Every organisation needs a vision and some goals. Every organisation needs to know where it’s trying to get to!
It’s similar to when you take a trip somewhere. Most of the time, it’s important not to set off on our journey until you’ve decided where you’re going. With the exception of inter-railing students, it’s best to plan your destination so you can buy the right ticket, get on the right train or take the right road! However, we don’t often worry about how the entire journey will pan out. You don’t usually get concerned about all the possibly issues that could cause problems to your journey.
There may be road works on the way which force us to take a diversion. We may get a puncture that causes us to stop and make repairs. Trains get delayed or cancelled. The bad weather could mean we have to slow down and take it easy to stay safe. We could get caught on a speed camera!
Any of these things could crop up and send our trip a little haywire, but it doesn’t stop us setting off. It doesn’t stop us getting started. We just deal with these annoyances when they occur. We take them in our stride and keep on going. What would happen if we stayed at home until we knew exactly how our journey would go? If we didn’t set off until every aspect of our journey was within our control. If we never left until we were absolutely sure of how everything would happen and how we planned to deal with it.
We would never leave the house!
But that’s often how we live life. It’s often how organisations approach goals! We know where we want to go and what we want to achieve, but we can’t see how we are going to get there and we are constantly worried about what may happen en route. We can’t see all the unknown steps to get there. So we don’t bother setting off. We ask for more data. We want a better business plan. We need more time!
Here’s the secret!
You only need to know what the next step to take is. You don’t need to understand all the steps and all the twists and turns of your journey. You just need to know what you have to do now. What do you need to focus on next? What needs to be done today!
So why not take your first step today and see where it takes you. I bet you’ll be surprised how far you’ve travelled in 6 months time – you may even have reached your destination.
What goals have been on your list that you need a push to get started on?