The Fires of the Forge

Planning: Step 3--Behavior, Introduction

Before we leap into Section 3, working with the Source of your performance--you, a little context is warranted. This is probably the least understood area of performance, and the most important. To provide full context would fill a multiple day workshop, a book or books. I seek to give you the brass tacks of it in one post.

If you and I sat down and honestly looked at your current level of performance in producing results, I would help you explore, initially, three areas. 

1) Whether you know the results you want to produce, and whether you are producing them. 

2) Whether you follow effective processes and have effective systems to produce results. 

3) Whether your relations with people are effective in producing results.

Ponder on that. 

Is it the results you produce, the way that you produce them, or the way you relate with others while producing results that would have the greatest impact on taking your self to the next level of leadership? I am choosing my words very carefully here. And I'd like you to re-read that question now. Either write down the first thing that comes to your mind, or say it out loud.

Let's take those three items in order. 

Is it the results you produce? In this area, the first thing you need is to know what results to produce. As silly as that sounds, many executives and leaders I know are not crystal clear on that. I'm serious. I mean, they know generally, but the lack of specific definition is amazing. That is why, to this point, much of this exercise has been about getting you to define--measurably--what results you are going to produce. With that commitment, followed by the clarity you will receive in pursuing and producing those results, the results you want to produce will become evermore clear. The magic here is being specific, committing, and doing.

Is it the way you produce results? Many leaders produce results, but do so very inefficiently. They burn inordinate amounts of resources--time, money and people. This, in effect, puts a "lid" on their performance. If you are not continually honing your systems, structures and approaches, you automatically place a lid on your performance. 

The second part of your plan, Initiatives, is designed to address the way you produce results in several ways. First, what most people write as their Initiatives are the things they need to do to specifically produce the Results in section 1. Sometimes, the initiatives are about putting in place new systems, structure, approaches or whatever. Second, what you will see, if you follow this all the way through, is that I am going to give you an approach to getting those initiatives done. Third, as your last initiative, I asked you what you could do to improve your ability to get all those initiatives and results done.

That last initiative is very important, and I think I gave it short shrift. That last initiative, the one intended to improve your overall capacity to produce results, is a very important one. It is often something very practical (like spending the first hour of every day taking action on my single most important result or initiative), yet it brings us up against something very personal. 

What that right action brings us up against is a limiting behavior that we know is counterintuitive and counter productive. Yet we do  not do the new behavior and we continue to old, counterproductive behavior even though it defies all logic. Why? Because it is psycho-logic, that's why. We are committed to doing one thing (improve performance), but we are equally committed to something else that nullifies the former. We have one foot on the gas and the other on the brake, for goodness sakes. All of us.

The counter-commitment, the having the foot on the brake, arises from an inner, often unconscious, anxiety. That anxiety can be so strong that it makes us sometimes feel that if we were to do that right, logical, productive thing (like spending that first hour doing what's most important), that we'd jump out of our skin, or, worse yet, life as we know it would end. Know that feeling? It's a bit of a buzz killer when it comes to doing that new, more productive, more logical thing, isn't it? And the fact that leaders have no effective way to deal with it is the single most important reason leaders hit the lid (a.k.a. the Peter Principle) and the reason why leaders underperform as mentors (thereby supporting others in reaching and then being constrained by their own lids).

We will get to how to deal with that, because there is a way to do so. And it is neither complicated nor easy. Anyone can do it. And there are only four steps to it. But that inner anxiety is so strong, that even a good, effective, proven process for dealing with it is no match for it if it is not an act of survival to do it. We will get to that. But not now.

For now I want you to review that last initiative, the one that is intended to improve the process, structure or means by which you produce results. Make sure it is a good one. Make sure it has leverage. Make sure it is something you can do methodically and systematically to produce better, more consistent results week in and week out. You probably already know what it is, because it is something you are consistently telling yourself you should do, but you do not. You've got excuses not to, and the excuses win. I know. It happens to me, too.

For me, this one thing is doing David Allen's weekly planning process (two hours a week), followed by spending 30 minutes per day, first thing in the morning, reviewing the priorities I set in that 2 hours of weekly planning, and mapping out the next action to achieve those priorities. That's only 10% of a 40 hour work week (even less of a 50). And my performance goes up exponentially. In other words, the ROI on that time is staggering. Yet it is so hard to do. But each time I do it, the grip of my inner anxiety loosens.

Let's come back to point. I've covered the first item--the results you produce. I've covered the second item in some detail--the processes you use to produce results. And I've asked you to verify that your last initiative, is a bull's eye in terms of addressing the single most important thing you could systematically begin doing to improve the way you produce results. That leaves the third item.

Is it the way you relate to others in producing the results? This is a very hard area for leaders to grasp. It becomes very personal, and there usually is a pretty significant blind spot here. And it is so hard to see because it is so painful to see it. We craft an immunity system, in fact, to protect us from seeing it. And that immunity system includes rationalizations and justifications for continuing to relate to others in ways that aren't exactly kosher for us and for them. 

Where we are headed with Section 3, is to address that specific area--the way we relate with others. Now, you may say, what does that have to do with Source, with changing myself? Everything. 

You see, it is nigh impossible for you to start by working directly with your own self because we all lack the sobriety to see ourselves clearly. Therefore, the most practical approach is also an indirect approach. The indirect approach is how we relate to others. If we give our all to working with that--how we relate to others--at some point it will dawn on us that we are actually working out way back to the Source. And to the way we relate with ourselves.

Okay. That is the context I think you need. Where we are headed in the next post is into Section 3 of your one pager, towards understanding the Source of your performance, who you really are, by way of looking at how you need to change the way you work with others in producing the results you produce. 

It is the key to success. It is, in fact, emotional intelligence for leaders made practical.

Planning: Step 3--Behavior, Introduction

Before we leap into Section 3, working with the Source of your performance--you, a little context is warranted. This is probably the least understood area of performance, and the most important. To provide full context would fill a multiple day workshop, a book or books. I seek to give you the brass tacks of it in one post.

If you and I sat down and honestly looked at your current level of performance in producing results, I would help you explore, initially, three areas. 1) Whether you know the results you want to produce, and whether you are producing them. 2) Whether you follow effective processes and have effective systems to produce results. 3) Whether your relations with people are effective in producing results.

Ponder on that. Is it the results you produce, the way that you produce them, or the way you relate with others while producing results that would have the greatest impact on taking your self to the next level of leadership? I am choosing my words very carefully here. And I'd like you to re-read that question now. Either write down the first thing that comes to your mind, or say it out loud.

Let's take those three items in order. 

Is it the results you produce? In this area, the first thing you need is to know what results to produce. As silly as that sounds, many executives and leaders I know are not crystal clear on that. I'm serious. I mean, they know generally, but the lack of specific definition is amazing. That is why, to this point, much of this exercise has been about getting you to define--measurably--what results you are going to produce. With that commitment, followed by the clarity you will receive in pursuing and producing those results, the results you want to produce will become evermore clear. The magic here is being specific, committing, and doing.

Is it the way you produce results? Many leaders produce results, but do so very inefficiently. They burn inordinate amounts of resources--time, money and people. This, in effect, puts a "lid" on their performance. If you are not continually honing your systems, structures and approaches, you automatically place a lid on your performance. 

The second part of your plan, Initiatives, is designed to address the way you produce results in several ways. First, what most people write as their Initiatives are the things they need to do to specifically produce the Results in section 1. Sometimes, the initiatives are about putting in place new systems, structure, approaches or whatever. Second, what you will see, if you follow this all the way through, is that I am going to give you an approach to getting those initiatives done. Third, as your last initiative, I asked you what you could do to improve your ability to get all those initiatives and results done.

That last initiative is very important, and I think I gave it short shrift. That last initiative, the one intended to improve your overall capacity to produce results, is a very important one. It is often something very practical (like spending the first hour of every day taking action on my single most important result or initiative), yet it brings us up against something very personal. 

What that right action brings us up against is a limiting behavior that we know is counterintuitive and counter productive. Yet we do  not do the new behavior and we continue to old, counterproductive behavior even though it defies all logic. Why? Because it is psycho-logic, that's why. We are committed to doing one thing (improve performance), but we are equally committed to something else that nullifies the former. We have one foot on the gas and the other on the brake, for goodness sakes. All of us.

The counter-commitment, the having the foot on the brake, arises from an inner, often unconscious, anxiety. That anxiety can be so strong that it makes us sometimes feel that if we were to do that right, logical, productive thing (like spending that first hour doing what's most important), that we'd jump out of our skin, or, worse yet, life as we know it would end. Know that feeling? It's a bit of a buzz killer when it comes to doing that new, more productive, more logical thing, isn't it? And the fact that leaders have no effective way to deal with it is the single most important reason leaders hit the lid (a.k.a. the Peter Principle) and the reason why leaders underperform as mentors (thereby supporting others in reaching and then being constrained by their own lids).

We will get to how to deal with that, because there is a way to do so. And it is neither complicated nor easy. Anyone can do it. And there are only four steps to it. But that inner anxiety is so strong, that even a good, effective, proven process for dealing with it is no match for it if it is not an act of survival to do it. We will get to that. But not now.

For now I want you to review that last initiative, the one that is intended to improve the process, structure or means by which you produce results. Make sure it is a good one. Make sure it has leverage. Make sure it is something you can do methodically and systematically to produce better, more consistent results week in and week out. You probably already know what it is, because it is something you are consistently telling yourself you should do, but you do not. You've got excuses not to, and the excuses win. I know. It happens to me, too.

For me, this one thing is doing David Allen's weekly planning process (two hours a week), followed by spending 30 minutes per day, first thing in the morning, reviewing the priorities I set in that 2 hours of weekly planning, and mapping out the next action to achieve those priorities. That's only 10% of a 40 hour work week (even less of a 50). And my performance goes up exponentially. In other words, the ROI on that time is staggering. Yet it is so hard to do. But each time I do it, the grip of my inner anxiety loosens.

Let's come back to point. I've covered the first item--the results you produce. I've covered the second item in some detail--the processes you use to produce results. And I've asked you to verify that your last initiative, is a bull's eye in terms of addressing the single most important thing you could systematically begin doing to improve the way you produce results. That leaves the third item.

Is it the way you relate to others in producing the results? This is a very hard area for leaders to grasp. It becomes very personal, and there usually is a pretty significant blind spot here. And it is so hard to see because it is so painful to see it. We craft an immunity system, in fact, to protect us from seeing it. And that immunity system includes rationalizations and justifications for continuing to relate to others in ways that aren't exactly kosher for us and for them. 

Where we are headed with Section 3, is to address that specific area--the way we relate with others. Now, you may say, what does that have to do with Source, with changing myself? Everything. You see, it is nigh impossible for you to start by working directly with your own self because we all lack the sobriety to see ourselves clearly. Therefore, the most practical approach is also an indirect approach. The indirect approach is how we relate to others. If we give our all to working with that--how we relate to others--at some point it will dawn on us that we are actually working out way back to the Source. And to the way we relate with ourselves.

Okay. That is the context I think you need. Where we are headed in the next post is into Section 3 of your one pager, towards understanding the Source of your performance, who you really are, by way of looking at how you need to change the way you work with others in producing the results you produce. 

It is the key to success. It is, in fact, emotional intelligence for leaders made practical.

Planning: Step 2--Supporting Initiatives, Part 2

We’ve got a little more work to do before Section 2 of your plan--Initiatives--is completed. Let's get right to it.

Up to this point you may have up to 8 of the 9 Initiatives spoken for—the first one is taken by The One Big Project you listed in section 1, Results. The other seven by each of the key results. 

That leaves Initiative number nine wide open, and, as they say, nature abhors a vacuum. So let's fill it. Number nine is addressed by asking yourself this question:

When I look at Section 1, Results, as a whole, is there one project I could undertake that would actually support achieving virtually all of that?

Let's face it. Up to this point the planning process has been very linear. And there's good reason for that: if you add something linear to the somewhat circular process most folks use in planning, you get an upward spiral. Then you actually go somewhere as opposed to continually walking in circles and wondering why you are right back to where you were even though you had the best of intentions to actually leave the neighborhood for once.

The question you are asking is a holistic, systems-oriented question. And it is perfect for slot number 9, because 9 is the number of completion. If you get a really good internal response to the question, you (and your results) will be completed in more ways than you can imagine. Imagine that.   

Examples? I’m not giving you much direction on this. Reach deep and get real with yourself and you will find more than an example. You will find an answer. 

I will give you a suggestion, though. Sometimes an initiative to stop doing something is more important than an initiative that adds something to that 45 pound pack of yours you are carrying on this adventure from here to your key results. Roger that?

For those who have worked through my prior planning approach, I want to be clear. This is an initiative--a project--that will affect everything else. It is something you can do in order to make achieving all (or some) of the other initiatives and results you've listed easier. At this point I am not talking about a change to your behavior. We'll get to that. 

So what types of projects might affect all else? A project to delegate more effectively to the people on your team. Or implementing some form of organizing structure so your to-do's and desk and inbox and files are not such a mess. Or developing sales skills. Or joining a team of like-minded people rather than continuing to try to go it alone when that is not really your DNA. Or repairing a broken, important relationship. Like with a business partner, or even a broken working relationship with money. 

So give it a go? What would be a good number 9 initiative for you? What initiative or project might support all else? Write that down now, next to 9. (I will remind you again that our mantra is "progress, not perfection." So don't get yerself tied in 'nots if yer number nine ain't purfect yet. Remember, neither are you, and we still love ya. Pass that same feeling along to yer plan.) 

Some final FAQ's regarding Section 2--Initiatives:

What if you have open Initiative slots? Should you load them up with other things that come to you? It’s your plan, so it’s your call. My recommendation, unless you are a planning ace, is no. Don’t. Not until you have been through this particular process at least one time.

What if you now have thought of something bigger than what you wrote in Section 1, Results, and/or Section 2, Initiatives? If you even have to ask, I am worried about you. Change it. Reprioritize what you’ve got, and work it in. Your life is dynamic. Your insights are dynamic. So your plan has to be. (Just don't go changing it willy-nilly, mind you. You know the difference.)

I will leave you with the words of one of my heroes, Dwight Eisenhower, who knew a lot about both plans and planning:

“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

Congratulations. You now have defined the most important results you want to produce, both quantitative results and The One Big Project. And you have defined up to 9 supporting initiatives to support you in doing that. 

The first two sections are fairly logical. Section 3, well that gets psychological. And the reason you should care about that is because now we will look at the source. You. 

And, if you remember our diagram (see inset), you will connect that working on Section 1 was/is about getting crystal clear on your desired outcomes (Results), and Section 2 was/is about figuring out what you will be doing (Processes) to achieve that. 

So yes, Section 3. Our journey into Section 3 takes us to the source. Or to the periphery of it, anyway. Things are about to get a lot less linear. But don't worry, we have a process we will be following that is proven and you can use for the rest of your life. So, "ET phone home." Here we go... Let's return to the source and see it with fresh eyes...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great. That is section 2, the Initiatives, the HOW of Section 1, Results. Next up, how to do section 3.

Planning: Step 2--Supporting Initiatives, Part 1

In the second section of your paper write Initiatives. Write the numbers one through nine. 

The first section you just completed—Results—is the WHAT. This second section you are about to pen—Initiatives—is the HOW. Here we will differentiate between outcomes (results) and the actions we need to take to produce them (process). 

Basically, what you are doing in this section is making choices regarding which of the key outcomes you listed in the Results sections need to be handled as a project, and which do not. Some things you defined in Results may not require defining and doing a sequence of tasks that are out of the ordinary from your normal business or personal processes. Other key outcomes may. It is important that you decide which is which. 

For example, you may have set a revenue target as a key outcome, and your marketing and sales machine is so well-honed that achieving the key outcome of revenue does not require anything out of the ordinary other than your focus on inspecting what you expect. Therefore, that key outcome does not require an initiative. 

However, you may have set a revenue target your current marketing and sales machine cannot support. That key outcome is a candidate for a supporting initiative designed to create a change in your marketing and sales capacity that is sufficient to support the achievement of the key outcome. 

See the difference? It is important that you do. Some key outcomes only need focus. Others need a project—what we call here an initiative—to support the achievement of the key outcome.

Let’s get started.

Next to number one, write “Achieve The One Big Thing.” Look at you. You are on a roll. Basically, I am relieving you of deciding whether The One Big Thing needs to be handled as a project or not. Let’s assume it should be, which is almost always the case.

Now, look at the key results listed in Results: Part A—Key Outcomes. Here’s the process.

1. Look at the first key result.

2. Ask yourself, is some type of project required to achieve that key result? A project is a series of defined steps that get you from point A to point B within a certain timeframe in order to produce a defined result. A project has a defined beginning and end, and the outcome is measurable and observable.

Remember, some key results (like expanding into a new market) may require an initiative—writing out and doing a series of steps. If so, that is a project, an initiative. Other key results (like getting to the gym 24 times in six months) may not because you already know the steps and you just need to focus on it.

3. Decide. If the key result does not need a supporting initiative, go to the next key result and work from 2 down until you are done. If the key result does need an initiative to support it, write the name of the key result next to the next available number in section two.

Continue until you have addressed all key results.

Take stock of where you now are. In section 2, Initiatives, you may have up to 8 of them defined. The first one is to accomplish the One Big Project. Initiatives 2 through 8 are directly related to producing the key results. And you may have less than 8 at this point. That’s fine. What’s with the open slot, number nine? I never thought you’d never ask.

Planning: Step 1--Define Your Results, Part 2

Got the up to seven key measurable outcomes? That’s the Part A of the Results section. Good. Here’s what’s next. 

Prioritize them. That’s right. Erase the little numbers to the left of each key results and order them from number 1 in priority down to number 7. I know it’s hard, but no whining. You are not paying me enough for me to listen to it. And, in due time, you will see why this prioritization can be very important. 

Okay, on to Part B of the Results section. You see, we’ve got one more thing to do before we leave section 1, Results. If you creative types felt like I squashed both the creativity and the daisy out of your Volkswagen Beetle by throwing the cold water of key outcomes in your face, here’s your chance to change your belief that I am the planning Nazi. 

Those key results you outlined, you could call that Part A: Key Outcomes.

Part B is The One Big Project. Here, you ask a simple question, which is:

What is the single most important project I could accomplish over the next six months?

What is the first thing that comes up? I’d make a note of it. But I’d also let this question work on you a day or two. (It may or may not have any direct correlation to the key outcomes in Part A.)

You will notice I said “the one big project.” Projects have a beginning and an end. What constitutes a big project? You—and/or life—is/are not quite the same afterwards. Maybe it is something that has eluded you in the past. Maybe it is something that has just cropped up. Maybe it came up just now. The One Big Project is something that will stretch you in your achievement of it, that will grow you as a person, may affect life itself as a result, and can be accomplished in six months.

Whoa. What’s this about six months? First, you heard me right, I said six months. If I said 12, you’d spend probably 9-11 of ‘em procrastinating. So we are moving the deadline up. Go head, post to Twitter or Facebook that I am being totally unrealistic, that your creative process takes longer, and that you have now confirmed that I actually am the planning Nazi. 

After you’ve managed to git yer knickers out of yer twist, then I have a recommendation. Step over it. I am unconcerned about your comfort. I am highly concerned about how action will unlock your potential and convert a well-intentioned dreamer into a man or woman of action. There’s work to do. And, contrary to popular belief, it is not time that is a-wastin’. It is your potential that is.

Here’s my advice: Chunk it down. If you’ve got some big grandiose scheme that is going to take years to accomplish (or maybe you know you never will but are going to give it the good fight anyway), chunk it down. What can you accomplish over the next six months?

Here’s my advice: Make it definitive. This is especially important if you are chunking it down. Set an end state that is observable with the human eyes. Here’s one example. Maybe you will be starting a new business and for whatever reason it is not possible to start it in six months and have money flowing in. Well, what can you do? Can you have a business plan done and put to the test by having shopped it at three banks for financing? That’s observable, right?

Or maybe you want to take your honey to Italy this year, but you can’t do it by then. But can you have 70% of the money saved and the reservations made by then?

That’s called chunking it down, and it can be very effective. Especially for those of us who fear success more than failure. Just succeed partially by getting yourself part-way there. J Then the view around the next bend isn’t so scary.

Here’s my advice: Don’t underestimate what you can accomplish in six months. If you cut out the numerous ways you waste time and energy—what warrior’s call eliminating unnecessary acts, and/or if you block a day here or there to truly focus on doing what needs to be done, you’d be amazed at what you actually can accomplish.

Here’s my advice: Don’t pick a project that is in fact a delaying tactic. I see a lot of people pick One Big Project is actually a delaying tactic, getting them ready to actually do the real thing. You might as well call a spade a shovel and change the name from The One Big Project to The One Big Self Betrayal.

My goodness, this one is a doozy, isn’t it? What I mean here is that many of us have a knack for tremendously overengineering things, which is basically a delay tactic—fixin’-to-get-ready-to-commence-to-get-ready-to-act. Here’s what I mean by that.

Let’s say you are going to redesign your business, changing its focus (as I am doing myself). Let’s say you think you need marketing materials, some good business cards and a nice web site to hawk yourself and this new thingy (that’s Sarah Palin talk) you want to provide to your clients. Now, that alone could take you six months. Right?

But let’s say you have a network of 10 people who really care about you and your gifts a lot, about another 20 who care about you and support you generally, and another 50 who you’ve lost touch with but seemed to have a liking for you and what you did for them in the past.

How many weeks would it take you to make 80 outreach calls, explaining what you are intending to do, and asking for feedback on the concept. And then, in that call or as a follow-up, asking whether they know anyone ready for that thingy, or whether they know anyone that might know someone ready for that thingy.

Are ya trackin’ with me? Under option A—write marketing materials, get business cards and set up web site—at the end of six months you could be fully prepared to start selling what you think other people want. 

Or, under option B—network, test and refine the idea through conversations, and find potential beta-clients—at the end of six months, you could have a refined business idea, and, if it truly is the cat’s pajamas you think it is, your business may be so full of clients that you don’t need marketing materials, glossy business cards and a web site. In fact, if your thingy is very hot and people get great results from it, you may need to start asking people to not tell others about it. Howz that? 

This whole diatribe brings us squarely back to the self-deception I posted about in our early introduction to this planning series. Most of us, as supremely confident and competent as we appear externally, believe we need a whole host of props from outside of us before we jump on to the stage of life. 

Jumping on the stage of life is one thing if the point is to play a guitar. Then, it is important to learn to play guitar first. 

However, most of us are not learning a new art. Projects that are preparation are often tantamount to delay and therefore self deception in the many other cases where we simply need to speak our heart and apply the God-given gifts and talents we’ve already accumulated and been given, and are simply applying them in a new, more creative way.

[end of motivational speech]

So get crackin’ on defining The One Big Project. Here’s the litmus test:

1. Fear: it strikes fear in the fibers of your body, yet does not freeze you in fear.

2. Passion: it makes your heart sing to think about getting it done, yet you are sober about it.

3. Time: it can be accomplished in six months, or you can define some portion of it that can be.

Congratulations. You've defined the WHAT--the Results--the seven key outcomes and The One Big Project. That alone is quite a lot, and in short order we will move our focus, attention and intention from Section 1, Results, to Section 2, Initiatives. Take a breath, a pause, and reflect. Gather yourself around section 1, and imagine yourself six months from now, with that done. Who would you be? What would you then be capable of?Ponder on that, for that is where we are headed.

 

Planning: Step 1--Define Your Results, Part 1

In this post I will start you working on an “express” version of my planning process. I’d like to make a point first. 

Here's the point: I have already given you an express version of my planning process. If you think you missed it, don’t go looking for a post you missed. Instead, if you look back, from the very first post I gave you what you needed to know. Define your results. Plan the process you will employ to produce them.  Dip down into your source and decide how to transform the counterproductive behavior you think is going to trip you up.

If you had wished, you could have acted on that clarity alone and put it on a single page, no?

What is my point in making that point? It is this. How much of your life have you missed waiting for someone to tell you, in detail, what to do, how to do it and when to do it? There is a little loop here that ties back to the self-deception we've been talking about. 

Self-deception is fed by self betrayal, and self betrayal is to have a feeling to do something you know is true to you and to life, and then denying that feeling and doing something else instead. Knowing to do something, and then not acting on it, hoping and waiting for someone else to tell us what to do, how to do it and when to do it is a key leadership self betrayal, which in turns fuels self deception.

I'd be 20 again. In my own life, if I could subtract the time I've spent waiting for someone to tell me what to do, how to do it and when to do it (an authority "smarter" than me), I’d be 20 again and I’d have more hair, a broader chest and a flatter stomach. And you?

If this strikes a chord in you, too, I have a suggestion. I suggest you recognize this tendency and adjust your approach to planning, acting and living accordingly. If you do, you will get a lot more out of the brief time you are here on earth. I’m 50 years old and just learning that.

This is not to say that a planning process might not help. Perhaps it will. I will give you an actionable slice of mine. And if you will fuse with my process the insight that you perhaps had above, Katie-bar-the-door. You’ll light up your life like you got plugged into the cosmic power plant.

Let’s begin.

What are the seven most important key outcomes you intend to produce over the next six months? 

Think about that.

You will notice I did not start the planning process by asking what you think the purpose of life is, what you think your purpose is, what your vision is, what your mission is, nor did I even ask what your values are. Some planning processes start you there, "so your aim is true." Why didn't I ask, why didn't we start there? Is it because I don’t care? No, I do. Is it because I don’t think those are important? No, they are essential.

So why did I dispense with all the ponder your navel stuff? Because most people I know have some lint in theirs. Not that I go around checking, mind you. But I know. And it is impractical to ponder your navel if it clearly isn’t even clean. Better to get the lint out, and then ponder if that is what you want to do. What’s my point?

Most leaders I know have not mastered the things right in front of them: taking care of what is right in front of you is an intensely practical place to start. I could say quite a bit about this phenomena, where it comes from, what it is, what it means, etc. Yet I am not going to explain why at this time. What I will say is you cannot possibly imagine what this is costing you in terms of wasted psychic RAM, self esteem and personal power. I want you to find out.

Get out a piece of paper (2 if you will be doing this for your business and your personal life) and a pencil and an eraser. Separate the page into three sections. You may want to leave a little more space in the center section.

In the top section write the word Results in the top left hand corner. Right underneath that, write Part A: Key Outcomes and list the numbers one through seven. Now, write out up to seven key outcomes you intend to produce over the next six months. Here is some additional clarity.

1. Notice I said “you intend to produce.” I did not say, “would like to” produce. I did not say “hope” to produce. I did not say “should” produce. I did not say “might” produce. I said intend to produce. I’m not going to dip into talking about the esoteric underpinnings of intention and the power of intent, but do you get my drift? At least a feeling as to why I chose that word so carefully? You. In. Tend.

2. Notice I said “key outcome.” I did not say “goal,” nor “resolution,” nor "intention," nor “project,” nor “initiative” nor anything else. I said “key outcome.”

What is a key outcome? It is something indisputably observable by multiple people looking at it, and more often than not, it is measurable—like sales, revenue, profit, debt, savings, the value or your investments, pounds lost off your bod, total visits to the gym, percentage of your children’s recitals or events missed, number of dates with your spouse, or number of markets you expand into, competitors you acquire, or clients you intend to add.

3. Notice I said “six months.” Is this an annual planning process? Yes. But you do it twice in one year. Why? Because life is now moving too fast to plan once a year. Besides, if you actually follow the process month-in and month-out, you will learn so much that you will want a new plan in six months.

4. Make a clear decision regarding whether to use one plan or two, and whether to do business, personal or both. It is your call whether to have one list of seven with business and personal, to have separate lists, or just do one or the other. If you are new to planning and/or have a history of planning fits and starts, use just one plan. You can make that one plan for work, for personal, or for both. Just following your intuition as to what is right for you.

5. Do not have more than seven key outcomes. Here is where I am going to be a hard ass. I want you to focus, and you cannot focus on more than seven things (there’s research to back that up). 

Now I know there are those of you who may think seven is not enough or that you are a lot more sophisticated than that. I know you may have, for example, a scorecard for your business with a lot more than seven metrics on it. For example, you may have 50 metrics on your operations scorecard, and in the words of Austin Powers I say, Groov-vy, ba-by.”

But in that situation you are not focused on 50 things: You are focused on one thing. Namely, understanding what is going on in your business so you can run it better. And those 50 metrics provide a way dissect what is going on in order to do that. So, great! 

Yet in this planning exercise, we are not dissecting your life to understand what is going on so you can run it better. Instead, we are pulling things together, culling out the lesser in order to identify the vital view, and providing you with a point of focus: namely, the vital few things that matter most to you. 

There is, however, a way to bridge these two things together. In this planning situation, you might have a Key Outcome that is “Run the business well”, the basis for that measure might be the percent of the 50 metrics in the acceptable range, and your target might be 90%. With me?

Can you have less than seven? Of course! Seven is the limit, not the requirement.

6. Each of the seven items must have three elements. (Hard ass here again.) 1. Description. 2. Basis of measure. 3. Target number. See insert for examples.

 Go. As in, start writing. Write out up to seven key outcomes you want to produce over the next six months, (Just checking to see if you were awake—did you notice “want” instead of “intend”?) Yes, so, reach deep. Come up with the most important seven key outcomes you intend to produce in the next six months.

You've completed Part A of the Results section--the key results you'd like to produce. Next up, Part B. 

Planning--The Fallacy of the Perfect Plan, Part 3

When you hit that one area of planning (Define Results, Map Actions, Transform Behavior) that seems dumb, scary or impenetrable, an emotion, thought or physical sensation will herald the arrival of the Adversary. What is the Adversary? It is that part of you that runs a countercommitment that up to this point has been as powerful as your commitment to write a good plan, to achieve it, to push yourself into realms where no man has gone before. The Adversary fears the unknown. It loses its grip there. And so it stealthily stalks you continually with thoughts and emotions you think are yours to keep you where you are. In the known. 

A good plan by definition takes you into the unknown. If it doesn't you are not creating, you are reproducing. If you are not creating, you are not a leader. You are a reproducer (which isn't all bad, if you know what I mean). 

The Adversary may try to torpedo your planning with a thought you mistake as your own. Something inside you may say, “This is stupid,” or “I don’t know how to do this,” or “I don’t understand”, or “I don’t have time for this,” or “This is for sissies,” or “This is for corporate people,” or whatever. Whatever the voice says, it will be saying this isn’t for you. It is for people dumber (self-importance) or smarter (self-pity) than you. Could be true, but you might want to poke around the edges of it before you go back to planning like you always have, only to produce the same old results.

Or, the Adversary may trigger anxiety in your body, the almost irresistible urge you have to get up and move, go “do” something (bleeding off energy through activity vs focusing energy through action). And you tell yourself you’ll come back to it knowing full well if you do the game is over and you have failed yourself once more.  

Or it isn’t a thought or a physical impulse but an emotion that wells up—anger (as in, why am I so stupid! Or, Why is this so complicated!), joy (as in, let’s party and NOT do this... there's always next year), fear (as in, Oh sh**, what if I actually do this?) or melancholy (as in, I've never been good at this. All I do is let myself down. Here I go again...). 

Yes, something will likely happen as you hit the one aspect that is your current planning Achilles Heel: It will come initially in thought, or in physicality, or in emotion. And believe me, when the first one fires the others get activated. Watch for this. Keep your wits about you and don’t be so naïve as to think that planning is first and foremost a logical act. It is not. Planning is equally psycho-logical. 

Okay, so you notice the old thought, behavior or emotion the Adversary has squarely aimed at tubing your planning so you stay stuck right here, in the known, with it in control, and repeat this year pretty much what you have repeated every other year in the past. Now what? Good question. So what do you think the solution is, my friend? I only see one option and it is slap-dead simple. Muster the self-discipline and self-regulation to withstand the attempted death-blow and simply step over it or around it. Stay put. Punch through it. And give it my all. In other words, suck it up, kick some arse and show the Adversary who’s boss. Got it? 

“Chance favors the prepared mind,” Louis Pasteur 

Prepared you now are. 

In admonition one, I told you your plan by default will be imperfect because you are and to step over your worry about that. I suggested that you simply work from where you are and what you think you know. And that then, through taking action, your imperfect plan will be continually perfected through that action. And so with you. 

In this second admonition I've told you that part of your blind spot—impacted by your self-deception—has affected your planning in the past and that you may come up squarely against it here. I’ve suggested that you remain alert—like a cat watching a mouse hole—for the first thought, emotion or physical agitation aimed at tubing your planning process (again). And I’ve suggested that you muster from within the depths of yourself the power to absorb (or step out of the way of) the attempted blow, and in a second act of inner leadership that you muster self-discipline and self-regulation to stay with and step over and just do it even if it makes you feel like you are going to jump out of your own skin and run. Or, to put it even more simply, to kick some arse and stop that foolishness. 

Before I wrap I want to speak to those of you tracking with this at a deeper level, but who may not be really clear on what you are picking up on.

What I am saying is to use your heart to contain your mind when you are planning. When you are purely logic-based, you are in your mind. When you are caught in your emotions, you are in your mind. When you are swinging between your logic and emotions, you are in your mind. 

When you are silent, still, presencing, intuiting… feeling, you are in your heart. 

The heart is the place from which to plan: it should guide your planning and inform your mind. The heart center is your T-1 connection to spirit, not the mind. The mind is not just in this world, but of (identified with) this world. Interrupt your identification with the mind, and connect to the Greater Plan through your heart, and your little plan, over time--through the irrefutable clarity that springs from watching the thistles or figs your works create--grows ever more aligned with the Greater Plan. Your will is not quite so important any more. Your plan is not so little any more. And your spirit flows free and clear through your action.

Also, when the heart leads planning, the mind can assume it’s rightful place, which is to figure out how to execute the direction the heart senses. The funny thing about the mind is that it wants to run the show and yet instantly becomes terrified when doing so (because it knows it is useless leading in the unknown). The heart, now that is all the guidance we need to map out the unknown our plan brings us up against and takes us in to. 

What is the mind's role? The mind is the heart's ally, a brother-in-arms essential in formulating the actions required to convert the unknown into the known, but not responsible for leading that act.

I hope that helps those of you tracking this at a deeper level get the deeper implications you may be sensing. Now, let's wrap.

I encourage you to go all the way through the process I am about to share with you now—every single step all the way through—because you may find—having thrown yourself into the fires of the planning forge—that you have gone where no man has gone before. After all, no man or woman has gone there before. Not exactly. And if you do not go there, leader, if you do not map it out, no one will ever have. No one ever will. And there will be a hole in this universe, a gap in the collective intelligence with consequences you cannot imagine and yet are responsible for. That’s my belief, anyway. You are entitled to yours. :)

“You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold.

That is how important you are.”

Eckhart Tolle 

Now, let's light this candle.

Planning--The Fallacy of the Perfect Plan, Part 2

In my first planning process blog I told you this planning process is different because it addresses all three key aspects of planning: Results, the Process that give rise to the Results, and the Source of what (who, actually) does the Process and produces the Results. That being… You. 

In that first blog I told you a little about the blind spot. What I didn’t tell you directly were two things. One, we are all quite self-deceiving (yes, that includes you), and that it is our own self-deception that keeps the blind spot blind. 

Second, because this self-deception affects all aspects of our lives—our ability to plan included—self-deception will affect you in the planning process we are embarking on here. Let's look at this in more detail, as the second admonition of the Fallacy of the Perfect Plan. It is the correlation of self-deception to the three aspects of planning (see inserted graphic).

The second admonition is you will likely encounter a significant struggle with one particular area of the three areas of planning. You may already know which area—Define Results (Results), Create Action Plans (Process), or Transform Counterproductive Behavior (Source). Before you give up and say this is too hard or too much, or I’m taking to long to get to it, or that it does not apply to you, just bear with me a moment because it is your impatience, anxiety and/or your rush in the past that has tripped you up in planning. Not so? So take a deep breath if you need to, settle down, find center and listen up. 

Could it be the reason your past planning was not as successful or rewarding as you’d like is because your self-deception affected how you conducted your self during the planning process (or later, in the execution of it)? Could this be why your planning isn’t working for you like it should, even though you are a real intelligent guy or gal? And could this be why your most important goals or aspirations elude you, or lack meaning when you do achieve them? Get the picture? 

One of the three planning aspects will probably be easy for you, one will be “ok” and the other may be hard to penetrate or you may bounce off of it (or vice versa) entirely. You will not get out of this process the full impact unless you give your all to all three aspects. And that doesn’t mean all will equally perfect. You only need to be able to look in the mirror and be able to truly say, I gave ALL three aspects of planning my all, and I did not waver. 

So, do you see some potential trouble brewing? In fact, it is already brewed. It followed you here. It is in you. And it affects your planning. When trouble is brewing or brewed, you’ve got three options. First, head in sand. Second, return to the corner and assume the fetal position with pad of thumb in roof of mouth. Third, get yourself a strategy. That's what is coming up in the third and final post on The Fallacy of Planning, our gateway into the planning itself...

Planning--The Fallacy of the Perfect Plan, Part 1

Before we launch into planning, I feel like I have to give you two admonitions. It is somewhat personal in nature, as I have been tussling with it for years.

Here's the first admonition: Your plan will not be perfect. I can virtually guarantee it. 

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9 

We are human: we will never know enough to have a "perfect" plan. The Bigger Plan, the bigger movement within which our little big plans fall, that is not just the unknown for us. It is the unknowable. So to take our plans too seriously is simply arrogant.

And yet we are on the physical plane to act, "that faith without works is dead." So why do we struggle so to do so? Why are we born to act, but resist it so? We human beings are a funny lot, aren't we? We love excitement, we love progress, we love to move forward. 

But for far too many of us, it is that we love to think about planning, doing, acting. The funny thing about the mind is it cannot differentiate very much between thinking of acting and acting. Both trigger a sense of excitement. Yet, as the Irish proverb goes, we cannot plow a field by turning it over in our minds. 

There is a part of us with a hard-wired yearning for the unknown: and that is not the mind of the leader. That is the heart of the leader. That yearning is captured beautifully in the opening to every original Star Trek episode where the mission of the ship and crew of the starship Enterprise is read--"... to go where no man has gone before."

Yet, on the other hand, we only want that when it is safe, which means only when we understand it. And that is where the leaders mind (fear of the unknown) can trump his heart (the yearning for the unknown). Can you see the rub?

Life can only be lived forward, and understood backwards.

How can we understand that which is unknown to us before we step in to it to find out? It isn't possible. The only thing you can understand before you step into it is what is known to you. There's an important corollary to this.

Because much of who you are, why you are here and what life really is really is unknown to you (see prior post about the "blind spot"), your plan cannot be perfect. Is that a reason to not plan? That pesky inner judge that holds court continually within finds a slew of reasons to not plan, or to plan half-heartedly, or to half-heartedly execute a good plan. "You will look silly." "You don't even know your purpose. It is therefore a waste of time." "Why risk failing on something you do not even know is real." And on and on.

Let me give it to you straight: all you need to do is to do the best with what you do know now. If you do that, and keep it simple, with every act you take on your imperfect plan, you will perfect it. You have to live that plan forward, and in return for taking the risk of action in the direction of something you know that you cannot truly know or understand beforehand, the imperfection will be revealed. Then what do you do? You adjust. You improvise. And your plan continually shape-shifts. Not in an ADHD way, but in an unfolding way.

And there you stand before it. The imperfect (co-)creator becoming perfected through action. So, if you, too are plagued by an insatiable desire to "get it right" and therefore tend to hold back on planning because you know that you don't know and so why risk failure. Be honest with yourself. You are already failing. You are failing to unfold your full potential at the rate you know you are capable of. So, if you are going to fail, fail forward for goodness sakes.

"You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold.

That is how important you are." Eckhart Tolle

There you have it: give it all you got and start from where you are and with what you know. Then, as you act, your action will be rewarded with something you can't buy. With clarity. And with a huge boost in your self esteem and your understanding of yourself, of others and of life. And, therefore, with power. Clarity and power. Those are two allies you can count on in stepping into an unknown you cannot possibly understand but courses through the blood in the veins of a leader...

Planning--The One Key Principle You Should Know

A very good consultant friend of mine, Lisa, just asked me to share the planning (and execution) approach I am using in 2010. It is the culmination of many years of trying to find the optimum balance for planning. Why is finding the balance so hard?

Planning is tricky. If it is too comprehensive it becomes too complicated and the form (of the planning) trumps the function (of getting things done). If it is not sufficiently comprehensive it becomes too thin, and there is not an adequate form through which to get the things done. In either case, the most important things don't get done. The song remains the same. 

Striking that balance in planning (and executing) is a very personal thing--hence, one size never fits all. Therefore, I know my approach won't work for everyone. No approach will because every person has a different combination of self-discipline, inner-directedness and magnitude of goals.

Planning (and doing) requires inner direction (knowing what is important), self-discipline (getting it done), and time. Most executives (and others) I talk with want the benefits of planning without the costs. Like most things in life, you get out of it precisely what you put in to it. No planning approach will save you from your own self, from insufficient inner direction and/or self-discipline. However, committing to a planning (and executing) approach that is a fit for you, and consistently doing it, can profoundly affect both.

This brings us to a key point: my belief is the purpose of planning (and executing) is not just about getting your goals achieved. It is equally about mastering your self. Therefore, my approach is a fusion of pragmatic planning tools & disciplines and an intensely practical approach to self-mastery, to forging yourself into a leader of stronger mettle in the fires of the forge of planning and executing.

This brings us to the one key principle of my planning approach you should know. It is this. It is not enough to know the results you want to produce (though that is essential). It is not enough to understand theprocess you will follow to produce those results (though that is essential). There is a third essential, and it is the taproot, and it is this.

You cannot sustainably produce results you have not produced before without changing your self.

If you don’t buy that—or if you don’t at least want to test it—then I can tell you there are simpler planning approaches out there that you might want to try. What makes my planning approach unique is that it addresses all three required levels—results (what), processes (how) and source (who—that being you).

The aspects of my planning approach gelled for me when I saw Otto Scharmer’s simple graphic (see insert) and overlaid to his model the various planning tools I’ve developed over the years. (The darndest things often happen when I am dreaming.) Otto uses the graphic to explain what he calls the “blind spot” of leadership today--that is, the lack of understanding regarding the source of our behaviors, thoughts, emotions and feelings. 

What's the net? To understand the comprehensive nature of my planning approach, it may help you to consider that you do indeed have a blind spot, that it is costing you more than you can fathom, and that the next level of leadership and the next level of results will elude you until you begin to illuminate it.

Here's what Otto says:

“Why do our attempts to deal with the challenges of our time so often fail? Why are we stuck in so many quagmires today? The cause of our collective failure is that we are blind to the deeper dimension of leadership and transformational change…

"We know a great deal about what leaders do and how they do it. But we know very little about the inner place, the source from which they operate.

"Successful leadership depends on the quality of attention and intention that the leader brings to any situation. Two leaders in the same circumstances doing the same thing can bring about completely different outcomes, depending on the inner place from which each operates. The nature of this inner place in leaders is something of a mystery to us.

"… in the arena of management and leading transformational change, we know very little about these inner dimensions, and very seldom are specific techniques applied to enhance management performance from the inside out. In a way, this lack of knowledge constitutes a “blind spot” in our approach to leadership and management.”

In short, the blind spot is that we do not understand our own source, the inner space from which we operate. All the imbalance you see in the world today is nothing more than a mirror of our collective blind spots. So, if you want to change your results, work with the blind spot. If you want to change the world, work with the blind spot. If you want to establish right relations, teamwork, co-operation and collaboration with those around you, work with the blind spot.

My hope is that you will find that the planning approach I will share with you in the next post provides to you a partial solution to the problem Otto highlights, that "very seldom are specific techniques applied to enhance management performance from the inside out." I believe you will find, if you consistently follow the planning and execution process, that you will not only achieve results that have eluded you, but you will begin illuminating your blind spot, freeing your self to be a leader truly relevant to these times, and becoming an epicenter of the transformational change the world needs at this time. Charity, it seems, truly starts at home. That is, with developing the leader in us. Planning (and doing) is a wonderful form through which to do that, to purify your metal, and to become a leader of a stronger, more fluid... mettle.