"Strategy matters because it connects vision to execution. It’s the bridge between bold ambition and daily discipline."
Adam Kreek
Founder Built for Hard
- Date
You don’t need another offsite. You need a full-spectrum performance system
posted in Business Coaching
Adam Kreek
Vision is cheap if it’s not backed by structure.
We’ve all been to retreats where we sketch out a “dream future” and then forget about it within the week. There’s no rhythm. No reality check. No strategy that holds.
That’s why I built the ViDA 4HAG System™—a quarterly performance framework built for bold vision, hard conversations, and real-world execution.
This isn’t another productivity hack. This is the operating system I’ve used to help Olympians win gold, boards make impactful decisions, and leaders grow companies they actually want to lead. This can work at all stages of small business entrepreneurial growth, and is even a useful structure when for managers building systems of accountability and results within their larger organization.
What is the ViDA 4HAG System™?
At its core, ViDA stands for:
Vision-Informed, Data-Aligned.
It's a leadership and business planning cadence rooted in Olympic-style execution cycles. The system aligns:
- Vision to action
- Values to culture
- Leadership to results
The backbone? The 4HAG—your Four-Year Huge Audacious Goal.
This goal anchors your long-range vision in reality. It draws from Jim Collins’ BHAG concept but grounds it in the cadence and discipline required to actually hit it.
Let’s walk through the four components.
1. The Annual Retreat
Vision-setting meets structural tuning and leadership renewal.
This isn’t a spa retreat. This is an all-in, full-spectrum reset. It’s where your team stops reacting and starts deciding who they’re going to become.
Here’s what we tackle:
- Uncover the BHAG: Your Big Hairy Audacious Goal. The legacy-sized outcome that sits 10+ years in the future. This becomes your guiding light.
- Anchor it in Core Philosophy: This is where vision meets identity. We align your BHAG with your organization’s deeper purpose, mission, values, and reason for being. (More on that in this post).
- Strategic Initiatives + Structural Issues: Once aligned, we dig into the engine room. What needs to change in your structure or culture to support this goal? This is where we name what’s not working, and call out opportunities that are ready for lift-off. We dig into customer, communications, role clarity, differentiation to figure out what matters most.
- Define the 4HAG, 1HAG & 90-Day Sprint: With structure and strategy aligned, we break the BHAG down into clear targets:
- The 4HAG: Your big win over the next four years.
- The 1HAG: The single-year commitment that moves the needle.
- The Next 90 Days: The sprint to lock in early traction.
- Personal Reflection & Leadership Development: Your company can only go as far as your leaders are willing to grow. Every Annual Retreat carves out time for individual reflection and leadership growth—because transformation starts at the top.
This retreat demands effort. But it also delivers clarity, courage, and alignment you can’t get any other way.
2. Quarterly Recalibration
Adjust course. Choose your next hill.
Every 90 days, you pause and ask:
- What’s working?
- What’s no longer serving us?
- What must get done in the next 90 days?
This isn’t about rewriting the plan—it’s about reaffirming commitment, adjusting tactics, and naming what matters now.
You reset your sprint priorities based on evolving conditions and recommit to the strategic objectives that will keep you on the 4HAG track.
3. Monthly Block-Clearing
Fix the stroke. Realign the crew. Clear the weeds.
This is where the ViDA system gets personal—and practical.
Every month, you bring your real-time issues, bottlenecks, and frustrations into the room. You troubleshoot in the context of your long-term plan. You deal with what’s messy and keep rowing toward your gold.
- Is your team stalled?
- Are you avoiding a difficult conversation?
- Are new opportunities knocking that deserve a “yes” or a “not yet”?
This is the leadership version of clearing the weeds from under your boat hull—because friction slows us down more than we think.
4. Random Check-Ins with Your Coach or Leadership Cohort
Realignment over reinforcement. Clarity over comfort.
Vision dies in isolation. Even with a great plan, leaders drift.
That’s why the ViDA 4HAG System™ includes unscheduled, informal check-ins—short, targeted conversations with a coach or leadership cohort to get unstuck, realigned, and refocused.
This isn’t about building another meeting into your calendar. It’s about having the guts to raise your hand when:
- You’re circling a hard decision and can’t find the edge
- You’re avoiding something you know needs to change
- You’re moving fast, but off-course
These check-ins are simple but powerful:
- 20–30 minutes with a coach, peer, or team leader
- Structured around one question: “What’s holding you back right now?”
- Grounded in your 4HAG, 1HAG, and current sprint
You're not crazy
Sometimes, you need strategy.
Sometimes, you need accountability.
And sometimes, you just need someone to remind you: you’re not crazy, you’re just in the hard part.
These random check-ins create a rhythm of truth-telling and troubleshooting that can’t be replaced by dashboards or to-do lists. They keep you agile. They keep you honest. They keep you rowing.
Because without conversation, vision slips into fantasy.
This is planning Built for Hard™
The ViDA 4HAG System™ isn’t about staying busy. It’s about getting aligned.
- Vision isn’t enough. You need a system.
- Strategy isn’t enough. You need rhythm.
- Growth isn’t enough. You need values at the core.
If you’re ready to lead with clarity—across months, quarters, and years—build a planning system as strong as your ambition.
Your goals are only as good as the structure that supports them.
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Adam Kreek is on a mission to positively impact organizational cultures and leaders who make things happen.
Kreek is an Executive Business Coach who lives in Victoria, BC, near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and Seattle, Washington, USA, in the Pacific Northwest. He works with clients globally, often travelling to California in the San Francisco Bay Area, Atlanta, Georgia, Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec. He is an Olympic Gold Medalist, a storied adventurer and a father.
He authored the bestselling business book, The Responsibility Ethic: 12 Strategies Exceptional People Use to Do the Work and Make Success Happen.
Discover our thoughts on Values here.
Want to increase your leadership achievement? Learn more about Kreek’s coaching here.
Want to book a keynote that leaves a lasting impact? Learn more about Kreek’s live event service here.