Worksheet: Trace every unit objective to the business's page

When every unit gets the same percentage, managers carry a share of a number they cannot move. This sheet has each unit propose its part, then writes each unit objective beside the business objective it serves. It builds the Competent step of the check:

Each unit's objectives are written after the business's and name the business objective they serve, and a manager can show the line from their own to the top.

Step 1. Units propose their part

Give each unit head the business's page. Ask what their unit can contribute to each objective, and on what evidence.

Unit	Business objective	Proposed contribution	Evidence	Agreed contribution
e.g. Northern region	Win back independent retailers	Up $0.6m a month	40 accounts lost in two years; 25 still trading	Up $0.5m a month

Step 2. Check the sum

Business objective	Target	Sum of unit contributions	Gap	What changes: the target or the contributions

Where a unit shows the business's page is wrong, change the page.

Step 3. The line from each manager to the top

Pick five managers at random and ask them to trace the line.

Manager	Their objective	Unit objective it serves	Business objective	Could they trace it?

Done when: every unit objective names the business objective it serves, and managers picked at random can trace their own objective to the top.

Adapted from our own transformation summary (Forty 2, 2025).