NCPA Annual Convention Second General Session keynote speaker, Jim Huling, a noted managing consultant, outlined his 4 Disciplines of Execution (Focus on the Wildly Important; Act on the Lead Measures; Keep a Compelling Scoreboard; and Create a Cadence of Accountability), highlighting insights from pharmacy peers who have put the bestselling business strategy into practice.

Overcoming the whirlwind of the day-to-day business climate is key, Huling said. “When urgent and important collide, urgent wins.” The key, said Huling, is exercising the discipline to focus on the most important goals. According to Huling, allowing teams to choose a wildly important goal (WIG) is important because it gives team members a stake in the outcome, as well as accountability.

During the WIG meeting, said Huling, teams should compete in a friendly way for optimal outcomes and motivation, choosing their own commitments for the following week. For example, Hayat Pharmacy, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which put the 4 Disciplines system in practice, strived to achieve 90% of their EQuIPP adherence measures “into green by the end of January.”

The second discipline, which he calls the discipline of leverage, centers on focusing the most effort on the 20% of activities that product 80% of the results, or “acting on the lead measures.” As an example, Huling recounted the story of a shoe company that discovered simply measuring customers’ feet increased sales dramatically.

The third discipline involves instilling a sense of ownership among team members. “Most people in the world feel that they are valuable players in a game that belongs to somebody else, so they play out of loyalty or out of fear.” Huling recommends letting the team build its own scoreboard that is “simple, highly visible.”

Finally, Huling recommends creating a system of accountability that features a rewards/incentive program.

“When we lead them to the next level,” Huling said, “we not only achieve great results, we also achieve a great legacy.”

« Click here to return to Conference eDIRECT.