Building the Bridge from Ideas to Impact

“from ideas to impact”...     

This is the tag-line for my coaching & facilitation venture: Visiontracks Facilitation and Coaching: www.visiontracks.ca.  I chose it carefully to challenge not only those I work with, but myself!  My passion is to help bring life to individuals’ and organizations’ dreams by helping them articulate it and then lay the tracks that lead to desired impact. 

A plan isn’t satisfactory.  Its impact that matters. 

The truth is many ideas never cross the bridge to impact.

I have observed some barriers over the 20 years I have coached individuals and organizations. Each of these I have faced in the execution of my own dreams.  It seems to be part of the human condition.  However rather than just identify barriers, I will describe THE BRIDGES that lead to impact.

I see 3 primary barriers that affect the ability to reach the stage of impact:

Execution Anxiety

Execution is the ‘other side’ of planning.  Problem is, it’s the planning that we love more.  We love it because it is all about possibilities, opportunities, dreaming.  It is an artful stage: intellectual fun with no responsibilities.  Even more, when you are done with the plan you can declare a ‘victory’.  Most of you reading this have experienced participating in strategy development only to watch it die on the shelf of neglect.  It’s similar to our new years’ penchant for goal setting.  There is enthusiasm for the plan, less energy for the execution side. We’d rather plan than execute.

 

To build THE BRIDGE from planning to execution:

·         Keep your plans simple with enough room for ongoing adaptability.  I have become less enamored with the rigid, detailed and highly structured strategic plan.  That’s not because I have become lazy, but as a result of observing that not only do people respond poorly to overly complex and rigid plans, but the complex and fast-moving environments in which we lead require plans with built-in adaptability. Simplicity makes sense and allows room for adaptation.

·         Centralize the questions; decentralize the answers.  In the execution of the plan, move key operational decisions out to the edge.  Central planning has not served world economies very well and it’s not likely to work for you.  The generational forces currently at play have influenced & empowered a grassroots leadership environment (note the Occupy Movement).  Trust your people to execute.  If you can’t, either you have the wrong people or you should not be the leader.

·         Act as though your plan is never done.  Planning does not end when you produce and publish it.  It’s an ongoing process.  By that I mean adaptation along the way is what completes the plan.  Think about this - it’s only with hindsight that you ‘see’ the actual plan.

·         Praise execution, not planning.  Execution is real results.  Plans are fond hopes that must survive the brush with reality.  Therefore as the leader, the most critical part of your role is to accomplish the mission by caring for the people who face reality and execute the plan.  Praise and support them in the acts of bridging ideas to impact.

Fear

Fears matter.   They are natural to leaders and teams when entering the unknown territory that visions typically demand. 

 How do we walk across THE BRIDGE from fear to courage?

·         Resist simply powering through them as your solution to the fears expressed in the team (or in yourself). While it may appear as courage or ‘leadership’ to be stoic and committed to the vision “come hell or high water”, it’s actually foolish because you are setting yourself up as unwilling to adapt to changing conditions and information. 

·         Address fears by naming them.  Fear feeds retreat, so if you really want to move ahead, you must deal with fear.  Label them.  Lay them on the team table. This takes courage, trust and openness.  Doing this as a team is a profound team-building experience, because better than a rock climbing exercise, the honesty & vulnerability required transforms co-workers into true colleagues.  True vulnerability starts with the leader.  Once you lead in this way, over time the team will be willing to express more than just superficial fears and concerns. 

However they are finally labelled, I find fears typically emerge from: resistance to change, a desire to maintain status quo, caution because of past failure, lack of information or sufficiently robust research and lack of confidence in team members with whom they must execute a plan.  Astute leaders need to stay tuned for the ‘elephant in the room’ and coax that invisible yet monstrous obstacle out from the shadows of team silence. Give it a name.

·         Now decide if the expressed fear is one of execution (accountability), or one that legitimately reveals an operational weakness and requires adaptation. 

Some fears are legitimate, so don’t push those fears aside because you want to appear ‘strong’.  If you let fear fester, it will eventually breed doubt, lack of courage and even cynicism toward the plan.  By that stage it’s hard to peel back all the layers that covered your original fears.  You have gone from naming the fear to blaming someone or something and have given up your power to create change and impact.

Wavering Focus

Although we enter a planning process in order to gain the kind of focus that will marshal our resources and efforts in a concentrated way, once a plan is decided upon, the ‘what-if?’ syndrome can kick in: 

“What if this isn’t our best plan?” 

“What if our planning scenarios change?” 

“What if we had tried option ‘C’ instead?”

“What if...”

No matter how robust your planning process, this kind of ‘what if’ thinking always lingers among leaders and team members.  Resist the temptation to abandon your plan and take a completely different road.  Adapt – yes.  Abandon – no.  The execution road is never as easy as the planning road.   

I have observed that pining for a different road happens when:

• We resist the accountability of execution
• We don’t accept limitations.  This is especially a problem for visionaries & conceptualizers.  They LOVE ideas and options.  It’s their world, their fuel, their food.  To finally commit to one road/plan although it may make intellectual sense, feels like it is now limiting them.   There are limitations in ANY plan.  (By the way, that ‘other road’ you desire to take has its own limitations!)
• We don’t create the support mechanisms which keep us progressing toward our goals.  Regular check-ins with the team to track & acknowledge progress, make necessary adaptations and celebrate achievements, are ways to maintain focus.

 

THE BRIDGE to FOCUS is paved with 4 stones which I find are foundational when I am coaching individuals or teams:

·         Time:  Change leading to impact requires commitment to a reasonable time period for execution.

·         Attention:  A regular ‘check-in’ which brings the goals to the front of your mind ensures you don’t create a ‘distance’ that easily leads to neglect.

·         Repetition:  Reviewing where you have come from, as well as reminding yourself of the vision and the steps to get there keeps you grounded.

·         Affirmation:  Being generous with affirmative comments to your team creates positive psychological momentum; a motivation to keep striving for fulfillment of the vision.

It’s one of the ‘large’ questions of life, whether for an individual or an organization:

 What impact will I have on this world?

The larger question is:

Have you built the bridge that gets you there?

If you need help as a leader or a team to walk across the bridge from ideas to impact, consider connecting with Harvey as your coach.  

      

info@visiontracks.ca  .       1-403-970-4148   .      www.visiontracks.ca