Strategic Planning

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The Real Reason You Aren’t Hitting Your Metrics

Have you ever had a vision for personal growth that really excited you? Did you love thinking about it, imagining this idealized version of yourself finally becoming real? But then, much to your chagrin, when it came time to take action you just couldn’t or wouldn’t do what was needed to bring the vision to life?

When we delight in visioning, but avoid or procrastinate taking action, we need to look within ourselves for this thing called shame. Shame is the feeling that we are not good enough. No one wants to talk about it, even though we all have it. Shame is often buried deep. We know it is present when we think these kinds of thoughts:

  • I will look like a fool if I do this.
  • I know this is going to fail, so why bother trying.
  • I’m not really clear about what to do, so I’ll fill my time with something else instead.
  • Doing this new things sucks. It’s hard. It doesn’t feel good. I’m not doing it anymore.
  • I can’t do this. I don’t have enough time, budget, connections, etc.
  • Yesterday these ideas felt powerful. Today they seem stupid, ineffective and wrong.
  • I’m wasting my time trying this. It’s better to stick to what I know.
  • I will take action when I have it all figured out in my mind. (Perfectionism.)
  • I can’t stop thinking about that one time I made a mistake. I failed. I was embarrassed. What if that happens again?

High performers get great results because they consistently take action toward their goals. Consistently taking action toward your goals creates measurable results. Not taking action, procrastinating action or taking wrong action keeps us from accomplishing our goals. When we aren’t reaching our metrics or when we can’t take action, we need to ask ourselves whether shame is the hidden culprit.

Shame thrives in secrecy. When we can speak our shame to a trusted confidante, an amazing thing happens. Its grip on us begins to lift. What felt dark and murky suddenly feels clear again. What felt impossible to accomplish suddenly feels worth trying again. When shame is brought to light, a path between vision and action reappears.

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How To Surprise Yourself With Your Own Success: Cultivate a Growth Mindset

If we accept the fact that self-improvement stems from a lack of self-love and that it limits our results, the next question logically becomes, what do we do instead? The answer is to cultivate a growth mindset. A growth mindset stems from the roots of self-love and self-belief. It facilitates an expansion of one’s self, one’s capabilities and results.

This is what I love most about the work I do. I thrive on empowering others to accomplish results. When I initially meet someone, they are often hesitant to believe in their ability to change long-held habits. When those changes do inevitably happen, I often get a very excited phone call that starts with, “you won’t believe what happened.” I am never surprised by these phone calls. I easily “believe it” because I know the very reason the client has gotten shockingly positive results is because he has learned to believe in himself. He has cultivated a growth mindset.

When you have a growth mindset, you get results better than you thought possible because you are able to do the following three things:

  1. You embrace discomfort. You are willing take smart risks and make mistakes.
  2. You use the VAM (Vision-Action-Metrics) model to grow beyond your comfort zone.
  3. You bring your vision to life by completing your action steps within the planned timeline, which in turn increases your metrics.

When your thoughts are in alignment with self-love, it is a million times easier to take the necessary action steps to create the change you want. You let go of old habits. You stop worrying that making a mistake means you’re not good enough. When you do inevitably make a mistake or fail, you don’t get bogged down with feelings of failure and concerns regarding what others think of you.

A growth mindset starts with loving yourself exactly as you are and believing anything is possible. When you love yourself and believe anything is possible, you take the action steps to get what you want out of life. You are willing to take risks. If you don’t get the outcome you anticipated, you easily and swiftly try again. When you take this type of ballsy action consistently over time, it creates results that will surprise you. I guarantee it.

 

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Setting the Right Metrics Predicts Growth

Metrics are a measurement tool that tell us how well we are performing on established action steps. Metrics include a form of measurement, a timeline and a target. Here are some common metrics:

  • Lose 10 lbs. by January 1
  • 5 million in sales by December 31
  • 20 new clients in November
  • 90% customer satisfaction on the monthly customer satisfaction report

The metric, losing 10 lbs. by January 1, tells us three things. It clarifies that the outcome of our actions will be measured by the amount of weight we lose. It sets a target of 10 lbs. The established timeline is by January 1, 2016.

Likewise, the metric 5 million in sales by December 31 tells us three things. The effectiveness of our actions will be measured by how much we sell. Our target is $5 million. The timeline for these sales is by December 31, 2015.

Metrics serve a critical role in strategic planning, but choosing the right measurement, target and timeline can be challenging. When we set lofty metrics, our brain shuts down in the face of the challenge. Because the target seems impossible, we lose our motivation to try. When we set low metrics, we are not challenged enough. We may perform below metric because we think we have it “in the bag” and don’t put forth enough effort.

The ideal metrics create an optimum level of discomfort for growth. They are neither too hard or too easy, but just right. We should struggle a little to achieve it, but not so much we want to quit. Setting these metrics at the right level includes a high degree of self-awareness and social awareness among leaders. But when the ideal metric is established, you will see your team rise to the challenge to meet it.

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Sales Goals Are Not Goals: Learn the Fine Art of Distinguishing Actions and Metrics

Have you ever written goals like these?

  • Lose 10 lbs.
  • 5 million in sales
  • 20 new clients
  • 90% customer satisfaction

Would it surprise you to know that these are not goals at all, but rather, are metrics? (I can hear your collective gasp.) Let me explain.

Losing 10 lbs. is not a goal because it does not include an action step. It does not tell you what you will do to lose 10 lbs. Will you eat less? Exercise more? Both?

Likewise, 5 million in sales is not a goal either. How will you achieve $5 million in sales? What specific actions will you take to reach the metric of $5 million in sales? Build relationships? Reduce prices? These are two vastly different approaches, neither of which are described in the simple phrase “5 million in sales.”

To bring a vision to life in a strategic plan – to take it beyond a daydream – you must take action. In fact, let’s ditch the word goal altogether and substitute the word action instead. When individuals think of the word goal, they usually think of the outdated SMART formula (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Results-Oriented and Time Sensitive). While it is critically important to be specific about action steps, including measurement, results and a timeline in the goal statement confuses the purpose between actions and metrics.

Action steps tell you what to do. Metrics are an indicator of how well you are performing. Actions and metrics are interrelated, but they are not the same thing. The word action naturally separates itself from the idea of measurement, or metrics. It is, of course, important to measure progress, but not until you have clearly defined what actions you are going to take to realize your vision.

As you imagine your vision for the year, think concretely about the specific actions you and your team will need to take to make that vision reality. What are you and your team currently doing that supports the vision? What new actions do you need to take to realize the vision?

Vision and action are a team empowering, results-generating dynamic duo. When used properly, you can avoid both the daydream (inaction) and nightmare (wrong action) states of strategic planning.

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Save Yourself From the Nightmare of Strategic Planning: Have a Vision

When a strategic plan does not produce the planned results, lack of action is often cited as the culprit. It is a fair assessment. Writing a strategic plan does not produce results. Taking action on it does. Let’s consider for a second though, that there may be an even more sinister culprit behind ineffective strategic plans.

“Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.”

~Japanese Proverb

Many well written strategic plans lack vision. A vision is not a goal. A vision is not a succinctly written statement. A vision is a clear picture in your mind of what you are working to create. Visioning requires us to imagine the future so clearly and vividly in our own mind, that we empower others to see it. When we have a vision, we are seeing the future. What we can imagine, we can create. What we cannot imagine, we cannot create.

Lack of vision is like putting together a 5,000 piece puzzle without a picture of the completed puzzle. When an organizational vision is lacking, employees cannot envision the future they are working to create OR they have a starkly different vision of the future than leadership. This leads to frustration, apathy and dissension because everyone is working to create a different picture (vision) with the same puzzle pieces (action steps). It creates a nightmare.

When an organization has a clear vision for the future, employees actively participate in the creation of that future.  There is less resistance to taking strategic action because the anticipated end result is clear. We create the intended result because we can see, collaboratively and collectively, what we are working to create.

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Strategic Reflection: Your Success Depends on Answering These Tough Questions

It is my favorite time of year. Fall is near in the Midwest. The air is fresh and crisp, which serves as a cool juxtaposition to the warmth of the sun. The leaves on the trees are blushing with hints of orange and burnt auburn. The earth is letting go of that which has already bloomed, allowing a cycle of renewal and regrowth to follow.

While I am not Jewish, or a religious scholar, the idea of Rosh Hashanah has always resonated with me. Late summer/early fall feels like a great time for introspection. It is a great time to ask ourselves tough questions, to review the past year and look ahead to the next.

We are near the end of third quarter. If you have not yet done an in-depth review of your annual strategic plan, now is the time to do it. The visions and ideas that you planted in January have either bloomed, or they have not. You have taken the action steps to bring your vision to life, or you have not. You have openly embraced mistakes and revised your plan as needed, or you have not.

If you have not achieved what you intended to do, what better time than fall to take pause and ask yourself why?

  • Why did you spend endless hours creating a strategic plan only to stuff it in a drawer for the year?
  • Why are you more excited to create a vision than to execute it?
  • Why did some of your goals come to fruition and others did not?
  • Why did your team appear to be excited about the plan, but then resist executing it?

It is not the answer to these questions that we should fear, but rather not asking them at all. Not asking the tough questions keeps us from consciously creating the results we desire. It encourages us to hold onto the past. By not asking the tough questions, we allow our failures to define us. We cannot succeed, because we are too drained by our past mistakes to have the energy to create the future.

With introspection, we identify the gap between ideas and results. With reflection, we learn from our mistakes so we are not doomed to repeat them.