Focus

​In the March Beacon we talked about your big three strategic moves which you should make in the 3-5-year timeframe, and how if you try to achieve more than three goals, you will actually complete fewer than if you just went for three.

Well, now we are executing - down in the 1-year timeframe - and you need to take that focus and put it on steroids. Business As Usual, all the “normal” stuff you need to do to transact business on a day by day basis, will expand to use up every minute of work-time if you let it. It is the enemy of strategic execution and will kill it unless you establish a couple of disciplines in your work life.

​Business As Usual, ... will expand to use up every minute of work time if you let it.

To have any chance of success, you must limit your strategic projects to two or three. When I introduce this concept to clients, I often get a vibe that goes something like, “Yeah, that might be the case for mere mortals, but I can multi-task” (they can’t) or “I’m more motivated than everyone else, (they aren’t) I’m going for six”. Three months later they have to admit they took on too much. Focus.
 
Take your 3-5-year Strategic Moves and figure out how much of each one you can achieve over the course of one year.
 
Now, in the one-year space we need to be more specific than in the strategic timeframes. We want 1-Year Actions that start with a meaningful verb like “complete”, “develop”, or “design, build and install”. We also need a deadline, a specific date – this is frequently the last day of your financial year but does not have to be. And we need to know which individual in the business is accountable to you for making sure this action is completed by the deadline. Note this does not mean they have to do all the work themselves.
 
Once the 1-Year Actions have been documented, decide how much of each one can be completed in a quarter, and generate 90-Day Actions to a similar format.
 
A word to those of you who are sole traders or who have a very small number of employees who might not be able to help you to execute your strategic objectives – in your case, one or two is better than three.
 
Next month we will cover a couple of equally important disciplines that will help you excel at execution.
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