Have you ever had the experience of being in charge of a project at work where you are either leading a team or have the full responsibility yourself? Most often we need to complete it in a given period of time. It’s not unusual that, as a first step, we often tend to think it through and create the ideal plan that will allow us to achieve the goal. Of course we devised a plan that we are convinced will effectively do the job and won’t mind the recognition we stand to get for a job well done. And, this is a great approach … until it isn’t!

In an article by Michael Beck entitled Everyone Has A Plan Until … he quotes Mike Tyson, the heavyweight boxer, as saying, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” “It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about boxing or business, the truth is that we all have a plan for success until we get hit with a setback.  Many people will want to give up after being hit with a failure or an obstacle.  And some people will persevere and continue to take a beating.  But there are people who will take a step back, correct their course of action, and find a way to succeed.”

In coaching we frequently work with clients who are in some form of ‘stuck’. And, quite often, it has to do with their having encountered an obstacle(s) in carrying out their approach to the work. Simply stated, they are having trouble circumventing or moving beyond it. In coaching them, the goal is to help the client identify and view alternative ways they can move forward and realize the success they want and are expected to achieve.

Here’s the scenario. You have a devised plan to successfully achieve the project goal. You’re pleased with it and believe it is going to knock the socks off those on its’ completion. Your confidence has you sailing forward when suddenly … crash! You encounter a significant obstacle that threatens not only the completion time-line but also the completion of the project at all.   Here are two common ways that you can respond to this:

1. You just know your way will work and because of that you keep trying to move forward and continue to run into the same or similar walls. If your attachment to how you should achieve the goal is so strong, potentially it prevents you from being able to ‘see’ any other alternative or even worse, makes you unwilling to even consider an alternative. And this kind of ‘stuck’ is dangerous for it threatens to promote failure of the project and that opens you up to other and more serious repercussions. You’ve really lost focus on the true goal of the job … successful completion.

OR …

2. Although you believe in your plan, you remain open to seeing when you are not making the progress you need to make and recognize an obstacle for what it is … an obstacle. Regardless of your initial confidence, you recognize that to stay that course threatens to ultimately fail in achievement of the goal and the expected   time-line. So, you return to the drawing board intent on altering the planned approach in a way that enables you to move to completion. If this is you, you are more focused on the higher goal … the successful completion as your driver.

I don’t know where you see yourself as it relates to accomplishing your projects however, if you are described in # 1 above, then, of course, the sooner you realize that form of ‘stuck’ you have the opportunity to follow the path of # 2 just because you caught yourself. Regardless, once we are in the zone of knowing we need to alter our plan, don’t eliminate any person as a resource of ideas. Often the best ones come from those who, although familiar with the subject, are not so close to it that they are unable to see solutions that appear somewhat simplistic … and just may be the perfect one.

In pursuing goals that are a part of our jobs, remaining flexible and alert to stumbling blocks we encounter will enable us to weather that ‘punch in the mouth’ and successfully resume the march to the goal. Do I hear John Philip Sousa music?

Mike Dorman

What is responsible for your greatest challenges? Your job? Your boss? Your business? Your team? How do you get these things to change? To get your answer, really think about it and maybe it’s good to include the image in the   mirror.

Perhaps you’ve read the writings of Dave Ramsey. And if you haven’t yet, his latest book … EntreLeadership … is a great place to start. In it, he shares his best “practical business wisdom” he’s learned “from the trenches.” Big Ideas include understanding that you are the obstacle as well as the path around it to your own success. Here is a quote from his book:

“So the problem with my company then and now is me. The problem with your company is not the economy, it is not the lack of opportunity, it is not your team. The problem is you. That is the bad news. The good news is, if you’re the problem, you’re also the solution. You’re the one person you can change the easiest. You can decide to grow. Grow your abilities, your character, your education, and your capacity. You can decide who you want to be and get about the business of becoming that person.”

This is intriguing. I watched a video in which Brian Johnson (Philosopher’sNotes.tv) summarized author Ramsey’s points of EntreLeadership in a clear, straight-forward and easy to grasp manner. It’s definitely worth the time investment to see and, I believe, a very meaningful and worthwhile focus for this blog.

The word EntreLeadership is a combination of an entrepreneur (one who takes risks) and a Leader (one who guides people or even themselves). To Ramsey, this is the ideal in an organization, for having only one or the other doesn’t bring the best results. To master EntreLeadership means we focus on 5 basic ingredients as follows:

•  Manage Activities
  Process is primary! In order to achieve results we want, the focus needs to be on the various activities that will get us to the results. So often we verbalize where we are headed and become satisfied that we have that vision. But wait. We’ve not gone far enough. What is required is that we manage the activities that will lead to the results for our activities are the very things that we can control. Do it right and the desired results will follow.

• Pull Together
  It’s the synergistic approach. It makes little difference if you are a part of a team or work basically in your own business … there are times when you are required to interface with others to achieve your goal. The adage of 1 plus 1 equals 3 is proven time and time again. And … if you actually learn and train together, the 3 has the real potential of going higher.

• Visioneering
  Share your vision no less than 21 times before people really begin listening and hearing. It becomes engrained within us and each time it becomes more refined, goes a little bit deeper and becomes a bit more sophisticated.

• Decide
  Ready ~ Fire ~ Aim is the motto to be followed here. Too often, if going the direction of ready, aim, fire … we get stuck at the point of aim and never get to the action step. We often know that as analysis paralysis. Ramsey encourages us to fire after ‘ready’ and if we’re slightly off, make adjustments. At least we won’t find ourselves stuck and unable to act.

• 15 years = Overnight Success
  When we ‘arrive’ and receive some award or the praise of others for how successful we are it’s often acknowledged as something we just fell into. However, in fact, it is often the culmination of many tireless hours to days to years of pushing forward and thus the redefinition of ‘success’.

 I know this philosophy is not limited to just bosses or entire companies or teams. It has the same application to how we approach our own individual jobs. Thinking back over 12 years and all of the businesses and people with whom I have worked as a coach I can’t think of one situation that wouldn’t benefit from adopting Ramsey’s approach … the one that allows us to embrace the belief that we are all our own problem and our solution. If you’re intrigued now, watch the video here and I know you’ll find yourself sold and on the way! I’d really love to hear your reactions.

Mike Dorman