Needle Focus™ — Define the Needle (Leadership Kickoff)
Pick the one goal that matters now.
Give everyone the same language, the same weekly rhythm, and the same scoreboard—so progress becomes visible every week.
In two short half-days we will:
Decide the company goal (clear, human, directional).
Frame 1–3 measurable outcomes (owners + guardrails).
Surface the critical 6D gaps that slow movement.
Draft your Operating Blueprint™—the way your organisation will run the loop here.
Why Focus (and why now)
Strategy dies by Friday when nothing moves. Focus is the decision to move one thing—and to make that movement visible.
One goal. A handful of outcomes. A simple 20-minute weekly you can keep.
How it runs — 2 × ½ day
Half-day 1 — Decide & Align
Plain-English primer on the operating rhythm (goal → outcomes → weekly loop).
Decide the company goal (no numbers in the sentence—numbers live in outcomes).
Draft 1–3 outcomes with owners and guardrails.
Lock the leadership weekly slot (20 minutes).
Half-day 2 — Gaps & Blueprint
6D snapshot: Strategy & Alignment, Process & Techniques, Technology & Tooling, Data & Insights, Structure, People.
Draft the Operating Blueprint™ (see below) and make a readiness decision: move now, or fix 1–2 foundations first.
Operating Blueprint™ — how we run the loop here
This is your rules of the road. It removes ambiguity and sets up Launch without rework.
Rollout model: company-only + initiatives, or company + selected teams (and in what waves).
Cadence: 20-minute weekly; host = Team Leader; time slots locked; decision log required.
Scoreboard standard: result trend, leading signals, owner(s), decision log link, minimum dataset.
Decision rights & interfaces: who decides what, at which level, and how escalations work.
Publishing standard: one hub, visible owners, scoreboard URL, weekly slot; simple change log.
People & capability: the Leader role is defined here; baseline capability is installed later in Needle Leader Training & Certification™ (org-level, part of Setup). In Launch, the Leader Skills Lab is a team-context tune-up—apply, not re-teach.
How it clicks into Launch
The Blueprint feeds Rollout Design (which teams, when, under which constraints).
Leaders are trained & certified in Setup; in Launch they get a Skills Lab to apply the Blueprint inside their own team.
What you get (deliverables)
Focus Pack (PDF): company goal; 1–3 outcomes (owners/guardrails); 6D snapshot (top gaps).
Operating Blueprint™: rollout model, weekly rhythm, scoreboard standard, decision rights, data minimum, publishing standard, people & capability.
30-day route: what happens next (Setup → Launch), with owners and dates.
What happens next (no separate page—lives on Launch as “Setup”)
Needle Leader Training & Certification™ — 1 day (org-level)
Install the baseline capability to host the weekly without us: sharp timeboxing, one-blocker discipline, keep/tune/kill decisions.Rollout Design — 1 day (org-level)
Turn the Blueprint into a concrete plan: which teams start, in what order, with which lever; clarify governance and interfaces.(Optional) Drafting Sprint — 2 × 1 day (leaders-draft path only)
Draft team goals & outcomes under the company objective and guardrails; mark what teams will finalise during Launch.Then: Needle Launch™ (≈ 2 weeks per team)
Go live with one team, practise the weekly twice, publish right after each team finalises its goal & outcomes, reach Evidence or Elimination™, and pass W2 Activation Audit for scale-up readiness.
Formats & investment
Leadership Kickoff (2 × ½ day) — on-site EU or remote.
Indicative pricing: on-site €6k, remote €4.5k (ex-VAT).
Briefing credit: did the Executive Briefing in the last 14 days? 100% credited toward Focus.
Travel & T&E: billed at cost (on-site).
(Foundations may be advised if data/decision basics aren’t ready.)
Practicalities
Who’s in the room: CEO/GM and extended leadership (typically 6–10).
Pre-work: latest strategy context, current metrics (if any), top constraints.
Language: English or Dutch.
Tools: we bring templates for the scoreboard and decision log; your hub remains the single source of truth.
Publishing: company-level publishing follows your Blueprint; team-level publishing happens in Launch immediately after each team finalises its goal & outcomes.
FAQ
Why only one company goal?
Because focus is a choice. One goal forces trade-offs and creates momentum others can copy.
Do we need perfect data to start?
No. We define a minimum viable dataset so the weekly can run. If basics are missing, we’ll call a short Foundations step first.
Is this a workshop or a decision meeting?
Both. Light exercises to get clarity; then we decide—and write it down so it sticks.
Will you change our templates/tools?
Only if they get in the way. The Blueprint names what to keep, what to tune, and where everything lives.
How soon can we launch teams?
Right after Focus—once Leaders are trained and the rollout is designed. We recommend a visible pilot, then waves.