The 10-Quarter Tool

Abstract

Strategy Question: Is there a way to help me follow through on the changes I personally need to make?

Summary: You are not doing yourself or your organization a favor by neglecting changes you need to make to be more effective. You know what you really need to work on. If not, your boss, Board or peer group can probably help you. The Ten-Quarter Tool provides a simple method to identify a behavior you want to change, forces you to be aware of it throughout your day, and gives you a method to reinforce repetition. Here is how it works. You determine the behavior you want to improve. You take 10 quarters and put them in your left pocket. Your goal is to do the new behavior 10 times each day. Every time you do it, you move one quarter from your left to your right pocket. At the end of the day your goal is to have all 10 quarters in your right pocket. Kind of simple, right? Yet it works. You jingle a bit when you walk, but the weight of 10 quarters and the noise emanating from your pocket reminds you of the task at hand.

Citation

Fairbanks, S. and Buchko, A. (2018), "The 10-Quarter Tool", Performance-Based Strategy, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 283-286. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78743-795-120181025