ValuExecBlog

The Layman's Guide to Goal Attainment

I have often wondered what makes a winning team, or a successful athlete or simply for that matter, what enables one person to achieve their goals whilst another fails.  As we reflect back on the year at our successes and our misses and as we get ready to set our goals for the year ahead that will move us forward, I thought it timely to revisit the question of 'What makes a winning team or a successful person?" After observing winning teams and successful people for awhile, I have boiled it down to 10 crucial factors. At the outset though, let me add that throughout this post I make use of the term 'successful people' which for this exercise is simply someone/team who has achieved a specific goal. Here then are my 10 points to achieving goals or rather 'The Layman's Guide to Goal Attainment' :

1. Prepare and prepare hard
I have noticed that winning teams, successful people or athletes not only practice, practice, practice but they also practice hard. There is the classic example of Johnny Wilkinson, the England rugby player who, at the end of every training session and after his team mates were having their showers, spent hour upon hour kicking a ball through 2 upright posts until he mastered every angle possible. It was no coincidence that it was his kick in the dying minutes of the final game that won England the World Cup.

2. Know what your end goal is
Knowing what your end goal is is one thing, but knowing what it feels like, smells like is quite another. Successful people know every specific detail of their goal.

3. Focus everything on that end goal
Have you noticed that successful people are never easily distracted? They actually live, eat and breathe their goal every waking moment of the day and night. They have an intensity that is hard to extinguish. Next time you see Tom Cruise look at his eyes and the intensity that he brings to everything he does.

4. Have a plan to get you there
This may seem pretty obvious, but successful people have detailed plans with specific milestones that enable them to monitor their progress. In addition, their plans although somewhat detailed are nevertheless flexible so that they are able to alter course if a particular activity is not producing the expected results.

5. Put in place your support team
These are the 'backroom' people; the people that get you out of bed at the wee hours of the morning; the people that pick you up and dust you off and set you on your way when you stumble. Successful people have a support team that believe in what they are doing and never tire in their support.

6. Be the fittest you have ever been mentally
There will be times when successful people stumble, but they are so mentally tough that they continue on their course despite the knock downs.

7. Sacrifice everything in the attainment of your goal
Unfortunately, in order to gain something worthwhile, we have to in all probability lose something in return. Some of us are quite prepared to sacrifice something in the short term, but baulk at long term sacrifices. Successful people, I have noticed are quite prepared to sacrifice much for however long it takes until their goal is reached.

8. Never take your foot off the accelerator until your goal is complete
Call it the 'killer instinct,' but successful people never let up until they reach their goal because they know that if they do they could well be pipped at the post.

9. Celebrate when you have attained your goal (i.e., live in the moment)
Successful people enjoy and celebrate their successes because they know the sacrifices that they and others have made to get them there.

10. Never doubt your ability to reach your goal, no matter what is thrown at you
Doubt is the biggest killer of goal attainment. Successful people have a tremendous belief in their ability to achieve their goal regardless of what is thrown across their path. They may wobble at times, but quitting is not an option to them because of their belief that they will succeed.

Have a wonderful and prosperous 2008 and may all your goals be realized. Thanks again for sharing 2007 with me. It has been fun.

ian

 

The Ghost of Christmas Past

In the December edition of Valuable News (our monthly e-magazine available on our website at www.valufacturesolutions.com) I wrote about the 5 valuable lessons coming out of 2007. Two lessons were of particular note and which I am sure will raise the hackles of experts from all walks of life. Lesson # 4 was that 'treatment will drive consumer decisions as to where they spend their money,' and following on from that lesson was the lesson that 'consumer loyalty, like life-time employment is a thing of the past.' I went on further to conclude that CRM is the 'shadow(s) of the things that have been,' as portrayed to Scrooge by the Ghost of Christmas Past from Charles Dickens' short tale 'A Christmas Carol.' Rather, it is indeed CTM (Customer treatment management) that if denied will lead companies to 'bide their end,' or so claimed the Ghost of Christmas Present.

The lessons are certainly not backed up by any in-depth research but are based on simple observation and 'gut-feel,' so they do merit an explanation. Let us start first with the concepts of 'treatment' and 'relationships' and then expand on the actual lessons themselves.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines treatment as 'behaving towards a person or thing,' and relationship as 'a feeling that prevails between persons or things.' Simply, treatment refers to present behavior and relationship to a state that has been built up over time. It is my contention that relationships, regardless of how long they have been nourished will be tossed out of the window if companies treat their customers badly. Why is that?

Changing Performance through Cultural Change

Culture, as defined as the shared values and norms of a company, is probably one of the most difficult concepts to get your mind around as it applies to execution excellence. All of us know that it exists within an organization, but few of us can actually measure it. If you ask 20 people within an organization what the culture is of that organization, you will in all probability get 20 different answers. The trouble is culture impacts behavior which in turn impacts organizational performance and sometimes it may be necessary to change the culture of an organization so as to change performance. The question is "how?"

Allow me to reiterate: Culture affects behavior and behavior impacts a company's performance. What is considered acceptable behavior in one company may not be acceptable in another. For example, one company may have a culture that supports risk which in turn drives innovation and cooperation within business units or departments whilst another company may be more conservative and risk averse and so encourages behavior that never questions the status quo, maintains a mentality of silos and very little cooperation.

Subcultures also exist within organizations which further complicates cultural change. Marketing personnel have different values and perceptions of getting things done than say Sales or Manufacturing. The sales director of one company we deal with complained that people in R&D did not understand him and that they didn't seem to approach problems with the same sense of urgency as his team.