Ivy Tech Community College Recognized for Achieving Student Retention Goals Using The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) System
SALT LAKE CITY, March 27, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FranklinCovey Education, a division of FranklinCovey (NYSE: FC), has awarded its prestigious Greatness Award in Strategic Execution (4DX) to Ivy Tech Community College for achieving its student retention goals over a three-year period from 2021 to 2024. With 19 campuses serving more than 195,000 students across the state of Indiana, Ivy Tech is the nation’s largest singly accredited statewide community college system.
"We congratulate Ivy Tech Community College, as this award is so well-deserved," said Sean Covey, FranklinCovey Education president. "It’s only presented to higher education institutions that achieve data-confirmed, proven results over a period of three years. Since 2021, they have executed on their goal to increase student retention and have achieved breakthrough results. The 4 Disciplines of Execution® are part of their culture and who they are, as they have implemented the process across all 19 campuses statewide. They are a model for our higher education clients, and we’re honored to be their partner."
Ivy Tech is Indiana’s statewide community college system and workforce engine. More than 70 percent of the College’s students attend part-time, and over half are adult learners. Two out of five students are the first in their families to pursue postsecondary education, and 60 percent are eligible for federal Pell grants. Ivy Tech leveraged the 4DX framework on three separate occasions to drive progress around term-to-term retention. Applying 4DX led to Ivy Tech achieving its highest fall-to-fall retention rate in the College’s history.
"The 4DX system has transformed Ivy Tech’s operations and culture. Retention is our promise to our students, and 4DX has enabled us to drive meaningful progress on this historically stubborn metric," said Dr. Sue Ellspermann, president, Ivy Tech Community College. "By narrowing our focus, leveraging high-impact actions, engaging through meaningful scoreboards, and fostering a cadence and culture of accountability, we have made significant strides in enhancing student success while delivering on our Strategic Plan values of empathy, integrity, accountability, agility, and connectivity. This recognition is an affirmation that when you combine discipline with purpose, you create meaningful and lasting change."
Achieving its retention goal was not easy for Ivy Tech Community College with its 19 campuses across the state. There were 60 staff and faculty trained as coaches in The 4 Disciplines of Execution methodology. They managed more than 1,000 teams of 3,000 participants with the help of FranklinCovey.
"We attribute our achievement to The 4 Disciplines of Execution System and to working closely with FranklinCovey to fully embrace and engrain 4DX into our operations and culture," said Ellspermann. "We have succeeded because of broad leadership buy-in, FranklinCovey’s expert coaches, and dedicated colleagues across all levels of the College who have championed this work on their campuses and in the communities of practice we have created."
Ivy Tech Community College achieved the highest percentile of the Execution Performance Score ("XPS") of FranklinCovey clients worldwide, using FranklinCovey’s 4DX® System to exceed organizational goals and objectives. The award is based on the following measures:
The Greatness Award in Strategic Execution ("4DX") is based on the following measures:
The highest percentile of the Execution Performance Score ("XPS").
The highest percentage of individuals within an organization that make commitments weekly toward the achievement of their team’s Wildly Important Goals.
Percentage of those commitments that are achieved on a weekly basis.
Performance on Lead Measures which the team determines are necessary for achievement of the Wildly Important Goals.
The performance against the Wildly Important Goals across the organization.
Engagement in The 4 Disciplines of Execution 4DX System for three years or more.
Sean Covey said, "Higher education institutions are facing growing challenges and need fresh ways to create better outcomes. By engaging with our unique solutions, colleges and universities can improve productivity and collaboration among employees, execute their most important goals, equip students with leadership and career skills, and ultimately achieve breakthrough performance."
About The 4 Disciplines of Execution
Worldwide, organizations spend $31+ billion on strategy creation, and more than 80 percent of those strategies fail to produce expected results. What’s been missing is a proven system for consistently executing on strategy through people. For over 20 years, the FranklinCovey Execution Practice has studied why execution fails, what can be done to fix it, and what it takes to set, track, and achieve breakthrough results around key strategic targets. They have worked with more than 140,000 teams in over 4,000 client implementations and have a proven track record of case-worthy results in every kind of industry worldwide, in business, government, and education.
The 4DX System is based on The Wall Street Journal bestseller, The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals®, authored by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, Jim Huling, with Beverly Walker and Scott Thiele. It outlines a proven process for helping organizations turn sporadic performance into a system of consistent predictable results. It is applied at two levels: Leaders of leaders and frontline teams. Based on The 4 Disciplines of Execution, senior leaders conduct four actions with their team leaders to scale impact and results:
Define the Breakthrough. Narrow the focus and create clarity and commitment around a key breakthrough result with executable targets.
Activate Frontline Teams. Unleash and apply everyone’s collective energy toward your key breakthrough result using the 4DX principles and implementation processes. 4DX principles create a common language and process for front-line implementation of the key breakthrough result.
Track Execution Pace. Track the pace of progress real-time using a metric called XPS (Execution Performance Score) to ensure all your teams are on track to achieving your breakthrough result.
The 4DX framework allows leaders to effectively deal with their biggest challenge; executing strategy that requires a change in human behavior at scale. The 4DX System supplies the framework, tools, and measurement resources to ensure breakthrough results. Also included is The 4DX Platform, an online tool and app that supports the methodology by tracking commitments and goal achievement, providing a cadence of accountability to both individuals and organizations, and ensuring overall success. The 4DX System is the key to organizations moving from simply reaching a few goals to dramatically changing their impact.
About FranklinCovey Education
For three decades, FranklinCovey Education, a division of FranklinCovey and a global leader in education solutions, has been one of the world’s most prominent and trusted providers of educational-leadership programs and transformational processes. FranklinCovey’s programs, books, and content have been utilized by thousands of public and private primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools and institutions, including educational service centers and vocational schools in all 50 states within the United States and in over 70 countries.
About Ivy Tech Community College
Ivy Tech Community College is Indiana's largest public postsecondary institution and the nation's largest singly accredited statewide community college system, accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Ivy Tech has campuses throughout Indiana and also serves thousands of students annually online. It serves as the state's engine of workforce development, offering associate degrees, long- and short-term certificate programs, industry certifications, and training that aligns with the needs of the community. The College provides a seamless transfer to other colleges and universities in Indiana, as well as out of state, for a more affordable route to a bachelor's degree.
