For my first post in the New Year, I want to start with questions that require us to envision our future successes. I am reminded of a classic quote:
“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve” – Napoleon Hill
We are more likely to achieve our result if we are able to visualize it in our mind. Many athletes will share with you the power of positive visualization: picture the perfect dive, the completed routine, the successful pass, the golf ball on the green.
We can harness this same power in business to accomplish our goals. Talking about, visualizing, and defining success increases the likelihood of success. As leaders, advisors, coaches and facilitators you can have a significant impact on results by helping others define what success looks like in their own words. The emphasis is on “in their own words”; you can use specific tactics to enable and motivate them.
Urge your employees to not only define the end result, but describe that result in as much detail as possible. The more specific the picture, the greater the likelihood of achieving that result.
Let’s take John who says he has a challenge managing a particular staff member. He might see success as spending more time coaching that person. Continue to allow John to define success in greater detail by ask questions like, “How would you coach them?”, “Where would you coach them?”, “How often would you coach them?” and “What approach would you use to coach them?”.
Some other success-based question include:
What outcome do you want to create?
What is your ideal outcome?
What is success in your eyes?
How would (your team, your customer, your boss, your partner) define success?
What does success look like to you?
I wish you nothing but happiness and success in 2015!