4DX WIG Planning Session Template

The WIG planning session is where Discipline 1, focus on the Wildly Important, and Discipline 2, act on lead measures, get decided. The team narrows from many possible goals to a single Wildly Important Goal and picks the few lead measures that will actually drive it. Everything in 4DX flows from the decisions made here.

When to use it

Run this at the start of a planning cycle, usually quarterly, or whenever the team is launching a fresh WIG. It is also the right session to reset after a goal is achieved or after a strategy shift changes what the most important battle should be.

Who attends

The team that will execute the WIG plus its leader, four to twelve people. The people who will own the lead measures must be in the room, because commitment to a goal they helped set is far stronger than compliance with one handed down.

How to run it

Ground the team in strategy and the reality of the whirlwind, then brainstorm candidate WIGs by impact, not coverage. Choose exactly one and write it in the from X to Y by when form so the finish line is unmistakable. Identify lead measures that are both predictive of the goal and influenceable by the team, then pressure-test the whole set. Close by sketching the scoreboard and locking the weekly cadence, so the plan walks straight into execution.

Facilitator tips

• Insist on one WIG. Two competing WIGs usually means neither gets done.
• Write the goal as from X to Y by when, never as a vague aspiration.
• Test each lead measure: is it predictive and can the team influence it?
• Leave with the weekly WIG session already on the calendar.

Common mistakes

• Choosing several WIGs, which scatters the team and the whirlwind wins.
• Picking lag measures and calling them lead measures.
• Writing a goal with no clear finish line or deadline.
• Ending without a scoreboard plan or a locked weekly cadence.

Set a goal the team can actually win. Run it in OrgTP and keep the WIG, lead measures, and cadence connected from day one.