Do you ever wonder how successful people consistently achieve their goals? Have you unlocked why you achieve certain goals while others fall short? Do you want to transform goals to achievements?
Many companies start the new year with new goals and aspirations, some of the most common being:
- Reduce Costs
- Retain Clients
- Increase Profits
- Improve Employee Safety
- Improve Employee Morale
The most common mistake companies make in outlining such objectives, however, is not providing enough details and specifics. This ambiguity is often at the root of most failed goals, but it is not the cause. Most of us have heard of “writing down” our goals or cutting out pictures of the visions of our successes and making a “collage” and posting it, where we can see it every day and remind ourselves of where we want to go. This practice may seem impressive, but it doesn’t ensure that we will be successful because we haven’t focused on the most important factor . . . HUMAN NATURE!
As Chip and Dan Heath wrote in their book Switch, when significant change is involved in accomplishing your goals, you must appeal to both sides of the brain:
- Emotional
- Rational
AND, you must influence all three of these areas:
- Environment
- Heart
- Mind
Most of the changes we’re referring to require a significant adjustment in behavior. If you don’t allow for this, you are doomed to fail, and HUMAN NATURE is such that it resists these changes. An example would be the common goal of weight loss. Anyone can eat just fruit and veggies for one or two meals and maybe even one or two days, but eventually the sheer willpower needed to continue on this path will wear off and “poof” there goes that plan! What’s essential for success is appealing to these two sides of the brain: Emotional and Rational. The Rational side tells us it makes “sense” to do something. The Emotional side ACTUALLY does it.
A few years ago I met John, a client, and he was in the midst of dealing with a major challenge in his business. John had maintained a successful plumbing business that he started by himself when he was just seventeen years old. From humble beginnings, John found something he was good at and kept doing it. As the years went by, he added one employee at a time, and before he turned around, he had more than eighty people working for him, and sales exceeding $10 million per year! The problem was that John was working at least eighteen hours a day and constantly chasing many aspects of his business. John’s company completely lacked efficient systems and a cohesive structure, and while he was “successful,” he was also “exhausted.” He knew that this pace was unsustainable. Something had to change or he would have health problems or have to sell the business. John finally turned to taking on a partner, Anthony, to run the “accounting and operational” sides of the business, which was certainly a step in the right direction. It was just the beginning, however, for he had only dealt with one of the areas necessary for significant change: Mind. In fact, he never changed the environment. All his employees and culture remained the same, and he also never changed his heart. He saw his new partner as a “magic bullet.” John continued to do business and manage his operations exactly the same way. His attitudes and operating behavior never changed and, accordingly, Anthony was constantly putting out fires and looking backward at what wasn’t working and what was wrong, and never had a chance to build to the future and restructure. Ultimately, John was defeating his own partner and goals because he wasn’t fully committed to change.
Without appealing to BOTH sides, when the going gets tough, the “emotional side” will get going and leave all “rational” thought behind by falling back into the habits that feel comfortable.
The 3 Essential Keys to transform goals to achievements :
- Specifically direct the Rational part of the brain by scripting the initial steps in the new work process along with a clearly outlined step-by-step process (a decision tree of sorts).
- Then motivate the Emotional part of the brain by being specific in the GOAL and what the goal LOOKS and FEELS like. Doing this will empower the emotional side of the brain when the tough and challenging times come. And they will come! You need to realize that the challenges and almost “failures” will happen, but be aware that they are not “failures”—rather, they represent the education that is needed to perfect these changes.
- Shape the path that will direct the team through the challenges along the way and what guiding principles are needed to stay on track.
All in all:
The START is scripted. The GOAL is specific on how it will feel and look. The path between START and GOAL is impossible to know completely, so you must have your guiding principles in place and stay on the PATH.
I spend most of my time helping companies deal with a very common challenge —employee injuries and the claims associated with them. This problem is even more common for such industries as construction, manufacturing, healthcare, and transportation, where the simple act of opening their doors to do business involves an innate “risk” associated with practically every aspect of their work. These companies certainly don’t want their employees to get hurt, nor do they want the added expense that goes along with paying for the medical care and lost wages associated with these injuries. If I were to merely indicate how much it’s costing them, I would only be appealing to the Rational side of their brain. Conversely, if I were to only explain that these injured employees have families, I would only be stating the obvious—no one wants to hurt someone’s family. I would only be appealing to the Emotional sIde of their brain. At Metropolitan Risk, we use a series of analytics to determine:
- What is currently happening and identifying any trends—FACTS
- What it’s costing you—RATIONAL
- What opportunity/opportunities are available to you to handle these issues—EMOTIONAL
- What you need to do—ACTION PLAN & LEADERSHIP = SHAPE THE PATH
