I’ve learned something this past week.  I guess I always knew it but until this last week I’m not sure I always believed it.  The “it” I’m talking about is the power a true leader can have to guide and inspire especially in times of crisis.  I recognized that leadership quality in one of my clients this week.  It must be the economic crisis of the past few weeks that has drawn that quality out in him.  He’s truly inspirational and we can all crave to have someone just like him at the helm of our organization.

 I won’t mention his name because I don’t want to embarrass him and I hold my client’s names as confidential.  But, during these past two weeks I’ve watched him stand in front of his company, tell everyone the truth about the impact of the economy upon their company, lay off several people and then lay out a plan that instilled confidence and trust in those that remained.  He didn’t blink.  He was 100% grounded in what he knew had to be done to see his company through the crisis.

The key was the time and attention he put into crafting a plan that would make sure the company survived today, tomorrow and into  the future.  And, it was the open and honest way he communicated that plan to his employees.  He won them over.  He instilled confidence not only in his plan but in himself as their leader.   It made me realize all the more that great companies are great because they’re lead by great leaders who have a solid plan. 

Good times or bad…leaders lead and stick to their plan.  Let’s hear a big “YES!” for leaders like this. 

I spend most of my day working with CEOs and members of their management teams creating and prioritizing their most important goals and projects.  It’s all about helping them clarify their focus so they can stay in complete alignment with one another and actually achieve what they say they will do.  But all too often once the plan is put in place they have a tough time executing.  It’s almost like they’re not sure how to move forward and in many cases take the first step.

 Achieving your strategic plan is like taking a trip.  One milestone at a time.  One step at a time.  Each goal, each project, needs a trip plan.  If not there’s a good chance the plan will never happen because the team didn’t know what first step to take. 

To help alieviate that angst I’ve come up with a process that when applied can lead anyone to achieve their goal(s) - even a management team.  Try it for yourself and see if it doesn’t make a difference for you. 

Six Sure-Fire Steps for Achieving Any Goal 

1. On a single sheet of paper write your objective or action plan exactly as it is written on your one page business plan. 

2. Next, write today’s date and the date by which you’d like  to achieve the objective or action plan.  

3. Here comes the fun part.  List two to five ways in which the accomplishment of this objective or action plan will positively impact the your business.  To do this you might ask yourself the following questions: How will accomplishing this goal make us feel about ourselves?  How will life at our company be different once the goal is achieved?  What kind of impact will it make on our customers and employees?  How will it advance our mission?  Basically, you want to look into the future and imagine what it will look and feel like once the objective or action plan has been fully executed.  Envisioning the future is a huge motivator for taking action in the present.

4. Believe it or not, the next step is something we excel at doing.  It’s also something we can leverage to develop and inspire our strategies for achieving our goals.  Ready?  List up to ten obstacles that will prevent us from ever achieving the objective or action plan listed in step one.  That’s right, list your top ten thoughts as to why we’ll never achieve this goal.  Just let the negativity flow.  And, the more negative your thoughts the better.  You don’t have to come up with ten but for those you do list, make them really good reasons or obstacles which have the greatest potential for blocking our progress.  You may be asking, “What’s the method behind this madness?”  Simply stated, all those things that seem to oppose your goals are actually the raw material for achieving them.  In other words, your obstacles inspire your solutions.   

5. Once you list all the obstacles and ONLY AFTER you list them, it’s time for step five.  Write a corresponding counter strategy to every one of your obstacles.  Essentially you want to tell yourself how you will overcome each of the obstacles you listed in step four.  It is crucial that you do this only AFTER all the obstacles have been listed as requested in step four.  At this point I want your mind to go into a totally positive state.  Creating solutions to each obstacle will give you the strategies you’ll need to execute and implement the objective or action plan you’re championing.  As I said in step four, obstacles inspire solutions and what opposes your goals is  the raw material for achieving them.  You’ll find that the counter strategies you develop will become the groundwork for your implementation plans.

6. The last step is the time saving step that will free you from having to strategize over and over each time you think about what needs to happen in order to achieve your goal.   For each strategy you created in step five create a step by step trip plan showing each of the major milestones you need to pass in order to reach your destination.  If you can break down the trip into chunks or segments it makes the journey less daunting.  Every trip begins with the first step and so does every objective or action plan.  If we can visualize and actually see “what’s next?”  we’ll always know what to do without having to rethink the process whenever we take time to work on the goal.   The biggest reason why most people don’ t achieve their goals is not because they’re lazy or tend to procrastinate, it’s because they see it as too daunting, too overwhelming on top of everything else they have to do in life.  But, when people can break down a goal into executable chunks, steps or milestones the goal suddenly becomes more friendly and easier to approach.  Understanding what’s next and taking action one milestone at a time is the key to success.

There you have it.  A sure fire method for executing and implementing any goal you have in life.  The key to the whole thing is taking what opposes you and using it as the inspiration for writing and completing your trip plan.   

Left to their own devices most business teams will take the path of least resistance.  And why not?  There is so much to do and get done.  The urgencies and demands of work can be overwhelming for even the best of teams.  Surely, lots of good intentions will make up for poor results, right?    I mean, who can blame a team that really wants to achieve their most important annual goals but is just too busy with the urgencies of the day to focus on the truly important results for tomorrow?

 That’s where a committed CEO comes in.  The wisest of the wise will make sure that any strategic planning effort will not only produce a great plan but focus performance for making it a reality.  They realize this fundamental principle - where there is no accountability, there is no performance. 

 If you want to make sure your business succeeds this year don’t just create a strategically focused plan, create an accountability system to go with it.  Make sure you’re its #1 accountability champion.  As CEO, if you really believe and practice accountability with yourself and your direct reports you’ll get the kind of performance that will bring you outstanding bottom line results. 

 It’s been my experience that though teams acknowledge the power of accountability they need that accountaiblity partner (you) to practice it.  There’s something about having to report in on a specific date that causes action to take place and results to appear.   

Be the wisest of the wise CEOs and hold those regularly scheduled one-on-one review sessions monthly or at least quarterly.   Your direct reports want the discipline, recognition and know-how you can provide.   

 Want results?  Activate your accountability system today! 

Want to know the #1 principle for getting things done?  Here you go…visibility.   Seem a little too simplistic?  It is very simple and yet it’s the reason most business owners and managers have such a tough time achieving their priorities.  It’s reflected in one of my favorite sayings, ”Out of sight, out of mind” - it’s that simple.

December and January are traditionally my busiest times of the year.  Everyone wants to do their annual planning for the new year.  My clients spend countless hours thinking, analyzing, planning and meeting with their teams to craft just the right plan that will make the new year their best ever.  I salute their efforts and truly enjoy facilitating them in this process.  The plans they produce can be considered works of art because so much polishing and refining goes into their creation.  They are definitely something in which to be proud.

 Then comes the test, the real work.  Getting it done.  Execution, implementation, achievement, results!  That’s why they go through all  this in the first place.  After watching a myriad of clients tackle this process year after year I still find visibilty to be the key to their success. 

Those that view their one page business plans once a week ALWAYS achieve more than those who look at it once a month (usually moments before I show up for their monthly business review.)  But even those who view it once a month achieve more than those who only view it once a quarter or once a year.  It’s a law of nature.  In sight, in mind and in focus with what’s going to be worked on this week, quarter or month. 

My personal regimen, and the one I recommend to you, is to site down once a week and review your upcoming week.  I do this without fail.  At the same time I refer to my one page annual business plan and remind myself of my priorities.  With my priorities fresh in my mind I ask myself, “What can I do this week to support and eventually achieve my annual plan?”  What comes to mind I write down and make it a part of my weekly plan.  And yes, I do review my weekly plan daily.  It’s constantly in front of me in written form.  I don’t bury it behind multiple windows on my computer.  My paper planner is open to my weekly plan and is stationed in the upper left hand corner of my work space.  It’s in full view.  And when I achieve something from that plan I write it on the back of my plan as an accomplishment.  That way, at the end of the week, I can see and celebrate all that I’ve done.  Gosh that feels good!

If you don’t keep your priorities visible your brain with take the path of least resistance and allow you to forget they exist.  We all have so much going on that I think our brain takes pity and mercifully helps us to put things out of  mind.  That’s not such a bad idea when it comes to the minutia we have going on in our work and lives.  But, when it comes to our most important priorities you don’t want your brain going into delete mode. 

The more we visibly remind our brains that something is a priority the more it becomes part of our internal focus.  As we all know, our internal focus will eventually manifest itself as our external focus and reality.  What we focus on get’s done.  Without weekly visibility our focus remains nothing but written words on a plan.  Visibility is the principle that stages our minds to take action and turn the words on our plan into reality.    And that, feels really good!

I can tell by observing my rose garden that a new season is upon us here in sunny California.  All 160 rose bushes in my yard have pushed out their final blooms of the year.  As the cold mornings help them fade away, they go into hibernation mode focusing their strength for their revival in April of next year.  Even roses know the power and necessity of taking the time to focus their energy for the sake of future seasons. 

 How about your business?  Are you  nearing the end of your current season or year?  Are you taking time to focus on the successes and disappointments of the past twelve months?  A lot of time, sweat and tears went into those experiences.  Will  you ask yourself, “What have we learned as a result?”  Those lessons will make great guidelines for you and your team next year.   Which lessons do you want to repeat?  Which do you want to avoid so you’ll never have cause to learn them all over again?

Are you starting to focus on the year ahead?  What objectives and goals will you set?  What focusing strategies will you implement to grow your business?  How about key initiatives or major projects that need to be completed in ‘08 in order for your company to progress closer and closer to your long term vision?  Do you know what they are?

 Like roses, you should do a little hibernating of your own and think deeply about these questions.  I have all my clients take a two day retreat with me at the end of each year so we can hone their focus and put together their annual goals and objectives for the upcoming season.  You can’t imagine how profitable it is for them to become introspective and evaluate their past year as they look toward developing a well aligned plan for the year ahead.  It invigorates not just the members of the management team who co-create the plan but it invigorates the employees when they hear the results of that focusing effort. 

 Taking time to focus on the new season that lies ahead is the most productive business activity one can do,  It makes you and everyone else in the organization more productive and more efficient by following your guidelines and  focusing your efforts on what’s truly important.   

In the small business ownership world nothing makes you feel more secure and in control than having a plan and following it. Knowing that your employees are aligned around the same set of strategies, objectives and action plans allows you to sleep at night. It creates that “in the zone” feeling that the actions you’re taking matter in a very profound way. Why? Because they come from the best source in town for guiding your business and your team. Your focus comes from you.

I’m spending all my time these days (except when my rose garden beckons) coaching business owners and their management teams to get their focus on. Meaning, drawing out of them everything they know and value to create an annual plan of objectives, strategies and tactics for building and managing their business. In short it’s their pathway to achieving never before imagined results.

It’s something they can hold onto, come back to and connect with when things go haywire. And, they inevitably do. But because their focus is in place they don’t have to give into the chaos and despair that customers or market conditions can often create. They can just get their focus on time after time till they’re in the zone again.

Today I’m launching my new web site dedicated to helping business owners and their management teams collectively create well aligned year long plans for producing the results they’ve always wanted in their business. It’s called, Focus Your Business Now. My experience has shown me that you really can start to feel the results right now if you create your focus and start to take action on it this very day.

You can experience the feeling of “getting your focus on” now by signing up for my free seven part ecourse located on the home page of my Focus Your Business Now site. You’ll soon learn that getting your focus on gets your business on target and on its way to success.