Achieving Goals

Every year, millions of people will embark on a new journey to set New Year’s Resolutions.  Organizations will set new strategic goals.  Also, every year people and companies will both FAIL… again!

One key reason is that most people and organizations, have never established their core values, written a mission or vision statement.  As an individual, if you don’t know what your values are, then it is hard to get passionate about new goals.  As an organization, if your people don’t have a clue what your mission is then it is difficult for them to get engaged around your new company goals.  Consider reading a previous post titled, The 5 Stages of Performance Improvement.

It is important to re-visit your list of values, mission, vision and goals often.  If you don’t, it is easy to fall off track.  If you visit them too late, it may be difficult to achieve the goal.  Overtime, you and your people will lose confidence in themselves and in you as a leader.  Remember, at the end of the day, the success or failure of an organization depends on its leaders. 

Are you inspiring trust in the teams that you lead?  Are you executing your goals with precision year after year?  Are you unleashing the talent of the people that you have hired?  If the answer was “No” to any one of those questions, then consider making one of your goals to meet with your Client Partner in January of 2012.  I imagine you’ll be pleasantly surprised as to how FranklinCovey can help you create Predictable Results the coming year and beyond.

To your success in 2012!

Sincerely,

John Vakidis

Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey

214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com

PS - Do you lead an organization of at least 150 people?  If so, consider being my guest at our upcoming showcase, Creating a Culture of Execution on Feb 7^th in Dallas.

Roles

Last week I wrote a blog titled, What is low productivity costing you?  My goal of writing that blog was to get leaders thinking about their workforce and to determine if they are really getting the most out of their teams.  When individuals don’t perform at their highest levels, it actually costs the organization.

This week, I want to write this post for individuals and get them thinking about how they can contribute more in 2012, but not just for work, but in all the other areas of their lives.  So let’s take a moment to think about how we can do that.

So let me ask you a question, “Who are you?”  How did you answer that question?  My guess is that you responded from the context of a role.  You might have said, I am a spouse, a parent, an employee, etc.  In our newest program, The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity, Dean Collinwood, Ph.D., explains…. Even when people give a list of personality traits in response to that question, such as “I am shy,” or, “I am a fun-loving person,” those traits are always acted out in the context of roles.

Defining your roles with meaning is what makes all of the difference!

For example, I can call myself …

A.      a parent -  one that begets or brings forth offspring.

B.      a father - a man who raises a child.

C.      Asher’s Role Model - I will show Asher how to THINK to make good choices.  I will guide him to BE a leader and how to DO relationship.  I will show patience with him through love and guidance.

HOW I define my role will determine the actions I take towards that relationship.  Our society can label us: male or female, black or white, rich or poor, etc., but when we become intentional about  WHO we want to be, we can achieve extraordinary things. 

So, I am going to leave you with a challenge.  Before the new year arrives, take 30 minutes of time to reflect in a quiet environment.  I want you to come up with 4-6 roles you have in your life.  First, I want you to give them standard titles.  For example, I am a father, a husband, a servant leader, an employee, a family member and a friend.  Secondly, I want you to re-define those roles.  For father, I replaced it with Asher’s Role Model.  Once you have done that for each title, take some time to define them from the context of what it would be like to be extraordinary in that role.

If you do this exercise, and establish weekly goals for each of your roles, you can live an amazing life and have enduring relationships.  To wrap it all up, a wise man once told me that life is about choices and relationships.  So, be intentional and live a rich and full life!

To your victory in 2012!

John Vakidis
Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey
214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com