we are already to the last Friday of the month of January!

How’s the year shaping up so far?  Do you have a clue if you are targeting toward your top priority for the year and this first quarter?

Today I thought I’d show you my personal health dashboard so you can see how the impact design of a simple Excel spreadsheet can bring focus on what you want to accomplish.

Using success criteria you can also immediately see how you are doing.  Take a look at my current dashboard. Green (my Super Green), light green, yellow and red suggest whether I’m doing well or not.  The only red is my blood sugar which I’ve been diligently working on. The current steroid medications influence my results. As they are being reduced I believe I will hit my target.  (This is an example of a discussion that might occur in your weekly meeting when reviewing what’s going on and why targets are not being reached.  What are the expectations?)

Please note that I have possibly more items to track than you might on your Company Dashboard #1 Priority.  Less is more.  Six items to track can be too many for one priority.  Limit if possible your top priorities to three and then have no more than three sub priorities of leading and lagging indicators beneath them whenever possible. 

In this case, this is not only my ONE THING; it’s also my individual/personal dashboard.  That’s the reason for more priorities.  I also feel I need to have a focus on some of the leading indicators.  Remember leading indicators have two basic characteristics: It’s predictive of achieving the goal and it can be influenced by the team members. Always attempt to have a ratio of two to one leading to lagging on your dashboard.

My leading indicators include: meditating, daily naps, blood sugars, affirmations related to Stockdale Paradox and keeping a positive attitude.  With six priorities and four leading indicators I’ve achieved the 2 to 1 ratio.

While the screen shot is small, can you see the colors and how instantly you know how you are doing?

This is key.  Discussing the numbers, interpreting what’s going on wastes time.  The success criteria quickly assess your results.  Discuss the yellow and reds unless the expectations are not an issue.  Quick reads on the metrics give more time to your weekly meeting agenda that should dedicate time to customer and employee data and specifically Collective Intelligence where results are driven ideas and resolutions can thrive.

There’s a real sense of confidence and satisfaction that develops when you are hitting your priorities at green or better. I feel on solid footing based on my health issues I’m on the right side of recovery simply by looking at this dashboard.

How do you feel about your business?  Can you see and feel the difference a dashboard can achieve in raising accountability and eliminating concern over attaining your priorities?

Should you desire help with the principle of Strategic Discipline, this Tuesday’s Positioning Systems newsletter I’ll be providing a special invitation to anyone who wishes to start Strategic Discipline Momentum Builder.  If you’d like details in advance send me an email now or simply look for my newsletter next week and click on the offer in the article to receive details.

Success is achievable.  Developing Dashboards to harness accountability is one key to the three disciplines of Strategic Discipline.  Is it time you got started making discipline impact your business outcomes?

As promised next blog we’ll look at what are the four keys to building a compelling dashboard.