Direction Optimization
Everything the Guide points you to.
The Direction Optimization Implementation Guide never prints a web address. It prints an ID — D1.2, D2.4.1 — and the ID is on this page. That way the book can stay right for years while what sits behind an ID gets rebuilt, renamed, or replaced.
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Find your stage first.
Thirty-five printables is a library, and a library only helps once you know what you are looking for. The assessment tells you which of the five stages you are in, which of the four lenses — purpose, vision, connection, discipline — is holding you back, and which chapter of the Guide to open first. About five minutes, free.
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How to use this page
Find the ID printed beside the exercise you are working on. Every printable is a clean copy you can print as many times as you need — for yourself, or for forty people. The page stays in your book, usable with a pen.
Print a fresh copy per person and per instance. A worksheet somebody has already filled in is not a worksheet anybody else can use, and the exercises here are per-person by design.
They all live in one free library. You give a name and an email once and have every sheet from then on — There is nothing to buy. Your name is never shared with your organization, and you are not added to a mailing list.
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Stage One · Direction Void
Everything this chapter points at.
D1.2
The Going‑Through‑the‑Motions TestThree things you spent real time on last week, and the rule you were following underneath all three.
D1.4.1
Peak Moments and Low PointsBoth halves of the excavation — and the low-point half is the one everybody skips.
D1.4.2
The Five QuestionsThirty minutes, blocked, in writing. The questions most leaders have never taken uninterrupted time on.
D1.4.3
Write the SentenceOne sentence, three attempts, four rules that are not negotiable.
D1.4.4
Say It Out Loud, Then Act On ItOne person who will tell you the truth, and one action inside seven days.
Stage Two · Stated Direction
Everything this chapter points at.
D2.0
Is Stage One Actually Behind You?The back-check before you start this chapter.
D2.3
The Night‑Shift TestThree people, two questions, and their words rather than your paraphrase.
D2.4.1
Mission, Vision, Values — Which One Is Missing?Each of the three in your own words, and the one quietly doing the work of the other two.
D2.4.1b
The Translation CardOne card per person. Written so you can say it, not so they can read it.
D2.4.3
Clarity, Credibility, ConnectionThe buy-in diagnostic. Three gaps, three completely different fixes.
D2.4.4
The First Ninety DaysThe four directional moments, and who owns each one by name.
Stage Three · Direction Avoidance
Everything this chapter points at.
D3.0
Is Stage Two Actually Behind You?The back-check before you start this chapter.
D3.3
The Early Warning AuditThe drift signals, the explanation you have been using for each, and whether it is accurate or comfortable.
D3.4.1
What the Drift Is Costing YouThe number in your own figures. It will be wrong low, and it will still be larger than you assumed.
D3.4.2
The Decision You Are DeferringThere is one. What the principled path costs, against what another six months costs.
D3.4.3
Mining the AdversityFour questions about one setback that still carries weight.
D3.4.4
The Three Building Blocks of ResilienceA self-assessment, and one commitment with a date on it.
Stage Four · Direction Disconnect
Everything this chapter points at.
D4.0
Is Stage Three Actually Behind You?The back-check before you start this chapter.
D4.3
The Evidence TestFour questions, asked in your strongest area and one team over. The gap is the size of your disconnect.
D4.4.1
The Six CompassesMoral, intuitive, historical, directional, strategic, visionary — and the two nobody examines.
D4.4.2
The Calendar AuditThe last ten working days, graded against a direction you have written down.
D4.4.3
Four Questions Every Goal Has to SurviveOutcome, deadline, accountable by name, and how you will know.
D4.4.4
Leading and Lagging IndicatorsThree leading indicators for every lagging one, and the rhythm that keeps them useful.
D4.4.5
The Alliance Feedback ConversationThe prep sheet. Four lines, including your opening sentence written out.
Stage Five · Direction in Motion
Everything this chapter points at.
D5.0
Is Stage Four Actually Behind You?The back-check before you start this chapter, and the one most likely to be answered generously.
D5.3
The Week Away TestWhat you predict, beside what actually happened. Done twice.
D5.4.1
The Five Sustaining HabitsNarration, protection, modeling, renewal, celebration — scored for the last thirty days.
D5.4.2
The Transfer MapWhat only you carry, who could carry it, and what they need first.
D5.4.3
Directional RenewalThe annual re-examination, held separately from the planning cycle.
D5.4.4
Evolution or AbandonmentChanging a direction without destroying the buy-in that built it.
Tools for the decisions where direction gets applied
Not tied to a stage. A direction is not tested in a planning session — it is tested at five specific moments, and in most organizations every one of them runs on instinct. Each of these is one page, built from work the Guide has already produced.
DT1
Who You HireOne candidate, one seat. Three questions that ask for an instance rather than a rating.
DT2
Who You PromoteExecuting is a contributor skill. Translating is the leadership one, and this is how you test for it.
DT3
Who You AddressThe gate before the conversation: is the standard written, measured, and has this person seen it?
DT4
Who You Do Business WithThe opportunity filter, and the sentence that makes a principled decline repeatable.
DT5
What You Do When Somebody LeavesThe cheapest audit of a direction anybody will ever run. Use it twice.
The recorded lessons
Every stage has a set of short recorded lessons — the same work walked through out loud, including the parts that are easier to watch than to read: a direction translated to a room live, a deferred decision made rather than described. They are part of the Direction Optimization digital course rather than this page. The Guide does not depend on them — nothing in the book is a summary of something fuller kept somewhere else.
The printables
Everything marked in the library above is ready now. One free library, one name and email, every sheet from then on — including anything added after the book was printed.
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