Define The Challenge

I recently blogged a bit about your hoped for future. Let’s take this a little further by defining the challenge. Ask yourself the following:

• What isn’t working?
• How can we (or I) . . .?
• Would this feel like success?

What Isn’t Working?:

Think about your “pains”. I’m not referring to physical ailments but things in your organization that just aren’t clicking the way you’d like. This is really tough to do because our instincts are to avoid conflicts and pain. But when things aren’t working, they need to be fixed. Before you can solve the problems, you first identify the issues. Ignoring these issues won’t make them go away. Fight your instincts to solve the problems immediately. Quick “solutions” rarely address the root cause.

How Can We (Or I). . .?:

Now that you have identified what isn’t working, it’s a little bit easy to put the problems in proper context. If something is broke, you should start to think “How can we fix this?”

Would This Feel Like Success?:

If you fix the thing that is broken, will this lead to success? If so, you are on the right track. If not, go back to the drawing board until you come up with “How can we” questions that will lead to success.

These guiding principles are highlighted in Erika Andersen’s book Being Strategic.