ACT TO SUCCEED

Your plan is now defined. Good for you! Is this a guarantee of reaching your goal on time, within budget, and with your sanity?

Realistically? No. Roadblocks (other priorities, market changes, etc.) might pop up, changing your direction. To succeed you need to tap into the power of stakeholders, plan your budget, take action, and update and confirm your plan.

The Power of Stakeholders

A stakeholder is someone who cares about or is affected by the outcome of your goal. It might be a manager, a family member, a colleague, or a friend.

Sharing your goals with a stakeholder makes your goal transparent and provides accountability for you to reach it. It’s much easier to delay working on a goal that no one else knows about. Knowing that your stakeholder will ask you about progress often provides the nudge to get moving on it. Additional stakeholder benefits include:

• Clarifying the outcome with you to make sure it is specific enough for you to know whether you reach it.

• Identifying other actions that can get you there quicker or easier and eliminate some of the roadblocks.

• Supporting you along the way.

• Contributing to resources or help with actions.

• Celebrating your progress and ultimate success!

Involving a stakeholder is a powerful way to increase the likelihood of achieving your goal. So why don’t more people identify stakeholders and ask for their support? They tell me they don’t want to burden someone else. Though understandable, they’re overlooking the benefits a stakeholder receives from supporting or assisting them with their goals.

Stakeholders benefit with the sense of satisfaction from helping someone else succeed, a boost that helps them achieve a goal of their own (there is power in being with others who are succeeding and achieving), and an opportunity to learn or be exposed to something new.

You will succeed more easily when you find the right stakeholder for your goals. If the stakeholder you select doesn’t want to be involved, that’s okay. You’ll find one who does.

To use myself as an example, I spend a lot of energy at work and usually enjoy the “break” from work when with my family. So when I was working on a huge, all-consuming international project, I didn’t really want to share the project goals or outcomes outside of work. I did, however, share the details and struggles with my key stakeholder—my husband.

As a stakeholder he was able to provide support and understanding when I was locked in my office for hours after dinner. He even read the documents that I was stuck on and his outside perspective made for a better outcome. Of course, he also shared in the rewards of a successful project.

Plan Your “Budget”

Many goals are derailed because the resources necessary to achieve them—money, time, people, or supplies—were not considered or budgeted. Resource demands that creep up can create an impasse and waste time and energy as the goal is significantly delayed or abandoned. Knowing the resources needed to reach your goal helps you stay realistic.

For example, if the goal is “Purchase a new vehicle by August 1,” you may find:

• Resources are more available than you first thought.

• Interest rates are in your favor and you can actually make the purchase by June 30.

• Your trade-in is worth less than you thought and October 1 is more realistic.

Identifying the resources upfront ensures you have the right time frame and plan to succeed. If they don’t match up, now is the time to adjust them. Review your resources each time you complete a goal checkup.

List the necessary resources in the Goal Planner. Adjust your outcome, stakeholders, and time frame as necessary to work within the available resources.