Velocity EngineExecution Game
Choose the one outcome that matters most this cycle, and decide what the team will stop to protect it.
Leadership teams entering a new quarter, mid-cycle overload, resets after a pivot, and off-sites where strategic clarity is the deliverable.
From everything is a priority to one Must-Win, and a No List that protects it.
Specific goals tend to lead to better performance than vague ones, and goals that compete tend to drag each other down. People tend to overlook what a yes costs elsewhere, and to overlook subtraction as a way to improve things, unless prompted. When one goal is active, people tend to tune out competing goals.
Tag every priority by the outcome it serves (Revenue, Growth, Customer, Capability), agree which outcome this cycle must serve, then pick one Must-Win, silently first. Specific goals tend to beat vague ones, and competing goals tend to drag each other down.
Pause, cancel, delay, defer, then test it against the disruptions that will arrive. People tend to overlook what a yes costs and what subtracting could free, unless it’s made explicit.
One thing I’ll stop, one escalation I’ll no longer take, one overload signal I’ll watch, each written as an if-then plan, with an owner and a 30-day review for the wall.
Also runs as a half day · P3.2 HD
Half day (3 h 30 min), “Focus, then own”: this lab in the morning, P3.4 Ownership Architecture in the afternoon, with a 30-day review.
Choose the one outcome that matters most this cycle, decide what the team will stop to protect it, and name who owns it and which decisions move down to them.
Leadership teams entering a new quarter or resetting after a pivot that need both strategic focus and clear ownership, and teams whose leaders have become the bottleneck for the decisions their priorities create.
Specific goals tend to lead to better performance than vague ones, and people tend to overlook what a yes costs elsewhere, and subtraction as a way to improve things, unless prompted. When roles are unclear, performance tends to suffer, and when no one’s contribution can be identified, people tend to put in less effort. Empowering leadership, which shares authority and encourages people to decide, is associated with more creativity and helping behavior, and more modestly with task performance.
Pick the Must-Win silently, write a No List in four buckets, and ask what each kept item costs the Must-Win. Specific goals tend to beat vague ones, and people tend to overlook what a yes costs and what subtraction could free.
One DRI for the Must-Win, its decisions sorted L1, L2, L3, with every deferral given an owner and a rung. Unclear roles tend to go with lower performance, one name beats shared responsibility, and empowering leadership is linked to more initiative.
Each leader’s “no longer escalate” becomes an if-then with a name on it, and the 30-day review is booked. If-then plans tend to turn intentions into action.
The thinking behind this lab, published in full: