Goal-setting seems to get so much of the glory these days–widely acclaimed as the cornerstone activity of success. Of course, naming a goal is the first step towards achieving results–and enough cannot be said for making a goal SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Time Bound). However, as powerful as the goal-setting process might be, it is ONLY the first step, and by NO means will it get you to your end result on its own!
Let’s say you want a 20% increase in your sales by September 1, 2015. That might very well be an achievable SMART goal, but it’s not enough to simply flesh-out the details of how it’s all going to look when Labor Day rolls around. There are two more pieces of the puzzle—starting with devising an ACTION PLAN in which you map out the specific steps you’ll take on the road to achieve your end result. (Action plans get almost as much air time these days as goal-setting.)
So now you’ve identified the goal (i.e. where you want to go) and you have mapped out your action plan (i.e. how to get there) -– and so success should be guaranteed at this point–right? Wrong! You’ve only taken 2 of the steps towards achieving the goal. There is a 3rd step, and without it, success is not likely at all.
The missing piece of the puzzle is an effective SYSTEM (i.e. routines, habits, activities, and processes) for implementing your action plan. Without a system, (sometimes called a system of operations) even the best action plan can fall through the cracks. An effective system, however, guarantees your best shot at success.
Perhaps you have a dream of running a marathon. Outlining your plan is a great first step, of course, but if you hope to cross that finish line, you’ll need an incremental system of nutrition, training and recovery that you’ll implement every day–week in, week out–until your goal of running a marathon comes to fruition. The same holds true for achieving business goals; you need systems!
I was working with a client a few weeks ago, and this very topic came up. She understood the importance of creating systems, but she also wanted to understand the scope of systems she would need for her particular company.
Regarding the scope, I asked her to walk me through her basic client interactions, from the customer’s first contact with the company to follow-up contact over the next 2 years. Through this process, she identified the following areas she needed to systematize: Promotion, Sales, On-boarding, Client Service, Operations, Accounting, and Follow-up.
She asked me to give her an example of a system from my own line of work, and I used the making of my blog as a model:
To begin with, I didn’t even want to do a blog because it didn’t make sense to me. I was raising a child at home, I had a growing client load, I attended networking events, I was active on 2 boards, and I had ongoing speaking engagements. There was NO way I had the time to consistently write a blog–or so I told myself. Upon further examination, however, I discovered that time wasn’t the issue; the issue was–I didn’t have an effective system in place for writing a substantive article on a regular basis. Over time, I did implement a system for myself which resulted in consistently churning out articles averaging 850-1000 words in length. That means over 130,000 words have entered the Blogosphere over the course of 3 years! These numbers did not come about simply by goal-setting and action-planning; the numbers are the result of creating, refining, and sticking to an effective system.
Here’s the bulleted, step-by-step system I follow:
- Wednesday, 2 PM: Complete final tweaks on article and post it to the site.
- Thursday through Sunday: Keep an ongoing log of ideas for the next article, jotting down various thoughts and observations throughout the week.
- Monday 8:45 AM: Review compiled thoughts and ideas.
- 9:00 AM: Go for a walk with my family.
- Talk with my wife and learn about the various experiences she had throughout her week, and see if they might coincide with the article I’m formulating.
- Share my own observations and thoughts with her.
- Pinpoint a topic.
- 10 AM-10:10 AM: Outline my ideas for the article, beginning with a few options for titles.
- 10:10-11:00 AM: Begin composing the 1st rough draft.
- 11 AM: Stop writing (regardless of how much I have or have not accomplished)
- 1:00 -1:30 PM: 2nd draft.
- Tuesday 5:30-6:30 AM: 3rd draft
- 10:00-10:15 AM: 4th draft
- 11 AM – Submit 4th draft to Stevie Jay,(my writing coach) and to Will Turner, for edits.
- Wednesday 10 AM: Review suggestions by writing coach.
- 11AM: Will Turner posts article on WordPress with his edits.
- 11:30 AM: I add suggestions from my writing coach
- 2 PM: Add completed and finalized article to the newsletter
This is an example of one of my systems and it has proven to be effective. I’ve also learned that it’s critical, from time to time, to review, assess, refine, and revise any operational systems you’ve got in place. New situations and challenges are inevitable, and they’ve got to be factored into your system of operations as they present themselves! As an example, we used this existing blog writing system and ramped it up resulting in the creation of our first joint e-book (Time Sucked! How to rock your productivity mojo AND get your life back). Again, the book is the result of modifying a reliable and predictable system.
If you want to do something lofty like write a book, run a marathon, increase sales, or create a more consistently positive experience with your clientele this year, you’ll need systems to get you there.
Take a look at the different aspects of your job or business and think of ways you can create, refine and stick to a system– and give yourself the best shot at success!
