This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "The 4 Disciplines of Execution" by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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Do you need help implementing 4DX in your organization? Are you looking for a 4DX Franklin Covey coach?
Offering certification for coaches in 4DX, Franklin Covey is an organization the authors of The 4 Disciplines of Execution belong to. In their book, a person that is a “leader” or “coach” has gone through their training program and been certified.
Read on for more about 4DX, Franklin Covey, and coaches.
4DX: Franklin Covey Trains Experts
Naming a 4DX Franklin Covey coach can help make organizational implementation successful. (The authors write that every highly successful implementation they’ve seen has had a good coach.) The coach helps when there are problems with the 4DX process and guides leaders who need help with any of the disciplines. The coach also acts preemptively, to make sure the teams stick to the process and don’t get sucked into the whirlwind.
Every organization should have two coaches. It’s not a full-time job, but this helps avoid schedule conflicts. Make sure when you get a second coach, you keep the first one on so they can be consistent with each other and maintain continuity.
Coaches benefit the organization by:
- Always being available. An internal coach can provide immediate support and knowledge.
- Providing self-sufficiency. An internal coach means an organization doesn’t have to pull in outside help.
- Training new leaders. The coach can quickly onboard newly hired or promoted leaders.
When selecting your coaches, look for:
- Competence. A coach should be knowledgeable about business, a good communicator, and good at workplace relations. They’re more effective when they influence rather than formally order change.
- Interest. The person should be passionate about 4DX.
Dealbreakers
If you encounter any of the following three situations, fix them before trying to implement 4DX:
- Non-critical WIGs. If you don’t have an important—wildly important—goal, you won’t get the same commitment from your organization members, and they won’t get on board with 4DX as a process
- Uncommitted senior leader (the person who’s in charge of 4DX, not necessarily the CEO). The leader of 4DX must lead by example or else no one else will embrace the process.
- Leaders at the wrong level. If you train leaders that are too high, they WIG won’t make it all the way to the front lines. If you train leaders that are too low, they may not know how to lead or create good WIGs. AIm for the lowest full-time leader above the front lines.
- For example, a store manager would be the correct level. A plant manager would be too high; it should be the shift supervisor. A grocery store bakery manager would be too low, as they’re not full time leaders.
Make sure leaders have enough discretionary time to lead WIG sessions and fulfill weekly commitments. Team members also need to have the time.
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Here's what you'll find in our full The 4 Disciplines of Execution summary :
- The 4 disciplines that can make any strategy a successful reality
- Why a great plan falls apart when you don't think adequately about execution
- The 6 steps you need to scale the 4DX model across an entire organization
