We romanticise self motivation. We talk about trust and autonomy but let’s face it, what percent of people can perform at high standards without being managed?

A few years ago, I learned something fascinating while preparing for a session on strategy execution.

I came across the 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX), and one analogy got me thinking.

It was about a football match where the scoreboard stopped working.

At first, the players kept going. But gradually, the energy dropped. Passes slowed. Focus faded. No one knew where they stood.

Then halfway through the second half, the scoreboard came back on and everything changed. The losing team became fired up. The leading team became more alert. The crowd of spectators came alive.

It struck me right there. People really do play differently when they can see the score.

What started as research quickly became a personal lesson. I applied it with my team straight away.

In 4DX, the focus is on one Wildly Important Goal or WIG. You then identify the few key actions that make the biggest difference towards acheieving the WIG and track them consistently. These become your scoreboard elements; the things that show whether you are moving forward or not.

Each person knows their one thing. The WIG helps you focus on what truly matters, while still managing what 4DX calls ‘the whirlwind’ the constant daily activities that keep the organisation running but can easily distract your attention and energy if you let them.

The 4DX warns that your WIG should not be revenue. Revenue is a result, not a driver. It is a lag measure and so expected results can take a time lag to show, thus, it is better to choose a goal that happens more frequently and as a result of daily efforts. This will be different for every team and project.

Scoring is something we are all used to. Many of us have kept score all through our education, aiming to score high marks to get us good reports and GPAs. Scoring is necessary for performance. It is about clarity, accountability and progress on the few actions that truly make a difference.

Describing this 4DX is the easy part. The hard part is getting people to stick with it🤔.

Still, it works. Every single time I use it.

It reminds me of weight loss. Whenever I have lost weight successfully, it was because I weighed or measured myself consistently. Whenever I was no longer serious, I avoided the scale, the very thing that kept score😁.

It is actually hard to lose focus when you are keeping score.

The best performance happens when goals are clear and execution is consistently tracked.

And if you are leading a team right now, maybe it is time to ask:

What is our scoreboard showing? Do you even have a scoreboard?

Because once the score becomes visible, people play differently and performance changes positively.

Your thoughts?