Peter Barron Stark Companies Helping CEOs, Managers & HR Professionals

From January 2010 Quest

For the last 20 years, we have had the privilege of working with thousands of leaders. Leaders who are passionate about life and love what they do to earn their living. Leaders who are CEO’s, managers and supervisors representing all types of organizations and industries.

What is important to note is that each of the leaders we have worked with and every one of us who is reading this article are equally fortunate in one way: we are all blessed with the same amount of time each day. Everyone has the exact same 1,440 minutes each day and 365 days each year. Although we are all granted the same amount of time in a day, some people accomplish a lot more in their time than others do.

How are these people able to accomplish so much more?

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Step Five: Write the Goal

The research on high achievers shows that successful goal setters write out their goals. There is something almost magical about writing down goals. Without writing down the goal, it is merely an idea or a wish. Writing it down helps to bring it to life.

Here is a simple, yet effective guideline for writing good goals. It is called the S-M-A-R-T model. Each letter of the S-M-A-R-T model refers to a characteristic of effective goals:

Specific. Good goals are specific. They detail exactly what is to be accomplished. Don’t be vague or general. Write out specifically what is to be accomplished.

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Step Three: Identify Roadblocks

Now that you have identified your vision and you know what it will take to achieve by outlining key actions or goals, you can begin to identify the barriers or roadblocks that may get in your way. It may sound negative to spend your time and energy thinking about barriers or problems, but there are two good reasons for this. First, if you are able to think about what problems could stop you, you can also begin to generate plans to get around the problems if they should arise. And second, when they do come up, they do not paralyze you. Many people have had their goals undermined when problems surfaced. Sometimes people will even tell you they thought the problems would arise.

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Step One: Create a Vision

To start the visioning process, you must get in touch with your true desire. What is important to you? What matters? What do you care about? What do you really want? A vision comes from the heart. It must be truly meaningful to you.

Create a mental picture of what you want. The visioning process requires quiet reflection. Step back from your busy, fast paced environment and relax. Visioning requires imagery and creativity. The more relaxed you are and the farther away you are from day to day tensions, the easier it is to create and visualize. Many people have a difficult time creating a vision because that vision may be so far removed from reality. Yet, it is that very distance or gap between the vision and current reality that propels you toward achieving the vision.

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One Manager Questions the Value of a Vision

During a recent leadership seminar, a participant stated that he felt this “Vision” thing was highly overrated. He went on to add that although it may have value for the executives to create a vision for the organization, there is little value for managers or supervisors to create their own visions.

To define the term concisely, a vision is a clear mental picture of a desired future outcome. A vision is like the picture on a jigsaw puzzle box. It shows you exactly what you are trying to create. Call it a vision, mission, purpose, philosophy, or values…the labels vary, but they usually describe the same thing: the overarching purpose of an organization. Some organizations even give employees laminated copies of these carefully crafted, highly worded sentiments, which get placed in a wallet or purse, or better yet, are used as the bookmark for the corporate policy manual.

The problem with the “vision” thing is twofold. First, some organizations do not have a clear vision of where they are heading. Second, other organizations have a stated vision, but they are not living the vision or bringing it to reality. Both of these problems will cause motivation, morale, and productivity to decline.

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Invest in Employee Engagement: it will prove worth your while

The buzz word most associated with employee satisfaction these days is “engagement.” As recently as two years ago we were writing about the impending talent drain, as boomers would be leaving the workplace in masses for retirement. We stressed the importance of creating a workplace where employees would feel motivated, enthused and most importantly, “engaged.”

That was two years ago. Today the whole business landscape has changed. As of December 2009, California’s unemployment rate is 12.1%. Massive layoffs have had a profound impact on not only the way we do business, but on the employees who are left shell-shocked after layoffs, wondering if and when the axe may fall on them. We’re not hearing the word “engaged” much these days as it relates to employees. In fact, some leaders have been so bold as to say, “I really don’t care what employees think and how they feel. They have a job and should be grateful to have survived the last round of cuts.”

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