Begin With The End In Mind

You have probably heard this before (Stephen Covey), in different focuses of life, it can mean different things throughout your journey but the greater message is often not one that we think of when we are going through our day-to-day functions of life or business. In fact, quite literally it can feel quite final. The end. Like a good book or a great movie that you didn’t want to end, or a relationship cut short that you can’t revisit. You may have mixed emotions about endings.

But when we are in planning modes, we must consider what we want an ending to look like. We must have a vision of a time when we have created something and then a path to achieve that. Maybe it’s a widget of some sort, a company, a level of service, a family, something someone has never envisioned before. How do we create that vision for ourselves, then for someone else, then execute? Along that path, there are many small endings, recalibrations, and a pursuit to the next ending (or goal).

In our coaching business, this is ofter an obstacle that leaders and companies have to overcome. It manifests as TWO frequent challenges.

The first challenge is creating a vision for others. A vision that others can see themselves in and allows them to fit in where THEY feel comfortable, not where leadership wants to put them.

The second challenge is breaking that end goal into functional pieces (behaviors) that are attainable in smaller chunks. We call them leading indicators (also referred to as near-term indicators). The leading indicator allows the leadership to see, know, feel, and live in the goal and then make daily tasks that each team member needs to do within their role to make the goal happen at an elite level. These shouldn't leave your employees feeling overwhelmed by items that don’t make sense to them and aren’t relevant to them. Leading indicators also have the ability to be modified to meet the abilities of your ultra performers without allowing them to feel the weight of their entire teams on their shoulders and causing burnout.

The human potential has no upward boundary so who are we to set it for our teams? As leaders, we should be there to set the expectation, inspect what we expect, and watch what we have built grow. Our employees are our greatest asset but can be our greatest loss if we don’t utilize them for what they bring to the table.

The movie that we all sat through that ended up with a great cliffhanger and had us sitting in the theater, staring at the end screen credits wanting more? Why does that leave you wanting more but your employees don’t ever have that feeling about the fulfillment of their job/ role? Can you imagine an elite culture that leaves your employees with that feeling? The infinite possibilities of what lies ahead?

If you can say your culture is lacking that elite culture, go back and ask yourself if you have a vision so clear for your people there is room for them to fit in where THEY want. Ask yourself if you have that end goal broken down to leading indicators that are allowing your teams to perform to an elite level month over month, year over year. If you answered no to either or both of those questions, reach out to our coaching coordinators and schedule a consult.

Your teams are capable, you have to be the type of leader to enable them. The reality is that teams function differently under different leadership and without a team, you can not lead. Are you leading your team or losing them? Are you the type of leader that knows how to accurately answer these two questions? We look forward to hearing the answers to these questions. Begin with the end in mind…. So where is your business ending next?

#breathelifein #oxygencoachinggroup #coachkat #leadingindicators #behaviors

Kat founded a business coaching firm in 2017, Oxygen Equestrian (d.b.a. Oxygen Coaching Group) that originally focused on body language and life skills and has transformed to include executive coaching, sales training, and accountability coaching. Programs are designed to make anyone from the professional to the side hustler, more productive, more aware, and a better employer. Kat's is a guest blogger and has been published on the e-publication Publish. Learn more about her animals, kids, and philanthropy at oxygencoachingroup.com and sign up for a free coaching session.