Strategic Discipline Blog

This blog was created by Execution. Strategic Discipline originated from Verne Harnish's principles provided initially in Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, and then Scaling Up. In The “M” Game Shannon points out these principles were also included in Jim Collins’ Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0 and Jack Stack’s Great Game of Business.

Executing Flawlessly involves meeting rhythms, alignment, and determining company priorities. Following the principles James Clear shares in Atomic Habits, it requires your leaders to break down achieving priorities into incremental activities and report them weekly to keep everyone aware of their progress.

It places the greatest emphasis on Company priorities, ahead of individual or departmental priorities. The Open Playing Field software is essential for driving execution.

Long-term and short-term goal setting is also critical to execution. Shannon’s system for developing a 3HAG aligns your current 1HAG, and QHAG’s with your 3HAG. The vision is clear to you, your leadership team, and everyone in the company. And this view extends to developing your BHAG.

One of the most profound and impactful benefits of the “M” Game is the focus on Profit per X to identify your widget.   When my coaching companies identify what their widget is, (profit per X), suddenly they see their future! It crystallizes where to put their efforts to grow and fulfill their purpose. The long-term isn’t a wish, it’s a vision they can see, feel, and are now confident in achieving.

Customers often push back on the idea of a widget. Yet the clarity it provides, whether it’s customers, memberships, projects, or whatever the unique measurement specific to your business is, becomes both inspiring and purposeful.

Execution Delivers your promise. Clarity on your promise; what your customer highly values, what is unique and compelling, and difficult if not impossible to copy, spurs growth. Meeting rhythms take on a purpose and momentum, making your business an unstoppable locomotive!

Joe Miller CEO of Seal Masters shares insights into the value of The “M” Game’s Execution System:

“Having Metronomics in place and having the system’s rhythm and cadence ingrained in our company became invaluable during the COVID-19 pandemic. Having this system in place during such a scary, uncertain time was incredibly comforting. It allowed us to remain highly productive, even as we suddenly began meeting and working virtually.

It also gave us the ability to quickly shift in new directions and adjust. We knew how to discuss and focus. We were able to look at our entire workflow, assess how the pandemic was affecting each area—from marketing and sales to design and finance—and make the necessary changes to continue our growth. In a time when many companies felt like things were out of their control, we were able to have plans A, B, and C, and we were able to establish priorities that would make sure we succeeded. We remained in control of our growth, our success, our story—the entire time.

The Metronomics Execution System was absolutely instrumental in that because, above all else, it keeps us connected every day, every week, every month, every quarter.

Quarterly, our executive team meets to ensure all of our “HAGS” are still real and legitimate and what we want. We ensure we are meeting priorities and have the right priorities to move the company to where we want to go.

Monthly, we meet with the executive team and the larger team—everyone, out to the newest employee—to share these priorities.

We hold weekly meetings tied to each priority where updates are shared and we check in on accountability. We’re able to look at the Open Playing Field and see in real-time where everyone stands with their responsibilities. The Metronomics Software is a must-have, as it is consistently improving and growing in parallel with our growth.

Finally, every team in the company holds a daily huddle where four quick items are discussed: the good news, the must-do, the stuck, and the score—that is, where we are with the metric related to the team’s priority.

These huddles have become so ingrained in our people that if we were to suddenly stop fostering huddles companywide, they would live on. I’ve heard time and again, “I can’t function without my daily huddle.” Likewise, chaos would ensue if we did without our weekly, monthly, and quarter meetings.

Once you get into this rhythm, it is an unstoppable motion. You would have to make an effort to stop the momentum once it’s going.

The further out we went, the faster this momentum got. It started with the executive team, then went out to the management team, then to the project team, the supervisors, the foremen, and, finally, out onto the field.

As people became more comfortable with the system’s structure, the software, and the rhythm of the meetings, things started moving even more rapidly—every decision made was implemented faster: goals were met more quickly; turning a new direction wasn’t such a heavy lift anymore because everyone was in step and in sync.

As CEO, it has afforded me a great deal of comfort, satisfaction, and peace of mind to know that we’ve set this play in motion. Now, we just execute it.”

Create an amazing work environment to fuel your growth!

Discover what level your team is functioning. Take The M Game Growth Check (scoreapp.com).

To create an environment where everyone is inspired to give their best, contact Positioning Systems today to schedule a free exploratory meeting.

Growth demands Strategic Discipline.

Alan Miltz is fond of reminding business owners, “Revenue is Vanity, Profit is Sanity, but Cash is King” Next blog we explore the Cash System.

Building an enduring great organization requires disciplined people, disciplined thought, disciplined action, superior results, producing a distinctive impact on the world.

Discipline sustains momentum, over a long period of time, laying the foundations for lasting endurance.

A winning habit starts with 3 Strategic Disciplines: Priority, Metrics, and Meeting Rhythms.   Forecasting, accountability, individual, and team performance improve dramatically.

Meeting Rhythms achieve a disciplined focus on performance metrics to drive growth.

Let Positioning Systems help your business achieve these outcomes on the Four most Important Decisions your business faces:

Positioning Systems helps mid-sized ($5M - $500M+) businesses Scale-UP. We align your business to focus on Your One Thing! Contact dwick@positioningsystems.com to Scale Up your business! Take our Four Decisions Needs Assessment to discover how your business measures against other Scaled Up companies. We’ll contact you.

NEXT BLOG – The “M” Game – Hard Systems: Cash System