There are many ways to live life. This approach starts by people clarifying their picture of success. It then involves them having a positive attitude, following their principles and working to achieve their picture of success.
The approach can be used in many different situations. It can also be followed by individuals, teams and organisations. Let’s explore how some people translate it into action.
They Clarify Their
Picture Of Success
The approach starts by people clarifying their goals. A person may do this by asking the following questions.
What are my goals? What are the real results I want to achieve? What is the picture of success? What will be the benefits of achieving these goals? What will be happening that will show I have achieved the goals.
A team or organisation will ask similar questions but translate these into achieving their specific aims. They may say, for example:
What are our goals? What are the real results we want to achieve? What is our picture of success? What will be the benefits – for all the various stakeholders – of achieving these goals? What will be happening that will show we have achieved the goals?
Imagine that a person, team or organisation has clarified their picture of success. They may then focus on how to achieve their aims. This sometimes involves them focusing on the following themes.
They Have A
Positive Attitude
People can choose their attitude in situations. They can choose to be positive or negative, to take responsibility or avoid responsibility, to be creators or complainers.
Great workers sometimes choose to be positive realists. They have a positive attitude but are also good at reading reality. They also aim to build on what they can control and manage what they can’t.
Such people sometimes ask themselves the following questions. They then do their best to achieve their picture of success.
How can I continue to have a positive attitude? How can I build on what I can control? How can I encourage other people? How can I perform superb work? How can I do my best to achieve the picture of success?
Good leaders are often positive and predictable. They aim to create an encouraging environment in which self-motivated people can perform at their best.
Such leaders aim to follow the right strategy with the right people in the right way. They sometimes ask the following questions.
What are the kinds of people I want in the team? What are the attitudes I want them to demonstrate? How can I make sure they are positive, professional and want to achieve peak performance?
How can I communicate the purpose, principles and picture of success? How can I give people the chance to decide if they want to opt in? How can I put the right people in the right places?
How can I build on their strengths? How can I make clear contracts about their best contributions? How can I make sure they understand their part in working to achieve the picture of success?
Imagine that a person, team or organisation has a positive attitude and then move into action. This sometimes involves them focusing on the following theme.
They Follow
Their Principles
Great workers often aim to follow certain principles in their work. Different people may follow different principles. Here are some that people may mention when describing their approach.
Principles – The principles I
aim to follow in my work are:
To build on my strengths, follow strategies that work and help people to achieve success … To encourage, educate and enable people to achieve their goals … To do work that helps people to improve their health, hope and happiness.
To do work that is enjoyable, excellent and sometimes even extraordinary … To do work that I believe in, keep doing the basics and, when appropriate, add the brilliance … To follow my passion, be professional and deliver peak performances.
To provide great service, find solutions to challenges and pass on knowledge that helps people to achieve their goals …To help people to, as far as possible, find win-win solutions … To be positive, do positive work and help to build a positive planet.
Good leaders communicate the work place’s purpose, principles and picture of success. Many organisations have the same purpose. They may describe this in different language, but their main purpose is often:
To use their strengths to do superb work that helps all its stakeholders to achieve success.
Good leaders communicate the principles they want people to follow to achieve the purpose. They believe in building a principles driven – rather than personality driven – work place. People can then keep referring to these principles when making decisions.
The principles that companies may follow, for example, may vary but they often focus on the three Ps. These are Performances (including profits), Products (including services) and People. They may therefore encourage people to aim:
To deliver great performances … To provide great products … To create a great work place for our people.
Different leaders may express these principles in different ways. One company leader, for example, encouraged it people to do superb work that aimed to produce:
Wins for our company, wins for our customers and wins for our people.
Different leaders also communicate the principles in different ways. Some take the following approach. They gather people together and, in their own way, give people the following messages.
Imagine that a person, team or organisation is following their principles. This sometimes involves them then focusing on the following theme.
They Work To Achieve
Their Picture Of Success
Different people follow different ways to work towards their goals. Some individuals take the following routes. They may aim:
To follow their chosen strategies, do superb work and do their best to achieve success;
To follow their rhythm, demonstrate relaxed relentlessness and deliver the desired results;
To be positive, do positive work – that helps people or the planet – and deliver positive results
To aim to flow, focus, do fine work, finish and – as a by-product – find fulfilment;
To maintain consistently high standards, deliver the desired concrete results and add that touch of class.
Good leaders are often positive, predictable and enable people to achieve peak performance. They create an encouraging environment and make clear contracts with people about their contributions towards achieving the goals.
Such leaders then manage by outcomes rather than by tasks. They keep encouraging their people to focus on the outcomes and give them the support to do the job. Different leaders do this in different ways. They may aim;
To keep reminding people of the purpose, principles and picture of success.
To put people in the places where they play to their strengths, perform superb work and make their best contributions to achieving the goals;
To encourage people to keep focusing on the principles when making decisions and doing the daily work;
To produce success stories that show when people have followed the principles and done superb work;
To focus on continuous improvement by building on what people are doing well and tackling areas for improvement to achieve the goals.
There are many ways to live life. One approach is for people to be positive, follow their principles and aim to achieve the picture of success.
Looking ahead, can you think of a situation where you may want to follow elements of this approach? How can you do this in your own way? If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
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