The previous diagram puts it all together.

Notice the elements of Boyd’s OODA Loop.

Observe: When people have access to the information they need, they can act on it.

This information includes knowing which signal, or marker, triggers the action, and knowing when to launch into action in response to the trigger.

If they also understand what information their teammates need to have to be able to act in concert, they are prepared to share critical information in a timely fashion.

They can notice and respond to gaps in the flow of information or focus, and help keep everyone’s focus on the big picture definition of success, including their own.

Too often, people work to optimize their own position without appreciating the impact of their efforts on the overall process.

And, ensuring that everyone has the necessary information is critical to high-powered action.

Assuming that they have it, or worse yet, assuming that they should have it is a critical error that leads to trouble.

Errors in judgment can occur when even the most disciplined and rigorous of approaches to managing business are applied; allowing needless and easily avoided errors to plague one’s business, such as those that arise from making unverified assumptions, keeps the risk level higher than it ever needs to be.

Where’s the sense in that?

Orient: The person or people expected to act have to understand the context in order to correctly interpret the signs and signals that they observe.

This step ensures a focused alignment. The game plan element of your business value proposition enters in here.

People will be most effective when they understand the context for their actions.

It is especially important for all of the people involved to understand events and developments from a shared perspective.

Of course, people will be expected to have their own perspectives; that is why ongoing conversations about the game plan are so critical.

These conversations are the vehicles by which the common perspective is maintained.

This doesn’t begin to happen without your expectation that it will happen, and your ensuring that it does happen.

A shared perspective has to be sustained by the initiatives of all of the people involved. Remember the story “Signing Your Work.”

You can’t order it. You have to enable it.

This shared perspective is most powerful when people understand the roles of their teammates in the game plan, and when they can reference their priorities and decisions against the brand promises.

Decide/Think: In this section of the cycle, disciplined thinking skills enhance the effects of the effort.

Are your people prepared to think together to create value? Have they mastered the disciplined thinking skills required for them to be solid partners with their workmates?

Have you fostered and maintained a climate in which your people have the confidence to use their thinking skills effectively?

If the answers to these three questions are resounding “yeses,” then your people are primed to imagine alternatives in a pinch, and can appropriately think through the implications of their actions and their choices.

They are ready and prepared to make the best decisions, whatever their circumstances.

Action: Here the emphasis is on thoughtful considered action.

It is insufficient for people to act by rote; there are too many complicating factors and developments in most business settings today.

For the actions of your work force to be truly high-powered they must have the skills and the resources to do the job.

One without the other is generally a recipe for inadequate execution.

Finally, like a symphony orchestra playing from the same score, they need to hold a common definition of what constitutes a successful result of their efforts and they have to be able to monitor the results of what they deliver.

This monitoring can either come as a direct result of their observations, or from the feedback of others who observe the effects of their actions.

42. Diagnosing Performance Shortfalls

Tool Preview: A process for identifying and addressing the causes of chronic, low-grade performance---ongoing shortfalls, rather than acute crises. Learn how to provide the right remedy for the specific problem. [Read Now]