Hi!
Happy New
Year 2017!
I t's
the New Year again, and some may feel that 2017 may be a
tough year ahead.
Whatever is the case, we will be providing
more tips and strategies on how you can rise up to the
challenges and emerge victorious.
Hence, this month's
topics:
-
How to Set Challenging Goals and Achieve Them On Time; and
-
3 Simple Steps to Implement Effective and Meaningful Change
This issue's main article is on
"How to Set Challenging Goals and Achieve Them On Time", and
we look into the causes why certain goals or
resolutions are not achieved, and how you can
achieve challenging goals on time
In brief:
-
Set Challenging Goals. Challenging goals are more likely to generate better focus and create a sense of urgency, than non-challenging ones;
-
Understand why you need to achieve this goal,
and if your goal will lead to your end-objecives;
How to get the key stakeholders to agree upon your goals and end objectives that you want to achieve, as having such support is likely to increase your chances of . Read
on... ...
To read the rest of this
newsletter, pls.
click
here (http://www.psycheselling.com/page4.html).
How to Set Challenging Goals and Achieve Them On Time
by c.j. Ng
It's a beginning of a
new year, and everybody is
setting goals again. Be
that personal New Year resolutions or work-related
performance targets, this is the time to set goals.
Despite our best efforts, there will be goals that will never be achieved. So if you are looking to set goals for yourself or your team, here are some critical aspects that might be helpful.
Set Challenging Goals
Interestingly,
challenging goals are more likely to generate better focus and create a sense of urgency, than non-challenging ones. Depending on one’s motivational factors, either we would want to rise up to the challenge and gain recognition for great achievements, or that we simply do not want to drop the ball and end up in abject failure.
At the same time though, we also need to be mindful of the challenges that may arise while we journey towards achieving these goals. Setting goals without understanding and be prepared for the upcoming challenges could be merely wishful thinking.
Goals are in a way,
choices. As in any choices, there would be the costs (or
price) for making that choice. Hence, part of
understanding what challenges you need to face when
working towards the goal, is to understand what are the
costs in terms of time, resources, effort, sacrifices
etc., that needs to be invested:
This is as much about making sure you are willing to bear the costs to face the challenge in order to reach your goals, as it is about assessing if achieving your goals is worth the costs.
Why do You Need to Achieve This Goal?
The next issue is that you need to understand
why you need to achieve this goal. So if sales people are
given a sales target that could be significantly higher than
the previous year’s, they might be questioning if such
targets are reasonable..
Hence, management may need to explain what are
some of the negative consequences if such goals are not
achieved, as in “If we don’t achieve 2x growth this year,
our competitors will catch up with us and new customers will
be buying from them more, than from us.”
At the same time, we also need to know if by achieving these goals, will you reach your end objectives. Here’s an example that many could relate to:
-
We set goals to get good grades,
so that we get into good
schools;
-
We set goals to get into good
schools, so that we get
good jobs;
-
We set goals to get good jobs,
so that we can have a
good life, etc.
Most of the time, we set goals so that we
achieve an end objective. At the same time, you may want to
check if there is a direct correlation between the goal, and
the end objective, such as:
- If we get a good job,
will we
get a good life?
- If we go to a good school,
will
we get a good job?
The key thing here is not to ponder over the
above examples, but rather making sure that you check if the
goal will really lead to your end objectives.
Getting Buy-In for Your Action Steps
More often than not, your goals may require
the support and collaboration with others to achieve
Hence, you will need the key stakeholders to
agree upon your goals and end objectives that you want to
achieve, as having such support is likely to increase your
chances of success.
Not only that, you may also need to map out
the action steps required in order to reach the goals. Just like
by understanding the upcoming challenges will help you in facing
them, mapping out the general action steps will help you prepare
better to steer your way towards your goal.
Then, as you may need different people to support you and
collaborate with you along the way, you can seek the buy-in and
support of the most suitable people at for each step towards
your goal.
You may refer to our other resources on using
Belbin Team roles to find out
who are the most suitable people to help and support you for
each step of the goal.
Setting CLEAR Goals
In a nutshell, here’s a checklist on
how to make sure you increase your
success in achieving your goals:
C
– Challenging/ Challenges
L
– Limited by Time
E
– End Objectives
A
– Agreed Upon Action Steps
R
– Required (as in what will be the
horrible negative things if you
DON’T achieve this goal)
So set CLEAR goals, and good luck to
achieving your goals this year!
Need help in
in achieving your goals as a team? Simply e-mail
info@directions-consulting.com or call
+86-21-6219 0021 or WeChat: cydj001 and
arrange to have a deeper discussion.
Power Breakfast
Hour: 22 Feb 2017
How to Set
and Achieve Challenging Team Goals and Implement Effective
Change (Using Belbin)
-
How to set goals that will energise
and motivate your team;
-
How to make sure your team will
achieve your goals on time;
-
How to gain buy-in, and delegate the right people to the
right action steps
VENUE: Crowne Plaza Shanghai • 400 Panyu Road
(near Fahuazhen Road) • 上海银星皇冠酒店 • 番禺路
400 号 (靠法华镇路)
DATE: Wednesday,
22 Feb 2017
TIME: 08:30 a.m.
- 10:30 a.m.
PRICE: RMB 200
ONLY!
To make this a
more conducive discussion, we are
expecting a small group of about
15 people only, so please register
early to avoid disappointments.
Please e-mail your registrations
too
sales@directions-consulting.com
Pls. check out
our web sites
www.directions-consulting.com
and
www.psycheselling.com/page4.html
for more inspiration.
Tips for
Managers:
3 Simple Steps to Implement Effective and
Meaningful Change
by c.j. Ng
An important part of the work of a manager is to find ways to
implement effective and meaningful changes.
However, most people are resistant to change, either they fear
the unknown, or that they are comfortable where they are right
now, or it could be other reasons.
So here are 3 simple steps for managers to implement effective
and meaningful changes:
-
Why MUST we
change?
What are we
going to change into? ,
and
How should
we implement the change?
Most change initiatives
dove
straight into Step 3: "How to implement the changes."
However, without buy-in on "why
we MUST change", and "What are
we going to change into", the change initiatives will be bogged
down by strong resistance and the lack of support.
One of the cases we had witnessed was that a management team of
a sourcing company who was very efficient in their work, was
actually very slow and hesitant in implementing changes.
As it turned out, the work of the sourcing company entails a lot
of analysing and evaluating suppliers. If they were to
bring the same skill-sets and mind-sets in change management,
they will first do a lot of analysis and evaluation on "why
change" and "what to change into", before they could even take
the first steps in implementing any changes
Why We Must Change
To drive the change efforts, managers will have to ask
themselves, and then convince others, "What will happen if we do
NOT change?" Will there be any huge negative consequences
if the necessary changes are not being put in effect?
As mentioned earlier, people could either be fearing the
unknown, or be comfortable, or both. People generally
don't want to change UNLESS they have to. Illustrating
vividly the dire consequences of not taking action to change, is
likely to kick-start people into taking some form of action.
What Are We Going to Change Into
Merely telling people why they need to change
is a first, crucial step. However, this does not
necessarily mean that people will take the action and make the
change. For people who are afraid of an unknown future,
they will need some assurances about where they are heading
towards.
Hence, managers will need to paint a picture
or tell a story about what the future looked like. What
will be the direction the company is heading towards, and why
that is a place that all of us wanted to be.
Only then will we be going into the details
of how to implement the change.
Does that mean that the change will be easy?
No, definitely not. Because we are now in an environment
that is VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous).
There could be
a lot more changes than we wanted, and new
changes may even arise well before the previous changes have
been implemented.
Worse still, we may not even know exactly
what we are going to change into.
But that will be a discussion for another
day.
Need help in getting better results for your change management
efforts in a VUCA world? Simply e-mail
info@directions-consulting.com
or call +86-136 7190 2505 or Skype:
cydj001 and arrange to buy me a
mocha. All information shall be kept in confidence.
Directions
Management Consulting
Directions Management
Consulting is the partner of
LeadershipIQ
in China and Asia.
LeadershipIQ
helps more than 125,000 leaders every
year through the facts drawn from one
of the largest ongoing leadership
studies ever conducted is used to help
companies apply resources where the
best possible results be achieved.
In addition, Directions
Management Consulting is a leading
provider of sales performance,
innovation and experiential learning
solutions in China and many parts of
Asia.
Using the
Belbin Team Role
Profiling
Psycheselling.com is the
sales performance arm of Directions
Management Consulting specialising
in conducting training, research and
consulting services for sales
managers and their team.
Currently,
Directions Management Consulting
has served clients such as
Delphi Packard, InterContinental
Hotels Group, Alcoa Wheels,
Standard Chartered Bank, Merial,
ThyssenKrupp, Lowe's Global
Sourcing, Diehl, Kulzer Dental
etc.
Directions Management
Consulting will increase its
efforts to conduct leadership
studies in China and other parts
of Asia, so that more companies
apply resources where the best
possible results be achieved in
this part of the world.d.
Enquiries and
suggestions, pls. e-mail
info@directions-consulting.com or visit
www.directions-consulting.com
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