BEWARE! The Road to Failure is Often Paved with Good Intentions

We experience it every day – the shifting sands of priorities. It’s a fact of life that is all too familiar.

We start with good intentions, with a goal – maybe even a plan, then….nothing.

Why? What changed? Was our goal not realistic, not relevant, not that important? Or, did we simp

ly allow the inevitable tsunami of daily activity to knock us off course? I’ve seen this phenomenon play out through my own behavior as well as in my client interactions.

A manager is desperate to hire additional help and eagerly starts the recruitment process, then fails to follow up with candidates or make a hiring decision in a timely manner – because he is too busy. Quite the paradox. Was the need not real, not urgent? Indeed it was, and the intentions to act were good, we tried but,….nothing.

A business owner realizes that in order to continue to grow and thrive, her organization must shift focus to more profitable solution sales with better margins rather than continuing to allow her very expensive field sales team to handle smaller volume, lower margin transactional sales. A plan is crafted to shift the less profitable transactions to an inside sales team and re-focus the field sales team on larger system opportunities. A strategy is created, targets are established, compensation plans are reviewed and modified – ready, aim….can’t pull the trigger. Too much is going on to rock the boat right now. I don’t want to de-motivate the field sales team. What if sales drop off rather than increase? What if we lose people as a result of the change? So, nothing happens and the issues that led to the original decision to adopt a new approach remain unresolved.

A sales team consists of two or three top performers and a larger group of sub-goal individuals. It’s obvious to the sales manager that something must be done to raise the performance of the under performing team members. Plans are devised to conduct an in-depth assessment of each of the sub-par performers. Strategies are crafted for training and coaching with trigger points established for making decisions as to who is improving and who may need to be let go. But the team as a whole is still hitting the overall team goal. There are a number of trade shows coming up that are requiring attention and manpower. The manager is only one person and four or five individuals are going to require a lot of time and coaching attention. Maybe this isn’t the best time to make any serious moves. Maybe the individuals who are below goal will fix themselves. The trigger on the plan never gets pulled.

We all understand that the problem exists – even if it’s a New  Year’s resolution that goes unachieved. We all make plans and set goals that never gain traction. Why does it happen and what can we do to increase the chances that we will actually stick with a plan and fully pursue an objective? Here are few observations and recommendations.

Check your reasoning.

Is this really something you believe – truly believe – you need to do? Or is it something that is being imposed on you by others. Maybe it’s something you feel you should do because you read it or heard it from someone else. Perhaps your reasons fall under the category of change for the sake of change. If your reasons are, in fact, sound – then you must turn the heat up on this new initiative so that it burns hotter and brighter than all other priorities. Make it a “must do” rather than a “like to do” objective.

“Do. Or do not. There is no try.”       – Yoda

Understand the Psychology of Change

Change is hard, change is challenging, change involves modifying behavior and moving from the comfortable to the uncomfortable. These change-related issues can keep us from acting on – or sticking with – our goals and plans. There’s an old adage that you can’t steal second with a foot on first. First is comfortable, safe, while taking off for second is risky, unknown – but potentially rewarding. How do you overcome the reluctance to commit to change?

First, enlist others in the change process – it helps mitigate individual risks, it allows for collaboration and reinforcement, it brings added insight and opinion and increases accountability. Having a commitment to a work out partner will help get you to the gym far more effectively than going alone. Therefore, engaging others in a new hiring initiative or a new business direction will help keep you motivated and on task toward your new objective.

Second, define the consequences of change action versus inaction. If the benefits of action outweigh the consequences of inaction, then writing them down and posting them where you can see them might provide that added motivation you need to stay the course during the change journey.

Finally, build in incremental milestones and checkpoints. We all need reinforcement that we are making progress. Set small goals that are achievable in shorter time frames. Checking off the boxes of accomplishments will keep you motivated to move forward.

Recognize When Things Have Changed or a Goal is Unrealistic

I mention this last simply because it’s where we tend to go first. We often resort to this as the excuse for why we didn’t “pull the trigger”. That said, there are times when those shifting priority sands really do change levels of urgency. Stuff happens, crisis occurs and we find ourselves having to adjust accordingly. Other times we may find that we were overly optimistic in our goal setting. A selling manager who carries a full account load and decides to hire three new sales reps at the same time may quickly realize that this goal is impossible to achieve effectively because she cannot do justice to her customers and sales responsibilities while interviewing, hiring and training three new direct reports. But she might be able to modify her goal and hire one individual who she could mentor and train while carrying out her sales duties.

The problem comes in when we justify our abandonment of a goal or plan based on being too busy, or blame our failure to take action on having to react to other “priorities”. Activity will always expand to fill available time – it just may not be the most important activity. So, you must constantly re-visit your priorities and work diligently to get back to the most important ones as quickly as possible. If you’ve done your due-diligence and have determined that a change or a plan is truly a priority, don’t allow yourself to pave that road – which may ultimately lead to failure – with good intentions. Pull the trigger, stay focused and get it done.