Not too long ago I had the chance to re-read The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni.
I love this book. It is simple
yet powerful and provides great advice and solutions for all business leaders
and organizations.
One main point emphasized in the book that’d like to focus on today is
the difference between smart and healthy organizations. As explained in the book, a smart
organization has great intelligence and expertise which is demonstrated through
excellence in products, marketing, strategy, and in other ways. They often have sophisticated systems,
processes, and policies that help them to be successful and do business. A healthy organization on the other hand is
one that has minimal politics and confusion.
Team members are productive, engaged, and the moral is high because
people know what is most important and understand how they contribute to the
overall good of the group. As explained
in the book, great organizations are both smart and healthy!
Unfortunately many organizations focus on only being smart. So much so that nearly all of their efforts
and resources are given to this endeavor—to be a smart organization. With the advancement of technology,
information sharing, and global competition, being smart has become easier and
easier to learn, obtain, and duplicate.
Thus its value and competitive advantage has diminished. Simply being smart isn’t good enough for a company
to thrive or even in many cases survive.
A company must also be healthy.
Healthy organizations are unique.
While it is becoming more and more common that competitors are smart it
isn’t necessarily the case when it comes to becoming healthy. Some reasons are because most can learn to be
smart with some effort and time. Additionally,
business leaders are taught and are most familiar and comfortable with using
data and viewing the world in hard measurable outcomes which lends itself to becoming smart. Finally striving to become smart is natural, logical,
defined, and expected for all organizations.
This is not always the case with becoming healthy. Unfortunately, the
impact of organizational health is hard to quantify and sometimes even feels
awkward or inane when talked openly among those in the business world. Because it is so difficult to measure it
becomes unclear how to value it and even how to obtain it so most determine not
to focus on it. Though the complete
impact of health may be difficult to measure it doesn’t take away from the obvious
competitive advantage an organization with low employee turnover and high
morale offers.
As an example, when we think about personal health it helps us to
understand how important and valuable organizational health can be. Assuming that each of us has been sick before
in our life, I believe each of us would agree it is miserable. When we are sick typically we have lower
energy and strength to get things done.
Our ability to concentrate diminishes and our desire and motivation to
do anything more than we absolutely have to is sucked right out of us. We no longer want to or even have the ability
to put forth our best effort and give it our all. On the flip side when we are feeling healthy
we are able to do more, think clearer, work harder, and we are so much happier
and willing to put forth our best effort.
Those feelings that we have when we are ill are often similar to
feelings many people have who work for an unhealthy organization. Perhaps you’ve experienced this before. Thus
organizations that are healthy are able to perform at much higher levels in the
long-run than unhealthy ones. Health is
priceless when it comes to our personal lives and it is for organizations too.
The
Advantage points out that being healthy as an
organization is much more important than being smart simply because a healthy
organization is very likely to become smart whereas a smart one has no greater
or lesser chance of becoming healthy. Therefore
much of an organization’s resources and efforts should focus on being healthy.
And
that’s it, the “advantage” spoken of in the book is just this, having a healthy
organization. And though striving for
health is relatively simple, free, and available to anyone who wants it, it is
often over looked. Being healthy or
striving to become healthy should be a lifelong endeavor and will be an
invaluable and extremely rewarding pursuit for any organization. As leaders, we can help every organization we
become a part to be healthier by learning and implementing even a few
strategies found in The Advantage. I can think of no greater cause for a leader
or for an organization than to strive for health.
“Have a
clear vision of your future self and then behave today in a way that will allow
you to become that person.” Anonymous
Recently I was speaking with a friend of mine who has the opportunity to
work with youth on a regular basis.
During our chat he mentioned how in conversations with them they’d often
express their dreams and desires for the future such as going to a prestigious
university, graduating with honors, having a family, and obtaining a successful
and prestigious career yet he noticed that many of their current actions and behaviors
were completely contradictory to what they claimed they ultimately desired. This frustrated my friend and so he was
trying to figure out a way he could help these youth understand where their
current actions may lead them and how their actions today would determine who
they’d become tomorrow.
Much like these youth, as adults we often do the exact same
thing. We say we want certain things in
our life but then we do things that will never help us accomplish them. Unfortunately,
often what we truly want in life is completely unattainable, not because we are
incapable of accomplishing it, but because of our current choices.
Let’s us a simple example. We
may say we want complete financial independence by a certain age in life but
then we keep doing our same job, spend our entire pay check each month on frivolous
things, and do very little during our free time to improve ourselves or our
financial situation. In these instances
our actions, much like the youth my friend works with, are completely contrary
to our stated desire. Rather than change our behaviors and begin to do things
differently, we act as if we believe one day our desires will magically appear
on our door step.
I believe a big reason this phenomenon happens so frequently with all
of us is because we fail to have a clear vision of ourselves. We can articulate what we want for the future
but our focus remains on the here and now.
Rather than believing and seeing our future selves and what we
ultimately desire, we focus only on our current self and simply do what makes
us feel good right at this moment. Sure
we hope for the best yet we continually put off the often difficult things that
will help us accomplish our goals. Instead
of sacrificing a little now we begin to deceive ourselves by believing we can keep
postponing our efforts for a later day. After
awhile we even sometimes begin to believe that success and failure in life is merely
a matter of chance and we start to lose hope.
And before we know it, we end up some place we never wanted or thought
we’d be.
Using the earlier example, if we can change and begin to truly see
ourselves as someone who is financially independent, we will then begin to act
like it. Whereas a lack of vision leads
us down the road of redundancy as we continue to do the same things over and
over again acting as if someday what we desire will one day just appear, having
a clear vision of our future selves helps us to begin to take the necessary
steps to get to where we want to go.
Decisions become easier when we can see exactly who we want to be.
Having a clear vision of our future self is a powerful way to reach
our potential and become our best self. So how does your future self look? And are you doing things that will allow you
to become that person? As we hold a
clear picture of our future self in our mind we will begin to change those actions
that are contradictory to our vision and will replace them with actions that
support who we want to become. Only in
this way will we be able to move forward and accomplish the great things in
life we desire most.
I love the New Year. It is an opportunity
to reflect, plan, and start with a refreshed look on life. It is a time to rededicate and recommit
ourselves to becoming our best while striving to reach our full potential. It is a time of renewed hope and anticipation
for that which is to come.
Recently I was asked what I thought about the new trendy “one word”
resolution. If you haven’t heard about
this let me briefly explain. Rather than
writing down wordy resolutions or reaching for an insurmountable number of
them, we simply pick one word to define our year. This word would act like our theme for the
year and we’d do things to help us become more of what that word means to us. Some examples I’ve heard include “healthy”, “faith”,
“balanced”, “courage”, and “resilient”. The
idea again is to pick one word that will define our focus for the year.
This idea reminds me of the “three word” vision, a similar trendy idea
that has developed in the business world and has spread to other areas of
life. Like the one word resolution the
three word vision statement is designed to be clear, concise, and direct. Its purpose is to provide focus and avoid
confusion.
Like the three word vision I think the one word resolution is great! It is easy to remember, simple to understand,
and doesn’t feel, sound, or seem unreachable or overwhelming. The one word resolution is designed to help
us be better and I believe can be very motivating. So in my mind anything that can help inspire
us to be better is a good thing. And I
do really love the focus and power the one word resolution can potentially
provide to many of us.
With that being said I’d add one small cautionary note. The one word resolution may not be for
everyone. If it doesn’t feel right to
you and you have another way of approaching resolutions and achieving them then
keep doing that. Like almost everything,
I rarely believe there is a “one size fits all” solution. If a one word resolution doesn’t seem helpful
to you then don’t worry about it. In the
end each of us needs to do what we believe works for us and what we feel is
right. If we haven’t found a good
strategy yet or are unsure on how we should approach resolutions this year then
perhaps trying the one word resolution in 2015 is a great idea.
I’m excited about the New Year and feel it will be a great one, I hope
you do too! Whether it is a one word or a
multiple word resolution you prefer, the most important thing is that each of
us is setting goals that help us reach our full potential and become who we
want to become in 2015. It’s a New Year—a
fresh start…let’s do this!
This was
originally posted 1/1/2009
Stop! Don't Make that New Year's Resolution!
Recently I read an interesting news article about
New Year’s resolutions. In it, a goal and motivation expert argued that we
should forget about New Year’s resolutions because they don’t work. His argument
was based on research that suggests that most people give up on their
resolutions by the end of January and then can’t even remember what they were
by June! For this reason, the article argues that our resolutions may not be
worth the time and effort we put in to them.
Fortunately, this article was not all depressing. In fact it also offered some unique
suggestions on how we can increase our chances of actually accomplishing goals.
One of the biggest mistakes each of us makes when setting New Year’s
resolutions is we often focus on something negative such as losing weight.
Staring at a goal that focuses on something negative or something that may seem
nearly impossible to us, can and may actually decrease our motivation to
accomplish it. Instead, the article indicates our goals should be more positive
such as living a healthy lifestyle. This may essentially be the same goal as
losing weight, but because of the way it is worded it can empower and motivate
us. The article also suggests it is much easier moving toward something such as
creating a good habit of having a healthy lifestyle rather than away from
something such as giving up a bad one. Thus, when creating goals, we must focus
on the positive!
The next suggestion from the article is to think about what life will be like
when we accomplish the goal. If my goal is to become a millionaire this year,
then I must imagine what that will be like, what it will feel like, and why it
is my goal. Once we can envision what it will be like to reach our goal, the
article suggests we should start acting like the goal is already a reality.
Using our earlier example, I don’t believe this means I should go out and start
spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, but instead I need to start making
choices and decisions like a true successful millionaire would make and that
may actually mean saving more. The article proposes that to help us accomplish
our goal, we should try to start feeling, thinking, and acting like our goal is
a reality.
The final suggestion from the article is we need to have a life plan based on
our personal dreams—instead of simply making yearly resolutions. We must
continually analyze what our big dreams are and how we plan to accomplish them.
Indeed, our actions must be motivated by big dreams we truly believe we can
achieve.
In the end, the article demands that we not only dream bigger but also that our
dreams remain more positive. By doing this, we will be more successful in
realizing our goals in life. My hope and wish is that each of us may have a
prosperous, happy, and rewarding New Year full of success and big, positive
goals!
*Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article46645.html
Originally Posted 1/7/2009
Do
Make that New Year's Resolution!
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental
attitude from achieving his goal.”
Thomas Jefferson
Last week I wrote about an article that suggested we should not make New Year’s
resolutions, because the success rate of actually accomplishing the resolutions
is extremely low. Though I agreed with much of what the author was explaining,
I did disagree with the idea that setting resolutions is a waste of time.
Though statistics show the success rate of actually following through with New
Year’s resolutions is low, it does not mean everyone fails. Thus, if even a
small percentage succeeds, to me, it is worth the effort!
Being among those who succeed in achieving New Year’s resolutions really comes
down to a choice. Do we have the discipline to set goals and then really strive
to achieve them each day? Do we believe we can accomplish our resolutions
despite the research that indicates most don’t? Each day this year we have the
opportunity to choose to accomplish our resolutions or not, regardless of what
the majority of others may be doing. Though it will not be easy, we can be
different! I truly believe that despite the research, each of us has the
capacity to carry out our New Year’s goals. To help us achieve our resolutions
this year, I have three simple strategies that will ensure success in working
towards our goals for 20[15].
#1 Plan
First, we must have a plan or a vision for accomplishing our goals. As the old
adage goes, “failing to plan, is planning to fail.” As we prepare to establish
New Year’s resolutions we must come up with a plan on how we will go about
accomplishing them. Often people fail from the beginning; because they set a
goal, but they do not plan how they will accomplish it. Think about what steps
you will take, what help you will we need, what time you will set aside, what
changes you will need to make immediately in your life to be successful.
Planning ahead and thinking about what accomplishing a certain goal will
require will help us to set good, achievable resolutions this year. Determining
how we will track our progress on a daily basis is also an important part of a
plan. (There are many simple, easy, and great tools that can help you track
your goals. For an example, please see http://www.joesgoals.com.)
In the end, when we establish a plan along with a goal, our potential to
succeed quickly rises.
#2 Effort
Hopefully this is stating the obvious but if we are to be successful in
accomplishing our New Year’s resolutions, then we must be willing to put forth
effort. It is not enough to simply want to make an effort, we must actually
make the effort! We must remember it is in the doing and not just the planning
in which we accomplish our goals. This means starting today and then continuing
each day thereafter to put forth some effort. There will undoubtedly come hard
times when it may seem impossible to accomplish our goals, but this is when we
must put forth extra effort to ensure success. Though putting forth effort is
not always fun and easy, it will be worth it in the end. Giving our best effort
will allow us to be successful.
#3 Faith
Finally, we must have the confidence and faith in ourselves that we can
accomplish our goals. We cannot allow opposition or setbacks to overwhelm us,
but instead we need to go to work each day with the faith that we will succeed.
We can also expect ups and downs during the year, but as long as we keep hoping
and believing, we will succeed. Truly learning to believe in ourselves and in
our ability to accomplish great things, will significantly increase our ability
to obtain our goals.
Though many will allow New Year’s resolutions to fall to the way-side, we don’t
have to! With a plan, some effort, and a lot of faith, we can and will be among
those who actually accomplish their goals this year. Let’s not follow the
crowds or the traditional trends, let’s be different—let’s accomplish our goals
this year!
