Greetings to you on this morning!
"Leaders Learn to Heed the Voice Within"
Our performance results are determined by what we finish, not by what we start with. Whether it's diet and fitness, investments, leadership development, or organization change and improvement efforts, many people search for the quick and easy technique or approach. The truth is the easiest improvement fad doesn't create a quick transformation.
Improvement faddists are like the medieval alchemists who searched in vain for a formula to turn base metals into gold. But what's most important to improvement isn't what's new. It's what works. Ultimately, it’s our improvement action that determines our performance results. The effectiveness of that action hinges upon our follow-through and "stick-to-itiveness."
Our learning and development is highly dependent on our habits of performance review, assessment, and reflection. Many individuals, teams, and organizations have a limited or faulty understanding of what's working, what's not, and why.
When we don't know how we’re doing, we can't improve. Yet so many times we fail to periodically review and assess our progress. This makes about as much sense as setting off on the high seas for a faraway destination and then ignoring instruments, stars, or maps to determine that our ship is still on course. Failing to periodically review and assess is one of the major reasons so many improvement efforts lose their way.
It’s essential, periodically one needs to get away from the daily flurry of activities, step back, and look at the bigger picture. We need to reassess if we're on the right track or if we're making a good time — in the wrong direction. We need to look at our full improvement effort and discuss, debate, and decide, if it has the right focus, priorities, approaches, and the like. We need to celebrate progress and reenergize everyone to push forward even harder. And we need to set new plans and directions for the next stage of our improvement process.
Have a great day ahead and start taking one step back to just think where are we going and then march forward with a full swing!
Stay tuned: Next Post will be on Emphasising a Culture of Balance.