How Believable are your goals?

Fast growing businesses can sometimes be constrained by a lack of belief that the growth goal is achievable or a lack of desire to put the effort in - so what causes this and how do you tackle it?:

Some individuals have a fundamental lack of self-belief or belief in others. They are natural victims, take little responsibility and blame everyone else for their woes. They are negative and absorb problems. They recruit others into their "problem" world too. As a result they use "problems" as a means of avoiding taking action themselves and are incapable of taking initiative. They enjoy the problem so much that the last thing they want is a solution! If "belief" is poor and the team contains people like this, then the solution is obvious. There is an old adage that in any situation 15% of people will be with you, 15% will be against you, 70% will be open to persuasion. ("Polar Bear Pirates" by Adrian Webster gives a brief light hearted overview of character types and how they can obstruct or support).

Some people just do not know what to do or how to do it - so if a lack of skills or experience is holding them back (and sometimes fear of owning up to it) then appropriate training backed up by ongoing support (coaching or mentoring) can boost self belief and performance considerably. Sales teams need to be regularly re-familiarised with the key benefits of the business to maintain a "superior value added" rather than "transactional" approach - often a weekly training session (sales skill + technical knowledge) before or after hours works well.

Sometimes there are genuine constraints which hold teams back - system flaws, cumbersome / unnecessary processes, ignorance etc. Streamlining processes, eliminating wasted time and automating tedious tasks can have a significant impact on performance and attitude. The simple question "what's holding you back from 100% growth / increase / output ?" can be revealing - the best person to own the fix to the issue is the person who identified it.

Actions speak louder than words / success breeds success - it's easy to speak the words of “Purpose”, "Growth" and "High Performance" but if actual management behaviour and team experience does not reflect this then people will follow the behaviour they experience in practise. The true values are shown by who gets hired, promoted or fired. If the ambition to grow conflicts with the everyday reality of needing to hit short term sales targets then people will focus on the short term sales targets. Success needs to be recognised, rewarded, and celebrated to help reinforce desired behaviour.

The business leader and the senior management team set the tone - so they have to project consistent ambition, drive, energy, serious intent and total belief in the team. The vision and values need to be articulated and most importantly owned by the whole business. They should be fundamental to all induction, prominently displayed and regularly reinforced. All plans and actions should be referenced against them. If it doesn’t align with the values, don’t do it.

Goals need to be motivating for the company, the management, the teams, and the individuals - motivation can be both personal & financial. Having a goal to be the market leader sounds good, but what would this actually look like? What would it mean at an individual level? Is this just extra work / pressure? Why would this motivate? "What's in it for me?" ..