A young aspiring jeweler heard of a well-established watchmaker in the neighboring village. The young jeweler visited the old expert and proclaimed, “I am absolutely dedicated to becoming the best watchmaker in the land. How long will it take for me to master the art of watchmaking, as you have done?
The wise watchmaker reflected for a moment and then said, “Ten years.”
The young jeweler countered impatiently, “But I want to master it faster than that. I will work extremely hard. I will commit ten or more hours every day if I must; how long will it take then?”
The watchmaker thought for a moment and said, “20 years.”
Speed is important, but not at any cost. Being fast can be shallow and short-lived if purpose and the value you intend to provide is missing.
Power your 2022 journey through purpose and value creation!
Enjoy your January news2use.
Regards,
Dan
“Relevant & pragmatic ideas, tools and insights to play at your best.”
For You
Resilient Resolutions
What is the lifespan of your resolutions?
Only 8 out of 100 people keep and achieve their new year’s resolutions. If you are struggling to be a part of this elite group, here are five ideas that will DRAMATICALLY increase your resolution resilience:
1-Write your resolution, goal, or promise down on paper.
2-Ask yourself why this resolution is important to you, rank it on a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high). If it is not an 8 or above, or it’s important to other people, but not to you, reformate this resolution until it speaks to you.
3-Write down what this future state looks like after you have followed through and achieved it.
4-Share your resolutions publicly with those who “see you in action”.
5-Ask someone who you respect and trust to check in with you and help hold you accountable to your resolutions.
There is nothing more important for a leader than to keep his or her promise, yet if we do not keep the promise, we make to ourselves, how can we keep the promise with make with others?
Set the example you expect of others start by making your resolutions more resilient.
For You & Your Team
Have you and your team created a storyboard that describes your success this year?
Storyboarding is the process of producing sketches of your team journey this year. The end result could look like an extended process visual or a type of team comic book of the year ahead.
Why is storyboarding an effective team enabler, you might ask?
It helps your team anticipate what is ahead of you, encouraging everyone to think and act more strategically.
Storyboarding encourages the team to confront the challenging or complex situations they need to manage in the year ahead.
A storyboard tells a story. Team members can often rattle off goals or business statistics without tying it to a story. While facts tell us what happened, a story tells us why it matters.
Secondly, a storyboard is visual, and our brain processes visual content 60,000 times faster than text messages. We all know the saying, “a picture is work a thousand words” yet only highly effective teams put this into practice.
You don’t have to have a Spielberg, Fassbinder, or Petersen to create a powerful team storyboard, just some time, good teamwork, and your imagination.
For You, Your Team & Your Business
Are you surprised or disappointed because people cannot explain or do not understand the company strategy?
When people do not understand or cannot communicate the company strategy with one voice, it reflects negatively on the senior leadership team, prevents your business from acting strategically, and can damage your customer experiences.
The strategy diamond helps you craft concise and consistent messages so that everyone understands and communicates the same strategy. I share how this works in a recent Norenberg’s Ninety Seconds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5SKXawETjA
People, Places & Technology
How can you avoid becoming part of these strategy statistics?
Less than 20% of formulated strategy is executed successfully. Only 5% of employees say they understand their company’s strategy. Less than 10% of leaders surveyed are confident that they will achieve 80-100% of their strategy’s objectives.
Consider a strategy refresher to ensure that your leadership team and organization get a solid strategic start. This two-day strategy session (Virtual or F2F) enables you and your leadership team to:
-Sharpen what strategy is in your organization & how to create strategy consensus
-Accelerate the exchange and takeaways of your best and broken strategy practices
-Identify the foundations to accelerate strategic excellence
-Define what really makes a difference and what is important to let go of.
If you want to get your strategy moving in the right direction, let’s talk about this.
Thought for the Day
if you want it badly enough.
You can be anything you want to be,
do anything you set out to accomplish
if you hold to that desire
with singleness of purpose.”
–Abraham Lincoln