What you need to know
This article explores the second foundational component of the MIND Methodology™️ Drivers. Specifically, this article answers the questions:
What are Drivers and why do I need them?
How do I establish my Drivers?
Once I know what my Drivers are, how do I use them to improve the Most Important Number?
Understanding Drivers
Drivers are the categories of work your team can leverage to improve the Most Important Number. They represent all the work you can do. The MIND Methodology helps you prioritize and make decisions on what to do so everyone is aligned on doing the right work in the right order at the right time.
It is critical to remember that Drivers are linked to a Most Important Number. You cannot establish, Drivers without first defining the MIN.
Defining your Drivers
When initially defining your Drivers, don't worry about them being in any particular order. Just list all the categories of work that the team is responsible for. Remember Drivers, are not individual tasks or projects but the larger categories that these projects fall under.
Prioritize the right work to improve the MIN
Score each Driver on a scale from 1-10. The score represents how well you are currently leveraging the Driver to improve the Most Important Number, with 10 meaning you could not leverage that Driver any better.
The most essential step is deciding on which Drivers to put In Focus. It’s common to think of every Driver as equally urgent and important. In reality, at any given time, some Drivers have a greater impact on the Most Important Number than others.
These most impactful Drivers are identified as In Focus. Doing the work of improving the In Focus Drivers is where you spend the majority of your time and resources. Based on our experience, it is counter-productive to focus on more than three Drivers at a time.
Assign a primary owner for each Driver. This person is responsible for overseeing and reporting on the work being done to improve that Driver. A few important points to remember:
Be honest when scoring your Drivers. Generally speaking lower is better as it identifies opportunities for improvement
The owner of a Driver is not responsible for doing all the work of improving that Driver, but for ensuring that the right work is being completed and updating the team on progress
Drivers are dynamic
Drivers reflect the ever-evolving nature of your business. In other words, once you identify, score, and prioritize your initial set of Drivers, they do not stay that way forever. As the methodology becomes a natural part of how you operate, Drivers
come in and out of focus based on business and market conditions to ensure you are always doing the right work at the right time to improve the Most Important Number.
This video provides a deeper dive into Drivers and how to use them within the MIND Methodology to improve your Most Important Number.
