The CEO of a mid-sized company was preparing for his annual leadership retreat and one of the things he really wanted to hit home with his leaders so that they would effectively bring it back to the broader organization was how do they maintain focus. How do they stay efficient so that at the end of the year, they’ve achieved what they wanted to. How do they continue to drive toward success without getting distracted by all of those shiny, bright opportunities that seem so exciting, may be challenging, but they aren’t really going to create the greatest impact.
So over the course of the next four videos, I’m bringing to you what I brought to this company and this leadership retreat on how to stay focused. How to drive for that end result, for the success.
Now look, it doesn’t matter if you’re a CEO or even if you lead a team. The four steps that I’m sharing with you are applicable to you in any professional capacity, and in fact, in a personal capacity. Whether it’s in your family or just for you as an individual. So stay tuned with me.
In this video, I’m sharing with you the first step: define your mission.
If you work for a large company, I’m sure that they have a mission statement. But let’s drill down a little bit closer in for you, whether that’s for your team, your family, or for just you as an individual. You can’t come to me and say, “Colleen, how do I achieve success? How do I get to my goals? How do I stay focused?” If we haven’t taken that step back to say, what is this all about? What is that overall picture? So a mission clarifies why you exist. Why does your team exist? Why is your family here? Or why are you here as an individual? Once you know the why, then you can establish the what.
Then what is it that we’re providing? As a team, as a family, as an individual? What is it that we want to bring out to clients or the community or to anybody that we come in contact with?
And through there, you’re probably going to plug in some values. What is it that you believe in? What are you standing for? So the mission really is that overarching why and what. Once you’ve got that, then you’re ready to go into the next steps – but you have to start with the mission.
Today, write out what that mission is. And if you’re with a team, set the time to meet with your team and start building out that mission statement. Then tune in for the next video where I share the next step.