ClarityThis first article will review what we mean by clarity. Clarity is simply the ability to see things clearly. Without clarity, your efforts may be invested in the wrong activities, your energies dispersed across too many projects, you may be spending too much time on the things which don’t yield the best results, and your goals may be ambiguous with results compromised. Clarity is often the first step in coaching. In the context of work and business this includes reviewing:
· Your goals in the role you play
· How they fit into the company’s wider goals
· How these contribute to the success of the business
· The business goals
· Problems, their underlying causes and the solutions which would create the best impact
· Key performance indicators – your measures of success such as the number of enquiries, conversion rates, sales, profit, profit per customer, customer satisfaction rates, employee satisfaction rates, etc
· Priorities – in the moment, in your day, in the short term and in the long term
· Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats – personal and business
· How to optimise your strengths and opportunities, how to mitigate your weaknesses and how to deal with threats
· What is important to your success and that of your business and how everything interrelates – finance, sales, marketing, HR, production, logistics
People - your customers (internal and external) your boss, your employees, your shareholders, will assess your performance against their own expectations. Are you clear about what these are?
Gaining clarity helps you optimise your performance and productivity and reduces stress – for you and others! Without clarity, how can you know whether you are achieving what you need to? That you are communicating effectively? That others are happy with the service/products you provide?
TIPS
1. To create clarity you need to be clear about what you want. Many people who lack clarity focus on what they don’t want. This could have you heading into all kinds of unhelpful directions.
2. Create SMART goals:
a. Specific
b. Measurable
c. Achievable
d. Relevant
e. Time-bound
These are as useful for a specific interaction (what you want to get out of a particular meeting or marketing activity) as well as your long-term business objectives. They help you focus all your actions on what’s important, to prioritise and to be clear about whether you are on track or not so that you can take corrective action if necessary.
3. Set goals for yourself, your business and for each activity and interaction. As you get used to it, it will become easier.
4. Define some key performance indicators so that you can be clear about what success looks like and whether you are getting there.
5. Create a SWOT analysis for you and your business and an action plan.
6. Ask yourself what your blind side is and how you can get clarity on it..
Of course, if you need any help in creating your SWOT analysis, goals and key performance indicators, and transparency on your blind side, you may want to consider coaching. For more information, contact Tricia Woolfrey on 0845 130 0854.
Having gained clarity on what you should be doing and how you are getting on, you will also have more understanding of potential skills required. The next article in this series will focus on Skills as the second Essential Ingredient to Productivity and Performance.
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