Dan Schneider

Moving From Intention to Commitment: Leveraging Today
August 27, 2008

We all have a different idea of vacation paradise. For some, it’s the mountains. For others, it’s forest. For you, it might be the ocean beach. For one family we know and serve, it’s the Caribbean Islands in February.

Let’s talk about the islands. Many businesses and families have members who perpetually live in an island state of mind. You can hear them talk about “Tomorrow I’ll,” “Next Year I’ll,” or “Someday I’ll.” There is actually a little bit of that in all of us, isn’t there? So how do we get off the “I’ll” and begin taking action on those things we gently remind ourselves really should be done?

Making Today Count

Our Caribbean client frequently talks about some of his business owner peers and their problems with being part of the “Sandwich Generation” – you know the group of current business leaders stuck between an older (parental ?) generation locked on yesterday and a younger (children ?) generation locked on tomorrow. “They don’t involve the older generation in the planning process because everything we suggest has been tried or won’t work. Then they’ve got another group they don’t like to have involved because something better will or might come along tomorrow, so why invest people, time, and money in something that will soon be “old school”? Remember when that used to be a problem for us?”

Sounds a little like the chicken or the egg dilemma, doesn’t it? But there is an answer, and it isn’t change your people. It’s much simpler and kinder. It’s change your process.

Getting Commitment on Implementation and Execution

In most cases, you know what you want to have happen. The resistance from others comes when you begin asking them what they think should happen. As soon as they give an answer, they have ownership in those words – they have a dog in the hunt.

So, to get people off the “Tomorrow and Someday I’lls”, try these steps that our friend Denny began to use with his family and staff:

1. Seek input from others unless you already know the answer.
2. Decide where you’re going and what you want to accomplish.
3. Share the vision and hold firm on the outcome.
4. Ask “How do we get this done?” If someone says “It can’t be done,” come back with “Well, if we could do it, how would we go about it?”
5. Assign responsibility for each action step to a specific person rather than a “team.”
6. Set dates.
7. Monitor and verify progress.
8. Celebrate conclusions.

These can work for you as well as they did for Denny. See you in the Caribbean.

Posted by Dan Schneider on August 27, 2008 | Comments (0)