Planning for Success

This blog is a roundup of a few of our mindset posts and how they can help you consistently apply best practice fundamentals to ensure your business is successful.

“Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.”

Jim Rohn

Oarbed

The Oarbed principle explores above the line versus below the line behaviour. We act below the line when we blame others, make excuses or deny something was our responsibility. Instead, we need to act above the line and take ownership, accountability and responsibility. Oarbed is an extremely powerful behavioural model and the cornerstone of a strong organisational culture. It’s one of the easiest ways to transform your business’s culture and team performance.

Let’s consider an example of where above the line behaviour has an impact on business outcomes. Let’s say a deadline is missed. Would you want your team to blame others or technology, make excuses about not having enough time or information, or deny knowledge of the deadline? Or should they take ownership of their actions, hold themselves accountable and take responsibility for fixing the issue? And as a leader, you need to act above the line and take ownership – did you provide enough support and training to avoid the issue? What training or support could you provide to ensure the issue doesn’t happen again?

When acting above the line, your team is more inclined to work together to find a solution, acting as a safety net for each other rather than throwing each other under the bus. Issues are resolved faster, less re-work occurs, broken processes get found and fixed, and implementing a plan is easier.

Remember, it’s natural to initially think below the line when something goes wrong. The important thing is to act above the line.

Now Where How

If you’re going on a trip and you need to use a maps app to get directions, the app needs to know where you are now and where you want to go, then it will tell you how to get there.

It’s the same in business.

First you need to know your starting point – what your business and personal life looks like now. This includes both yours and your business’s financial position, the hours you’re working, your role in the business and your business’s profit, cashflow and value.

Then, you need to know where you want to be in 12 months. That’s your destination. This includes your vision along with everything else you’ve assessed in your current position.

Then, you can work out how you’re going to get there. This is setting your plan. What projects and actions do you need to take to get to where you want to be? What reporting and accountability do you need to put in place to know you’re on track?

You can read more about this mindset on our blog post Now Where How

Man on the Moon

The Man on the Moon principle shows how breaking goals down into milestones helps make big goals achievable.

In 1961, JFK announced his goal of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth before the end of the decade – a massive goal at a time when most people hadn’t even been on an aeroplane.

To make this goal achievable, there were certain milestones which needed to be achieved along the way.

To get to the moon, they needed to lift off, orbit, reach the moon’s atmosphere, then land on the moon.

And to complete the goal, they had to lift off from the moon, reach and enter the Earth’s atmosphere, then land safely back to Earth.

Each milestone would have actions to achieve. For example, and this is for the David Bowie fans out there, to achieve lift off, they took the protein pills, put their helmets on, commenced countdown and checked the ignition.

Rocks, Pebbles and Sand

The Rocks, Pebbles and Sand mindset gives a great framework to use to work out our annual priorities, 90 day goals and actions we ned to take. We need to use these three components in the right order.

The rocks are our end goals – the goals we want to achieve by the end of the year. The pebbles are the sub-goals which contribute to the annual goals. The sand represents the actions we need to take to achieve those goals.

If we first try to fill up our vessel with our daily actions, it fills up to a certain point. Then we add in our pebbles and there’s no room left for our rocks.

It’s important to start with the end goal in mind – first fill the vessel with your rocks – the most important things you need to achieve in your business in the next 12 months. Then, think about the pebbles – the sub-goals you need to achieve. Finally, you can add the sand. That way, your focus is on the right things first, we’re clear on what we’re doing on a day to day basis because it’s being driven by the rocks we’ve set.

With Rocks, Pebbles and Sand in mind, what are some actions you’ve been filling your vessel up with first, which might not be helping you achieve your pebbles and rocks? Hit the chat pane with these. It’s likely a lot of these actions can be delegated to others to free up space in your vessel for your goals.

SMART Goals

By developing SMART goals, we’re more likely to achieve them as we know exactly what we need to do and when we need to do it by.

First, make sure your goals are specific and describe exactly what needs to be achieved.

Next, they need to be measurable – there must be a metric with a target so you know when you’ve achieve your goal.

They also need to be achievable – something that will challenge and motivate you but that is realistic to achieve in your timeframe.

Next, it needs to be relevant.

Finally, it needs to be time-bound, with a deadline for achieving the goal.

Let’s take a look at an example of a goal to become more confident at public speaking.

To make it specific and measurable, let’s say the goal is to confidently present to a group of 20 people for 20 minutes without using speaker notes. This is definitely achievable, unless they have an extreme fear of public speaking. Being able to confidently speak in public is highly relevant to everyone, whether it’s speaking to a group of clients or speaking at your son or daughter’s wedding. Lastly, lets make it time-bound by setting a date for the event.

How about we take this one step further and make our goals SMART-ER?

In this case, the E could stand for Ethical or Enjoyable and the R could stand for Review or Reward. You can define what the E and the R mean to you. These elements are designed to push your achievements even further.

Please do get in touch if you would like to find out how we can help your business.