I am sure everyone knows someone, or in fact has been there themselves; you start out towards achieving a goal with great intentions and then get sidetracked, your focus shifts, and you start to lose your motivation. Great intentions seem to be an all too common occurrence. Just look at the people who set New Year’s resolutions and never achieve them.
Many organizations also suffer from the great intention syndrome however, within the fast-paced and ever-changing business environment, great intentions need to be supported with lots of “hows”. You know, the steps that are often small in nature, that launch all those great intentions off the ground, and get them moving towards becoming a reality. This could be anything from a new service or product that you want to bring into the marketplace.
Shifting the focus onto the “hows” is critical hence, the saying, “a little less talking and more doing”. The challenge, and the opportunity for that matter, is leaving an era where pontificating worked really well and moving towards taking knowledge and applying it to the new business world.
Not sure where to start on developing those “hows”? Seek out teams in your organization that have done something similar to what you are about to set out to achieve, and start repeating the steps (hows) they have taken to produce great results. Notice what they do and don’t do. Speak to them if you can, and learn from their mistakes, setbacks, and failures. Commit to taking action, and having a tracking system that allows you to track the progress, make adjustments accordingly and celebrate all the small wins.
Intentions are great, but top performers know that actions, skill development and continuous learning will move great intentions towards producing great results.
All the best in achieving your highest performance,
Paul
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net