Do you really know what will make the difference for you? your team and or your organisation?
Do you really care?
When I talk about what makes a difference I see it as interlocking cogs like those that you might find on the back of a clock. When the interlocking cogs work at there best its amazing what happens. Sometimes a cog or two might need a bit more oil to make it work at its best. Recognising areas for cog development and of course then making the conscious effort to make the move, which tends to be the hardest bit, can really assist with making progress.
These thoughts come from my days of studying sports science. When you look at enhancing the performance of a muscle or a body there are some key things that will make it work at its best. These get identified and then worked on. If we take two athletes going for the same event — do they have the same training programme? I doubt it. From nutrition to flexibility, to the need to work on strength versus speed there will be differences to optimise that particular athlete.
Leaders, teams and organisations are no different.
So what are your cogs to success?
What are the unique ‘things’ cogs that will make the difference for you, your team and your organisation. At the very high level there may be a theme for example communication, purpose of the team, strategy, application leadership, collaboration, innovation…. but what are your key cogs and how are you managing their strengths and limitations?
One place to start is by identifying your cogs.
So how can you identify your cogs?
Here is one option for individuals and teams:
- Ask yourself , the team — what is the difference that will make the difference?
These differences can be your cogs. For obvious reasons, if you change tack or doing something completely different you will need to go through the exercise again to ensure you are developing the right cogs.
Its great to get others involved here so you can bounce off your thoughts and stay on track. This could be in the form of a coach, mentor, friend, colleague. then look at:
when you have this list then
2. Identify success stories when you have demonstrated any on your list and how you feel about them now. Do any of them need more oil i.e. more development / support / care? If so how can you get that quickly and bring into your daily work routine?
3. Create a plan as to how you will develop areas and build on your strengths
4. Identify how best you can keep accountable for your development and progress towards building and maintaining your cogs
5. Identify a time in your diary when you will check your own performance data and then check if you have the right cogs in development and if not make adjustments.
Time is at such a premium we tend not to make the time to find out what is going to make the difference or if we do we only skim the surface. Its like we are on a conveyor belt and every now and again we might grab something from the side to hope it will make things easier or better. However when we truly know what is going to make us better the results and make a conscious effort to work towards them the uplift in progress is amazing.
Where are you at?
How about share your stories — please get in touch if you’d like to talk through where you are at.
