Most organizations have a good idea of where they want to go. Some have a very well-defined vision statement. Others talk about their calling, and some still have what I have heard described as a “sense of destiny.” But in my experience most organizations that falter or fail to reach their vision, do so not for the lack of direction, but by not having a clear understanding of the “how.”

Vision, by its own nature, is the “what” question every organization must answer.

What are we all about?

What are we accomplishing?

What defines success for us?

All these are important and even primarily important, meaning, without clearly answering them, the following questions do not matter. But once that’s done, every organization must answer the next and critically important question, “how are we going to do that.”

In my experience as a consultant, organizations that are stuck often understand their “what” but have been stopped on their tracks by not answering the “how.” These leaders can see where they want to be and can imagine what that preferred future looks like, but they cannot figure out the proper steps that will get them there. It feels like the times you found yourself on a busy highway where you can see your destination from your car, but you cannot figure out the right path to get there. After all there are too many options, too many ramps, access roads, and exits and a clear path to your destination is nowhere to be found.

Take a look around your organization. It might be a ministry, a business, a church even a legacy not for profit. Your vision statement might be framed on the wall for all to see, but if your strategy to get there is not clear, then chances are you are not going to make it. While I’m sure you’ll be busy trying, the wrong “how” will get you a lot of work, but unfortunately the wrong results.

How well has your organization defined its “how”?

I have always been an owner even when I worked for someone else. Recently I have thought about my employment history as well as those who have been my colleges and employees over the years and have come to the conclusion people fall in two main categories: owners and workers. Before you dismiss the post, let me explain. This is not a legal distinction, but a psychological one. Interestingly, some business owners behave like managers or workers doing what’s required of them and completely disconnecting from their jobs once the clock hits 5 p.m. Some hirelings whose heart and passion for their performance cause them operate more like owners. The more owners you have in your organization, the more successful you’ll be, I’m convinced.

Here’s a list of owner characteristics:

• Owners care about the entire team and not just themselves. They know that no one is successful alone.
• Owners understand that a missed deadline is serious business. After all, it’s their word on the line.
• Owners don’t watch the clock. They watch their to do list.
• Owners are more driven by their work ethic than by their boss’ expectations. Owners often go beyond the call of duty to make sure a job is done right.
• Owners see their work as an extension of themselves and not just a job to be endured.
• Owners are motivated by the satisfaction of a job well done and not just by financial gain.
• Owners cannot be micromanaged. They can bring more to the table on their own if you let them grow.

I’m sure I’ve missed something on this list. What else can you see that owners do that employees don’t?

Unless your organization has a culture of discipline, it cannot grow beyond where it is right now. I will be even bolder and say that it might not endure.  Honesty in measuring goals is the difference between sustained growth and obsolescence. While we might find a lot of good things our business, church, or not for profit is doing, we must be honest and establish success or failure on the basis of our stated goals.

While we can celebrate some of our successes with press releases, board presentations, and beautiful annual reports, we should be ruthless about evaluating our accomplishments based on our set goals. A smart leader should not ask “what have we accomplished in the past year?” The more important and relevant question should be, “have we accomplished what we have set out to do?”

The first question while makes us feel good and helps build temporary morale, it often leads to spin and a false sense of progress.  I learned that lesson from Disney several years ago during my training at the Disney Institute.  One of EPCOT’s most popular events was “Barbie Day.” The park’s attendance soared with little girls wanting to see their beloved doll in live action form.  One day someone asked a tough but important question, “how does Barbie Day help us with our goal of growing the Disney brand?” After all, Mattel owns Barbie and not Disney. By EPCOT’s stated goals, Barbie day was a total failure. They got more people in, but they gave their competitor a boost inside Disney’s own property.  While profitable, the day was not good for the brand.

A culture of discipline is hard to create. As an optimist, I attest to that. I want to celebrate what we are doing that’s good and our wins, no matter how small. However, I must balance that with the reality of our stated, measurable goals. If our annual goal is to increase our bottom line by 20% over last year, then I must not confuse a 30% growth in gross income with 5% net profit as a victory.  Yes, we made more money than the year before, yes we were profitable, yes we have more projects coming in, but we failed to reach our goal.

Unless we create a culture of discipline that measures and holds everyone accountable for our stated results, we will never grow beyond the status quo.

How is success measured and rewarded in your organization?

First impressions matter, whether you like it or not. They matter not only on a personal level but also on a business and even more so when it comes to a church. Our first impression of a business, store or venue sets our expectations for the type of product or experience we perceive we are about to get. The implications of your first impression are huge.

The A Group Offices

 Starting at a deficit. If you don’t “present well” someone’s first encounter with your organization, then you will automatically go into a “deficit” standing. Starting here means you have to work harder to overcome the initial perception of your product, whether it be consumer goods, services or an experience. Basically you’re saying, “we’re better than what you think we are” and then you’ll need to spend time and equity to get your audience to see in a better light. Unfortunately, you often do not get that chance. People quickly pass judgment on you and move on.

Starting at a surplus. Your first impression is great and your new client, donor or member believes what you have to offer is the best thing since slice bread.  This deal is yours to screw up. When your organization starts at a surplus, it has a build in momentum with your audience that it can easily overcome bumps in the road and forge a successful relationship.

Interestingly, the difference between starting at a deficit or surplus is most of the time the most insignificant of details. Things like signage, colors, décor, lighting, while completely unrelated to your product, shift people’s thinking either toward surplus or deficit. Much like the way one dresses and carries himself has a way of positioning his perceived professionalism and competence level, so does some of the more utilitarian items such as your lobby chairs or your store window. Sadly, while perception might not be reality, it does matter.

Think about your organization. How well is it managing its first impression? Are you starting at a surplus or deficit?

Change is inevitable. Everything and everyone we know is a constant state of flux. As much as we seek stability in the comfort of a routine, we soon have to come to the realization that the world around us is changing at an increasingly rapid pace. There are three accelerators that drive most of change today. Here’s how people, technology and information are accelerating change.

People

• The world population is currently estimated to be 6.915128 billion by the United States Census Bureau.[1]
• The world population has experienced continuous growth since the end of the Bubonic Plague around the years 1348-1350.[2]
• Current projections show a continued increase of population with the population expected to reach between 7.5 and 10.5 billion in the next decade.

Technology

• Radio 38 years to reach 50M
• TV 13 years to reach 50M
• Internet 4 years to reach 50M
• Facebook – 9 months to reach 100M

Information – Internet

• Over the past 10 years the number of users has gone from 360M to 1.9B
• 28% of the world is online.
• 444.8% growth.
• It’s projected that by 2020 the whole world will have access to the internet.

The implications are many. But for me, there’s a simple lesson: If my business, ministry, organization is to continue to be relevant, I must adapt, re-tool, re-engineer at the speed of change around me or face irrelevance. It means that decisions have to be made quickly and that windows of opportunity are getting shorter.

How have these accelerators changed the dynamics of your business or ministry?

One of the few things I do as a leader that I cannot delegate is to help create The A Group’s  internal culture. That’s one of the most important jobs in any organization that often goes ignored because we tend to equate our mission with our culture. Mission tells us what we should be doing, but our culture provides the pathway to how we get there. As The A Group has grown from a couple of people 10 years ago into almost 30 people strong, I have tried to be deliberate in creating an internal culture that aligns with our mission. Our culture is framed by a set of value statements that I repeat ad nauseam.

We value innovation. We are a solution-based company. Innovation is the heart of what we do from marketing best practices, communication trends to technology new frontiers. One of the reasons we grew during a down economy is because we were able to spot trends and innovate to meet the new challenges.

We value service. We serve our clients. We exist to enable and resource our clients to grow and thrive and, hopefully, even anticipate their needs.

We value collaboration. If you’re not a team player, you will not last long with us. We believe that the collective wisdom and experience of the entire team, and that of our clients’, will produce a much better product. People are encouraged to fight for their ideas, to push back on strategies but to ultimately decide as a team how to make something good, better.  Even though we have two different divisions working together, marketing and technology, both teams come together in a collaborative environment. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

We value risk. We are not afraid to fail. As I leader, I’m more afraid of not trying something new and missing the boat on a game-changing strategy or technology, than playing it safe. Often our developers come up with new ideas or features for our online and mobile apps. Even if we don’t deploy them, we green light most ideas.

We value initiative. We tell our teams what we want to accomplish but not how to get there. I have found that if I hire the right people, then I don’t need to come up with the how. If I’m telling my team how to do their jobs, then I’ve failed the organization by hiring poorly.

What’s the best or worst internal culture you have been a part of?

Partnerships are important part of business as well as ministry. Great partners can help you grow while a bad one can be the death of a dream. While we can easily form a partnership, it takes a long time to break one apart, sometimes with dire consequences. Here’s what I consider before going into a partnership with an individual or organization.

Trust. If there’s no trust then you should never, ever go into any kind of partnership. If you get the feeling that the other party is waiting for you to mess up so they can get the upper hand on any situation, run for the hills.

Respect. Whether it be business or personal, If you don’t respect the leader of an organization, then you shouldn’t create any kind of partnership, no matter how beneficial it looks on the onset. Once, I went to work for a man because I thought I could “bypass” my own lack of respect for him. Big mistake.

Different skills. Find people and organizations that bring different skills to the partnership. If you bring the same skills to the table, you might not have a partner but a competitor.

Compromise. No one gets everything they want. That’s just life. If you or your potential partner cannot compromise on the onset, you’re doomed.

Defining the win. Wins can be vastly different even for people working on the same venture. Don’t assume that your partners’ win is the same as yours. Understand what they value and what they want out of the partnership. Managing expectations is critical in any relationship.

Exit strategy. Nothing lasts forever. Even the best of friends often grow apart and move on. It’s imperative to have a clear, well-documented exit strategy for both parties. That’s where a good lawyer is worth every penny you pay.

What else you add or change on this list?

As a business owner, I’m never “off.” The mind of an entrepreneur is always working on opportunities, challenges and next steps. Of all the many thoughts that go through my mind on any given time, there are 4 areas of business that I’m constantly monitoring because I have learned that if they begin to deteriorate, so does my business.

The Brand. That’s the promise every company makes to those it serves. Whether you sell widgets, services or an experience, your brand promise needs to be monitored. The A Group is a high-end marketing, technology and branding firm. Everything we do is based on strategy and best practices. I’m always monitoring the output of both products as well as services. Are we delivering on our promises?

The Model. Is the current business structure a sustainable one? You’d be surprised by the number of busy businesses that end up failing. I remember talking with an young entrepreneur who was not charging enough per hour to cover his overhead even with a full schedule. Make sure you have a good grasp on the real costs of doing business. If you’re not on top of expenses, income and cash flow, you won’t make it. Make sure you are always asking the question: “is this a sustainable model?” If your answer is no. Change it fast.

The Team. Do you have the right people on the bus and on the right seats? While to some this is a nice take away from Collins‘ Good to Great, to me, monitoring the Team gauge means life or death. I cannot, cannot emphasize how critical having the right people working together is. I wrote about our hiring processes here, but beyond managing output, monitoring morale is even more important. You cannot achieve greatness with the wrong team. I’m convinced of that.

The Credit. I must confess I had to grow past my own insecurities on this one. I used to think I had to be the smartest person in my business and get the credit for its success. Wrong. Unless you can get past it, your business will never reach its potential. I work with some of the brightest, most capable people I know. Their skill set compliment mine and I’m glad I don’t have to do their jobs, because, frankly, I cannot. Credit comes in the form of  praise, promotions, bonuses and opportunities. I have learned that the more I give away, the more I get back. It’s true both on a personal as well as business level.

In your business or work, which area do you see the greatest need?

It’s snowy and bitterly cold outside but it won’t be long until Spring. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. Today’s Fashion Friday post is by guest blogger Brenda Lyttle.

Spring is the season of putting away those woolen woes and getting into the groove of the latest trends hitting the fashion industry. Clear your wardrobe off those wraparounds and boardshorts and start stocking your racks with light and colorful outfits. Seeing that you are raring to break into those bright colors, be a little cautious as this season attracts most fashion disasters.

Here are a few dos and don’ts for this spring –

Do’s

1.     Light Fabrics – Say bye to your corduroys and woolens and welcome spring with linens and cotton. These lighter fabrics will keep you fresh. There is a wide variety of fabrics to choose from and you can also give a try to the environmentally fabrics like hemp et al which are light and stylish.
2.     Wrinkle and Crinkle – Crush your linens and cottons a little to give that laid back, casual look but don’t overdo it. Remember that you want to look casual and not straight out of the bed. Crinkle those linens but don’t crease them.
3.     Colognes – You need to pick your fragrance. Choose lighter colognes because the huge amount of sweating, which this season brings, will not go down too well with stronger scents. You surely don’t want to scare your crush away by smelling like a perfume store. Musk, citrus and Cucumber are some fragrances to go for. Lemon Grass will be good too.
4.     Layer is right – If the weather is still a little chilly, you might not want to give up on the layering that quickly. Worry not! Get on some nice and light cotton jackets. You’ll find loads of cotton cardigans and nylon short jackets to choose from.

Don’ts

1.     Oversized pants and slacks – Pants with sagging backs make you look uncouth and if you want to rock the season, pack them and throw them away. Welcome chinos and cotton pants which are light, comfortable and a better choice in these sweaty times.
2.     Mandals – They get an ear splitting ‘No’ from this season’s fashion gurus. Get some flip flops. Your shoes must give your feet some well deserved breathing space because excessive humidity can attract many foot problems. It is important to invest in a good pair of sneakers for daily wear.
3.     Boardshorts – The long reign of boardshorts in your life end this season. Get yourself some good swimwear, preferably trunks that end somewhere around the mid thigh region. The Hawaiian prints and bold colors go out and the somber solid colors come in. It’s time to grow up and say goodbye to the huge flowery shorts you have been sporting for a long time.
4.     Skinny Jeans – Straight cuts and medium rises rule and so do washes in darker colors.
5.     Wraparounds – Wraparound shades went out of fashion ages ago. Traditional shades like aviators with wire rims are evergreen. Colored tints have been a hit this season.

Go light, go airy. Go spring! If you are bored of your same look everyday, try wearing costume wigs with your newly found fashion clothing and be the rockstar or the corporate guy you always wanted to be!

What’s your Spring fashion strategy? Do you plan for it or just find something lighter to wear when it gets cold?

“The greatest ideas are still left on napkins,” said a friend over lunch. These words stuck with me like some ugly unwelcome platitude. The more I tried to ignore them, the more they nagged at me. My ultimate fear is to go to my grave with my greatest idea still left on a napkin. What holds us back from pursuing our dreams? Here’s where I have landed on pursuing new business or ministry ideas.

I don’t like risk, but I’m willing to take calculated ones. For someone who has started several business over the years,  (about 5 to date), I still struggle with the idea of something not working out. The fear of failure is real when you put a lot on the line for your dream.  But I also know that in order for an idea to flourish and become a reality, I have to step out of my comfort zone and make it happen.

Before I start a new venture, I always have an inner conversation that goes like this: “How much money and time am I willing to invest in this idea?   If it fails, what’s my worst case scenario? Can I live with that?” No one starts a business, a partnership, a church or ministry with the idea that it will fail.   Entrepreneurs are, by  nature, optimists but even the most positive person should account for the unknowns he or she cannot control. Sometimes your failed business has nothing to do with you or your performance. Recently a good friend found out his business partner had stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars from their business, putting it in financial jeopardy. We shouldn’t plan  for our best friend to steal from us, but we all should have an exit strategy in case he does.

I will not sacrifice my friends on the altar of money. No all of my ventures have performed the way I envisioned them. Some of them were partnerships with good friends. No, not the kind who would steal money from me, but real friends. Years ago I settled the money question by watching how a friend did it poorly. I will not lose a life-long friendship over money. If I’m not willing to lose the money over the relationship, I do not go forward with it.   I’m thankful I’ve settled that question.  Life is too short. Relationships matter more than money. Trust me on this one.

There’s more I want to talk about this, but I’ll leave it for another post.

It’s your turn. What are you doing with your greatest idea?