How to Create Your Success Pathway

Where do you want to be in 3 years?

What stands in the way of that?

You probably have a good idea of where you would like to be on your Success Pathway in 3 years. The question is, how do you get there?

• Uncertainty
• Rapid change
• Emotional complexity in the workplace
• Hybrid and remote team members
• Harder to find good talent

These are challenges we all face today.

Do you know what it is like when:

• You have a healthy and vital organization and teams?
• People in your organization see change as opportunity?
• Leaders are well equipped to manage the challenges and take advantage of opportunities?
• You have created "liberating structures" that free people up to focus on higher value efforts?
• Communication and collaboration are excellent?

All of this is possible...but it takes focus and good planning to get there.

Strategy → Success Pathway

We here the word strategy a lot. As a matter of fact, we hear it so much it has become muddy in its meaning. For the purposes of this discussion, let's focus on strategy as the plan and goals you put in place to reach the success you desire. This is what I call a Success Pathway. Why? Because it takes into account the roadmap, the directions, the stops along the way, and the equipping needed to make a successful journey.

What is your Success Pathway? If it helps, think of it as:

• What are your expectations?
• Do you understand the expectations and what it will take to achieve them?
• What equipping in new or enhanced skills, knowledge, or experience do you need to be successful?
• How will you measure your progress?
• What are the consequences and their impact on your journey?

I have just given you our "accountability equation" found in our "Cultivating Accountability" course.
 

Expectations + Understanding + Equipping + Measures/metrics + Consequences = Accountability

Creating your Success Pathway, and that of your organization, teams, and employees creates a competitive advantage. It brings clarity, increases engagement, reduces waste, and prepares people to embrace change and be better equipped to take advantage of opportunity.

Transformation

By creating Success Pathways you begin a transformational process. When each individual knows how the strategy impacts them, and then how their efforts impact the health and vitality of the organization, you get an entirely different level of understanding.

How many times have you told someone what the goals were only to have them not fully engage? Probably more than you would like. That triggers uncertainty, frustration, and even anger. So what is missing?

3 Steps to Transformation

1. Do others understand the goals and expectations the same way that you do? This is one of the biggest pitfalls for leaders. We assume that other people understand things the way we do. But how can they? They are not us. We have to ensure that they understand it in a way that they can fully wrap their brain around it and then embrace it.
2. Do others attribute the same sense of importance and urgency to the goals and expectations that you do? Unless you have been explicit about this, truly stating these critical aspects, then the answer is probably not. Emotions drive decisions and behavior. If you do not express the importance and urgency, then you repress the emotional drivers that could be adding energy and focus to achieving your desired goals.
3. Do others understand how their efforts impact the team, organization, and customers? Without this understanding, people can easily fall into a "just going through the motions" approach to their efforts. When people understand their role and impact in the context of outcomes, then they have purpose, direction, ownership, satisfaction, and belonging.

This is why having a Success Pathway is so important. It is personal. It is real. It is an opportunity to engage at a higher level. It is an opportunity to contribute and be accountable. All of these are key to creating an environment of sustainable success.

Assess - Equip - Align - Succeed

This is our 4-step approach to achieve our mission: Equipping People to Prosper. (visit our website to learn more)

Where should you start creating Success Pathways? By assessing. Good data leads to good decisions. Good data leads to better planning. Good data brings clarity and focus.

As we get into the 4th quarter of the year, our minds turn to planning for next year. How many times have you planned but then found the plan is never executed as well as it should be? Instead of going through that same process and hoping for better results...change the process. Yes, do your strategic planning, but do "smart strategic planning".

Success Pathways

If you are willing to invest the time and effort to create Success Pathways for your organization, teams, and leaders (and yourself), it will pay dividends for years to come. Clarity, focus, energy and resources  applied appropriately, these are all outcomes of this approach. The unexpected benefit...this actually simplifies the planning process and provides clear direction and action steps to reach the success you desire.

Copyright © 2022 EQFIT® - Author: Steven Goodner All rights reserved. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact: [email protected]