Morning Minute 11/01/24:
“Is Your Team Organized For Success?”
In his book, “Good To Great,” Jim Collins shares the process of “WHO, then WHAT.”
He uses this example. First, get the right WHO on your bus, and in the right seats. Then you decide WHAT you want to accomplish. Decide “WHO, then WHAT.”
Let’s expand this process, to include your What, Who, When, and then How!
1st: WHAT: Your team requires that you clearly share the goals to be achieved. This is true in sports, business, and service organizations. Ensure all your team members visualize your goal. That is your WHAT, the end result of their efforts. In sports, you want to win a game, a series, or a championship. In business, you want to meet your profit goals as you increase your market share. Service clubs want to meet their obligation to fulfill their charters. Your goal is your WHAT.
Your WHAT, must meet the S.M.A.R.T. requirements. It must be Specific; clear enough so that all team members visualize it. Because your goal must be Measurable, it must be expressed in numbers. Who will be Accountable to ensure the goal is achieved? Your goal must be Realistic, given the resources available. Finally, the goal must be Timely, accomplished by a certain date and time. Your WHAT must be S.M.A.R.T.
2nd; WHO: Collins explains that you must get the “right people in the right seats on the bus.” Organize your people having them do the tasks they are most suited for. One of the primary responsibilities of a leader or coach is to know who is best for which job. Last Saturday, a college football team with an explosive running back, started their game throwing passes on 90% of their plays. At the end of the 1st quarter the other team led 10-0. The next 3 quarters the team employed their running back on 80% of their plays. He ran for 278 yards, scored 2 touchdowns, and the team won 24-10. Get the right WHO doing the right jobs, to achieve your WHAT.
3rd: WHEN: In the just described football game, the team had 4 quarters. A business may have an entire month, a quarter, or a weekend promotion. The service club may be sponsoring a weekend golf tournament. Ensure that all team members know and understand WHEN your WHAT must be achieved.
4th: HOW: Great people require great processes to achieve peak performance. With the right people doing the right jobs, equipped with the right HOW, you can achieve your goals. Discuss these processes with the people who must execute them. Have them streamline those processes into “best practices.” Then, use your “best practices” to get your HOW aligned with your WHO to achieve your WHAT!
In summary, set your S.M.A.R.T. goals. Then, recruit, hire, train, and organize great people putting them in the jobs that best match their skills and abilities. Communicate the goal with the team ensuring that they all know when the goal must be achieved. With the right people doing the right jobs, use your “best practices” to meet your goals.
In other words; decide What, Who, When, then How!
“Is Your Team Organized For Success?”
That is today’s Morning Minute.
Morning Minute 10/29/24:
“Why ARE You Afraid To Fail?”
You know that feeling. Your gut tightens. Your palms get sweaty. And, your mind begins to race, showing you vivid pictures of what failure looks like.
What will your friends say about you? How will you family feel about you? And, worse yet, https://positivepsychology.com/self-image/how will you view yourself…if you fail?
Is it possible that you have an incorrect view of failure? Consider this: Thomas Edison failed in his first 1000 attempts to invent the light bulb. When asked about this failure, he shared that he hadn’t failed 1000 times. He stated that he had found 1000 ways that didn’t work. During his lifetime, Edison would create 1093 different inventions.
During the American Civil War, President Lincoln went through 6 different commanders before promoting Ulysses S. Grant. Lincoln’s failure to find the right commander led to thousands of dead soldiers. Yet, no one remembers his failures. Only that he won the war, saved the Union, and ended slavery in the US forever.
Okay, you say. But these were super talented men. In reality, both were born of very humble beginnings. They had very limited formal education, and went to work in their teens. So then, why were they successful. They both viewed failure as a learning experience that must be endured to gain the knowledge they needed for success.
To defeat the fear of failure, we must understand what failure is, and why we fear it.
What exactly is failure? Our failure, as Edison explains, is a learning experience. Failing teaches us what doesn’t work, what doesn’t lead to success, and that something needs to change for us to win. We need to change how we view failure, from being a defeat, to being that learning experience. We can use failure to improve who we are by improving what we do. Question: Do you remember when you changed what you were doing because of something you read; or, because of something you did? Understand that failing, when doing something, is our very best teacher.
We fear failure because that is how our brain warns us of danger in order to keep us safe. When making changes or experiencing something new, our brain displays mental images of the possible negative results of our actions. This IS perfectly normal. To change our view of failure, we must replace those negative thoughts with mental images of what happens when we win!
I vividly remember failing while learning how to work in a commercial kitchen. Eventually, I was promoted to kitchen manager, then general manager, and finally as an area supervisor for 17 restaurants. This was also true from starting as a new salesperson, to sales manager, to general manager of a dealership with 5 franchises. I’ve experienced many learning opportunities, disguised as failures, during my career.
Remember that you usually fail when you are doing something. You rarely win, and you can surely lose, by doing nothing. Remember that failing is a necessary step along the road to success!
Keep in mind that: “Education, without Action, is just Entertainment!”
“Why ARE You Afraid To Fail?”
That is today’s Morning Minute!
