Life Conversations: There Is No Try

Talk is cheap. Results matter and those who deliver, do not talk about it - Ashish

Leading change is not easy. The paths are not defined, the journey treacherous and the effort inordinate. And on that journey, you will find the team members fall into two distinct buckets. Those who put every ‘effort’ but under deliver. And the other group, who delivered ‘results.’

When people under-deliver, they tend to justify their poor performance by effort exerted. “But we tried hard,” the hapless manager professes. In my twenty plus years of leading change and innovation, I have run into countless people that fall into this category.

Yes, it is true that effort is a precursor to results, but they are not one and the same. As leaders in our businesses and communities, we must hold each other to the highest standards of achievement — not just exertion. The many change and transformation efforts that have under delivered is because companies have allowed the team to get away with ‘effort’ and did not hold their feet to the fire of ‘results.’

The role of the change team is to deliver tangible results. The focus is on delivering tangible results, not effort. Does the monthly review meeting focus on effort or result? Your focus of the meeting will decide how the change effort is going to end.

It’s easy to hide in the shadows of best efforts while results continue to plummet. Shift your energy from trying to doing. From rhetoric to action. From planning it out to getting it done. From managing (kissing) up to leading the team boldly.

In the words of Yoda, “Do or do not. There is no try.”

#Effort #Results