Taming tigers

/ 01 July 2009

Eyes on the prize
We’ve all met people with a sense of purpose – they know what they want, where they’re going, and how they’re going to get there. But there’s nothing stopping you from becoming one of them – all you need is a plan, says Jim Lawless

I don’t know what it’s like where you work, but I’ve worked in many places where the daily routine starts by congregating with colleagues for a chat over a nice cup of coffee, checking in with Facebook and Twitter, and then finally logging on to see what the great and merciless god Outlook has sent everybody to do.

But how can we harness all of that morning energy and inspire ourselves and others to work towards achieving an agreed and worthwhile aim? I think the answer lies in rule three for Taming Tigers: ‘head in the direction of where you want to arrive, every day’.

It’s about searching for a sense of purpose and deciding on a place at which you wish to arrive, then creating a plan to get there and ensuring that every single day, you follow that plan until you reach that prize. It requires that you place that central task above the noise and the distractions of everyday life. Perhaps, as leaders, demonstrating this personally is our most important task. And, as leaders, the situation that I described in my opening would be a clear sign that we are failing in our duties to inspire our people. 

It’s a potent Rule. People with a clear sense of purpose act with great energy and decisiveness and will meet and defeat their Tigers without any hesitation – although they have the same fears as anybody else. A person who wants to catch a plane this evening to go on holiday does not need a time management course to juggle their priorities and to be assertive today, do they? Similarly, for leaders and for our people, a clear sense of purpose and a defined plan of action will enable us to seek and cherish activities that move us forward and reject those that distract or hold us back. It will also allow us to measure our performance meaningfully. With that plan in place, to use the cliché, we fulfil our daily duty to work ‘on’ the business rather than solely ‘in’ it.

Now we have a reason to face and defeat these Tigers, the things that roar at us to stop when we face personal risks, unfamiliar territory or moments of deep commitment. Now we also know the cost of being defeated by them.

Winning matters

Taking the ten rules into the world of horseracing in order to prove them gave me an invaluable insight into rule three. Sport is different – your results count. Or rather, only your results count. The fact that you attended does not. Results are not available every day, so you plan hard to achieve them. It is thrilling to watch and to take part in. An athlete knows the date of a ‘big day’ far in advance, so the plan works back from that day. And it covers everything: nutrition, mental wellbeing, sleep, fitness, strength, tactics and observing the competition and finally, of course, perfecting the skill that they will perform – from a tennis swing to riding a horse at speed over fences five feet high.

I learned that if you meet an athlete at the end of a day when they failed to achieve what needed to be achieved, then they are bad company. Why? Because it will be tough, if not impossible, to put it right tomorrow. Tomorrow has its own tasks. A whole day has been lost. The prize just became a little less certain.

But what is your ‘big day’? What are your people watching you move doggedly towards with each page turned on the calendar?
The purpose of this piece is not to help you inspire your people to find their sense of purpose and act to achieve that aim through technical, textbook means. My purpose is to persuade you to inspire them daily through demonstrating your own commitment to your purpose, your quest, and defeating whatever Tigers you may face along the way.

And before you dismiss that as a little basic, try this test. It comes in two parts: first, recite your purpose – the prize at the end of your quest – in your head. If you have to think it through, disqualify yourself immediately. It is either known or not known.

Then open your diary. Where you choose to invest your most precious resource – your time – is the measure of whether you are moving towards the prize. And it is also your most visible communication to your people. It’s what your people take their lead from. And your record of that investment is in your diary. Check each week. Count the diarised activities that move you specifically, not incidentally, to this prize. You’re looking for 10 activities in 10 working days.

Forging the future

If you have those 10 activities, now is the time to work on ensuring all of your people have theirs also. If not, that is probably because you are too busy doing the ‘real’ work. But are you really saying that you don’t have the time to define the future that you are leading your people towards and then to create actions to make it so?

You have met people with a sense of purpose. Maybe you are such a person. You know the glow that radiates from them. You have seen the optimism in their eyes. You have wondered at their ability to make tough decisions based on some solid core. And you have thought them ‘brave’ because they are willing to deal with Tigers to move forward. You may have referred to them as ‘inspirational’. Become that person – find your drive, your ambition, your goals and sense of purpose.

A sense of purpose gives each dawn a meaning. It drives our decisions and gives us a reason to be true to our purpose when the moment suddenly and unexpectedly tests us, when the Tiger roars.

Our sense of purpose, our belief in the achievement of the prize and our quiet demonstration of courage and tenacity in humbly facing our own Tigers every day is perhaps our greatest act of leadership.