One of the challenges of setting annual goals is that a year is long enough that we’re tempted to procrastinate.  It’s early February 2021 as I write this – we’re almost 6 weeks in the year already, nearly half a quarter! 

An alternative approach is to execute your work in two-week blocks, especially if you’re trying to build momentum and move quickly. 

A year is 25 two-week blocks.  Here are some ways you can use each block:

• Break a big goal into chunks of deliverables and assign each to a two-week block. 
• Push very hard on a project for two weeks, then give yourself a rhythm break by doing some other work in the next two weeks.  You’d potentially have 10 focus blocks for a given project. 
• Pick one skill to master each block and focus on that as part of your self-development plan.
• Allocate “rest and recover” blocks at regular intervals.

Be creative.  Schedule your energy through the blocks. 

This is a tip to strengthen your planning work.  Ask and answer this question:

“What do I want to be able to say, to whom, when?” 

Maybe it’s providing a summary report of a completed project to your VP.  Or sharing a surprise anniversary trip for your spouse.  Or commending yourself when you complete a personal objective.

Imagine it in colorful detail.  What do you see, hear, taste, touch, and smell?  What you feel when it’s done?

This mental exercise generates more powerful emotions to help you accomplish your dreams and bring your imagination to life.  It adds a relational component. It cements a time commitment. 

Try it out.

Bonus tip: You can use this in groups, too.  “What do we want to be able to say, to whom, when?” 

A younger colleague of mine asked for advice on how to give feedback to her boss.  “Do I ask for permission to give her feedback first, or just give it to her?” We don’t have a strong culture of feedback here,” she added.

My advice to her was simple and straightforward: “You don’t give feedback to your boss.”  Feedback is from the supervisor down.  I strongly recommend the Manager Tools model for giving both positive and negative feedback.  

Use a different approach instead. Don’t use the word “feedback,” because that is likely to trigger a defensive “force fields up!” reaction. 

Ask this question to lead off: “May I share an observation with you?”

It’s an open question, unthreatening, potentially very helpful.  The absolute worst response you can get is “Could we talk later? I don’t have time just now.”

When she says “Yes” share an observation which is factually based on observable behaviors.  Then you can add something about feelings, impressions, opportunities, concerns sparked by that observable behavior.  Emphasize the opportunity to do something different (a behavior, right?) in the future.

Examples:

“May I share an observation with you?  In our last two group meetings Jim didn’t speak up at all, even about Project X that he is driving.  He’s naturally introverted so maybe the rest of us need to invite him to participate in the discussion.”

“May I share an observation with you?  This is the second month that management delayed the start of hiring to fill our open position, without explanation. Could you share the reasoning with me?”

“May I share an observation with you?  You didn’t include any reference to the concerns I shared about implementing this new software in your message to the team.  This seems like a replay of the concerns I shared about the new inventory system. This makes me wonder if you don’t think my concerns are significant. Can we talk more this?”

“May I share an observation with you?  All the productivity savings from last year were treated as pure cost-savings, rather than opportunities to spend money another way within our operation.  Is there a way to do this differently this year?

Don’t give your boss feedback.  Share observations.  

One of the most powerful things you can do as a leader is establish your customer/client and your team as the hero.  Not you, them.

Call them heroes.

Remind them that they’re doing important, heroic, world-changing work.

Write things like “If you’re reading this, you ARE the resistance.”  (a ripoff from a Terminator movie, brilliantly done in a newsletter)

Encourage them that the problems they face are going to fall, because of who they are and how they live/work/act.

You must be sincere in this and believe it.  People have a keen nose for BS.

Pay attention to how the most effective ad campaigns and web sites work.  The focus is on the customer/prospect/community member, not on the company itself.

In general, integrated systems are more powerful than non-integrated systems.  But integration power comes with a trade-off: complexity.  Some complexity is good (the kind which creates adaptability).  Most complexity makes it difficult to adapt and change to match different environments. 

This is like the wind resistance a bicyclist encounters.  Going 5 mph faster on a bike on level ground requires 2x the effort. 

MPH	Effort
5	1x
10	2x
15	4x
20	8x
25	16x
30	32x
35	64x
40	128x

It takes 128 times the effort to travel at 40 mph than at 5 mph. (The reality is more nuanced, but you can see why world-class cyclists pay so much attention to wind-resistance.)

I suggest leaders pay close attention to the complexity creep.  Nobody intentionally says, “I want our group to work 64x or 128x harder to go incrementally faster.”  But the sum of our good intentions and sincere efforts often takes us there without conscious direction. 

Have you ever eaten roadkill?  I did a few times growing up in West Virginia.  Some of it’s fine – chunks of rabbit or squirrel, or groundhog in a stew.  Opossum, however – truly nasty stuff.  Gack, I can still remember trying to vomit so the taste in my mouth would be obliterated with stuff previously in my stomach. Not being a foodie and nervous about trying new foods, I have used that memory when I’ve traveled internationally and am staring at a plate of something unsavory looking that my host recommends.  “Hey,” I think, “it can’t be worse than possum.”   And I eat it. 

One time in Boy Scouts I was “recruited” to help clean out a pit toilet that the new EPA decided was now too close to the river.  Being small and easily intimidated, I was the kid lowered into the pit with a shovel and bucket.  The only thing that kept me from passing out from the smell and texture was the fear that I’d faint and drown in this crap (literally).  Afterwards I used a whole bottle of Head & Shoulders to get the smell out of my hair and burned my clothes as a hopeless cause.  I pull up that memory when I’m faced with an unpleasant job or task.  “Hey,” I think, “it can’t be worse than cleaning out the pit toilet.” 

Ever had a horrible boss?  It’s useful to say, “Hey, it can’t be worse than _______ was, and I survived that and even learned a few things.”  If a person can’t be anything else he or she can at least be a bad example. 

How could you profitably use your worst experiences and memories as ways to help you move forward?

A mistake I’ve made – and see too many high-potential young leaders making – is trying to improve their skills on too many fronts simultaneously. 

Focus matters.  Intensity produces lasting results.

Be like the professional golfers who occasionally play full games but devote most of their practice time on small elements – hitting out of sandtraps, putting, short approach shots, shaping a shot from left to right, etc.

What does that look for someone in a business situation?

Rather than “working on my communication skills,” try focusing on writing better email subject lines for two weeks.  Sharpening your presentation intro sentences for the next 4 presentations.  Including a “call to action” in conversations so people know precisely what you’re asking for, by when.

Rather than “be better at data analytics,” hone your use of pivot tables in Excel for two weeks.  Practice looking distributions of data rather than settling for an average. Ask two people for the raw data behind their chart and explore it with Power BI.

Instead of “thinking strategically,” practice asking yourself, “What’s the reasoning behind my boss’ request?”  Take 30 minutes and make notes about how competitors might respond to your company’s new product line.  During the next two meetings with senior leaders, take notes about what is NOT being said.

You acquire mastery of a craft by practicing component skills for short intervals.

The Star Trek universe is sometimes described as “post-scarcity,” meaning that energy is limitless, all disease and poverty has been eliminated, and there is no need for money.

I’ve seen all the ST movies and nearly all the different TV series. They’re (mostly) enjoyable and explore fun topics.  But post-scarcity?  Hogwash.

Thermodynamic laws are what they are. Using energy always creates entropy as waste heat. Even the alchemists of old, pursuing endless gold, understood that the only thing in the universe with infinite supply is human ambition and pride. Therefore, no future society will ever be post-scarcity. Unequal distributions are simply a fact. This creates the need for markets (resources, their collection and allocation) and a means to measure value in a market — money.

As Scott Adams of “Dilbert” fame wrote, the future will not be like Star Trek because humans will be in it. Despite Gene Rodenberry’s fantasy about the Star Trek future, all the best plots revolved around greed, ambition, good vs. evil, and…scarcity of things like time, dilithium crystals, hybrid wheat, and medicines. The only good episode that featured abundance was “The Trouble with Tribbles” and even that one had a Klingon spy! 

Leadership must always operate amidst scarcity of something you value.  Cultivating “if only I had” fantasies wastes precious time – instead, cultivate a powerful imagination of solutions that fit with your scarcity.  Alternatively, what does your competitor (or enemy) lack that can be exploited for strategic advantage?  An enormous fraction of behavior is predictable if you can associate it with scarcity.

These Covid times are fun-killers.  Many of the ways we’re used to having fun are limited or unavailable.  Travel. Music events. Sports. Bars and restaurants. Taking kids to amusement parks. Getting together with other hobbyists.

What’s there to do except work more?

This is very dangerous for leaders. 

Workaholism leads to boredom, which leads to the death of new ideas.  Organizations shrivel without new ideas and re-creation.

I challenge you to find avenues as stimulating and fun as your best days “at work.”  You’ll discover that many of your best ideas come while you’re having fun. 

Make fun a priority, for the sake of your organization, and so you can thrive.

There is value of planning for deliverables in the next six weeks – it’s long enough to get a substantial result yet short enough you can’t procrastinate.  Many organizations operate in quarters.  Six weeks can be either the first half of a quarter, or the finishing half.  Focusing hard for six weeks still leaves you multiple opportunities every calendar year to pivot and adjust your vector.

There is another reason I advocate a six-week planning cycle as part of a larger view of ultimate success:  It fits the dynamic nature of the uncertainty which underlies all great opportunities. 

I find it interesting that fast-growing businesses think about a year’s progress in a quarter.  This creates urgency and push, while allowing for adjustments as the environment changes.

Simple steps:

1. Decide what outcomes you want at the end of the six-weeks.  It helps me to imagine what I want to be able to say to my boss.  Sometimes I even pre-write the report!  That effort of writing about the result sparks my thinking of what it takes to get there.
2. Identify information you need, people you need to meet, decisions that need to be made, and what needs to be created and communicated.
3. Get appointments on the calendar.  It can be quite difficult to get a meeting set up with busy people in the next 2 days but is usually easy 2-4 weeks out.
4. Block working time on your calendar.  Label these with the specific task and outcome.  Make them private if you’re concerned about confusing someone or raising needless suspicions.  Be sure to block time for communicating results to stakeholders.
5. Work your plan. Communicate and celebrate!
6. Return to step 1.

Give the six-week planning cycle a try.  You’ll deliver more and find the process energizing.