From the desk of Caspar:
I’m reminded this week of the magic of thinking big and bold.
The case in point is the planning exercise for our core team at Big Bold Goals. We’re planning the next 1,000 days and mapping out all the projects we need to complete in order to achieve our goals.
In this exercise, it’s so easy to fall into the trap of ‘today’ and thinking about incremental improvement and only building on what we have today.
The shift comes from suspending reality, from playing the ‘what if’ game and imagining a future scenario and what that looks, sounds and feels like. When you do this, it opens a fresh world of possibility, unshackled from the danger of responding to only what you see around you.
When imagination and possibility are brought into the room, creativity flows and suggestions, ideas and projects appear that would never have been found via incremental thinking.
Once the world of possibility is opened up, then the gears need to shift and plans built grounded in reality to work towards making each of those projects happen.
Tip: In your teams, are you too anchored in reality? Do you need to play the ‘what if’ game and let creativity run loose?
Many Moving Parts
News of the cargo ship Evergiven stuck in the Suez Canal has been all around this week.
The knock on effects are significant. 450 cargo ships held up unable to transit the canal and the resulting impact on supply chains for a vast array of goods. It will take some months before things get back to normal and at some cost.
It reminded me of several things. On a boat, there are literally thousands of moving parts - any individual one can break at any time and cause disruptions varying from minor to major. The best approach is regular maintenance and being attentive to each operation, spotting the signs of wear and tear and fixing things before they go wrong.
It’s the same in our teams. Leaders at all levels need to be attentive to each of their people and whats going on for them. It’s so much easier to fix a problem before it happens than after its gone wrong. That comes from listening, caring and being more human. It’s more important than ever as enter a second year of dealing with Covid and disruption to our teams.
Tip: It’s one thing to fix problems effectively when they go wrong - it’s a lot better to spot them before they go wrong by listening and being attentive to your team.
Big Bold Bites
Why do we need big bold goals, and as importantly how do we really make them stick?
PS If you like this, you can subscribe to the Big Bold Goals YouTube Channel to get these tips every week rather than just every fortnight.
Thought for the day
To achieve any goal, you and your team will need to engage in ‘relentless action’ to move the project forward.
Be wary of putting things off in the hope of waiting for things to be perfect..
As a team, you will only ever achieve your goals through the actions you take.
“Caspar led one of our virtual events as part of our ‘Uplifters Series’ on Big Bold Goals. His session was adapted perfectly to the virtual environment and was energetic, inspiring and engaging resulting in positive feedback from our members. Caspar is a true professional and a delight to work with. We would thoroughly recommend him.”