During Part 1 of this series, we mentioned that without clarity, there is confusion about goals, direction and how to accomplish what leaders want. Performance cannot be achieved without clarity. During Part 2 of this series, we discussed the need for vision and that a leader's vision needs to encompass more than just the destination but the overall experience of having attained and arrived at the chief aim in question. In this post, we explore a bit further, the third key to individual and team performance, FOCUS.
Last week we mentioned the 3 keys leaders must have include clarity, vision and focus. We talked about the importance of clarity and how clarity creates calm in the midst of chaos and how clarity supports leaders (and their teams) in generating the needed energy to accomplish the performance they want. Until is leader is crystal clear on what they want to accomplish, why it is important and the most desired path forward, everyone can feel like they are just spinning wheels, doing tasks that aren’t connected and aligned and missing the mark time and again. Clarity is the first key to leadership and to improving team performance.
Vision: The second item we mentioned last week is vision. Vision is not just knowing where one (or a team or a family) are going, Vision is not simply knowing the place or destination on the map. True clarity of vision is about sensing fully both the arrival and experience of being already at that destination. How does it look? How does if feel? What smells and sounds surround you? What is going on within you when you reach this goal and what is your holistic experience of it once you arrive? I would submit that much of the disappointment we experience in life has to do with a disconnect between what we hoped or expected (either consciously or subconsciously) and what we find once we arrive (depending on the core focus profile we bring to the situation (more on that later). So if you find yourself feeling disconnected from your work and having low energy toward various aspects or your career or your life - ask yourself: where is the disconnect occurring for me? More important - ask yourself - what is it that I want specifically? For my business? For my life? How specific have you really been about your aim? How clear has your vision (either for yourself or for you team) really been? Busy can feel productive when in fact that’s all it is. Sometimes as leaders we can get so busy spinning plates and spinning wheels that we fail to see the forest through the trees. We become bogged down in tasks and don’t even realize we have lost sight of the bigger picture: What are we here for? What really matters? Who is really important to us? How is what I am doing connecting with who I am, my role and my purpose? What am I missing out on and how much will that matter to me in my future? Now, I might add that nice but vague answers like: "I am here to be happy and live life and enjoy it", are not what I am talking about here. If you answered in this way with no further thought to the matter then I invite you to consider this post a polite wake up call. There is a reason you are still reading this. What does that (happy life that you enjoy) specifically and in a tangible way mean to you and to the people that matter in your life? What is it really and are you living it? What are you waiting for and how is this waiting for it impacting you and the people that matter most to you? On a business scale - these questions might translate to: What is the purpose and the mission of my business? Who is it that my business uniquely serves and how does my business uniquely serve them? What is my consciously chosen market positioning and why? What are my core offerings for my clients and customers? What growth do I seek and how can I create better leverage for my time, my talents and my resources? Who are my trusted, professional advisors who are in my corner? These are the types of questions my clients come to me with as a professional coach and the kinds of questions that Core Conscious Leaders ask themselves and their teams on a daily basis. The most successful leaders in the world demonstrate in their work and in their life on a daily basis how clear they are about what they aspire to. In fact the connection between future aspiration and creating this clarity of vision, this prospective thought process, is influencing an entirely new and fascinating area of research in psychology, the social sciences and neuroscience (more on that later as well). If you find that you are seeking answers yourself to some or all of the questions below, you may be interested in learning more about professional coaching or my Authentic Success Breakthrough Coaching Process. This process helps core conscious leaders design their specific blueprint for the authentic success they want and map out their unique plan for how to achieve it. How would you like to have your plan for 2015 mapped out and be crystal clear on where you are headed, why and specifically how you intend to get there? This program helps you stow the spinning plates and step off the spinning hamster. This coming season I invite you to slow down, breathe and listen to what YOUR CORE has to say to you about where you have been, where you are headed and what you can do differently going forward to claim your own real authentic success. Stay tuned for next week’s post on the third key to unlocking your leadership performance and later we will come back to creating a clear vision for your business including the 10 biggest mistakes business owners make that can put them out of business fast. So your Core Focus Coach Question for this week is: On a scale of 1-10, How clear is your vision for your business? How clear is your vision for your life? What could you (and your team) achieve if you had more energy, knew how to tap into your amazing potential, were more energized by and engaged in your work, and powered up your productivity? How would it be for you to accomplish what you really want with more ease, and do so with greater speed? Accomplishing anything meaningful (in work and in life) requires 3 key components. If you are missing any of these keys, you can feel like you are incessantly spinning your wheels: working and working and working and getting no where closer to where you actually wanted to go when you started. These 3 critical keys to performance are: clarity, vision and focus. They are the very foundation of high achievement and meaningful success. Lets start today with the first: CLARITY. My clients report that this is is one of the key benefits of working with a professional coach - the objective and connected support they receive to help them articulate exactly what it is that they really want. A simple as this may sound, clients say that it was professional coaching that helped them to actually separate their authentic desires for their life and/or their work from those of others - boss, parents, team members, family members, associates, teachers, mentors, and friends. It is amazing what happens when clients are finally able to "shed all of the shoulds" and get crystal clear on what they truly want. It is exciting to observe the shifts that happen, once a team becomes clear (as individuals and as a group) on what their shared goal is and once everyone is personally (as well as professionally) invested in the outcome. Clarity creates calm. Clarity generates excitement. Clarity is the first key that unlocks potential and helps individuals and teams move toward their goals with greater speed and ease. Want more clarity? Have a peek at our newest program, The Performance Breakthrough Blueprint, and sign up for our free video training series that will, among other things, show you how you can create greater clarity both at work and in your life.
Today is the first friday of the month. Who doesn't think TGIF right? On fridays our energy goes up as relief that we have made it through another week washes over us and the excitement builds for the weekend ahead. What if we had this same energy when we went to work on monday morning? What if your employees were excited about their work instead of dragging themselves to the coffee machine for the caffeine fix and water cooler chat that only fuels further disengagement? What if there were a solution that could provide you and your business the performance breakthrough and results you imagined when you stepped out as an entrepreneur and started your business?
Visit www.PerformanceBreakthroughBlueprint.com
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Cynthia Spradlin
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