As a leader, you have goals that you want to achieve, both for yourself and your team. But sometimes, you may face barriers that prevent you from reaching them, such as lack of resources, time, support, or motivation. How can you overcome these barriers and stay on track with your leadership development? Here are some tips to help you.
The first step to overcoming barriers is to identify what they are and how they affect your goal achievement. You can use a tool like the GROW model (Goal, Reality, Options, Will) to help you clarify your desired outcome, assess your current situation, explore possible solutions, and commit to action. By doing this, you can also recognize your strengths and weaknesses, and address any gaps or challenges that may hinder your progress.
? Define your goal: this should be specific, measurable with a tangible outcome, and have a suspense date. ? Know where you are right now: conduct a self-assessment and identify your instrumental, internal, and intrinsic motivations. ? Identify what you need to develop: based on your self-assessment, what areas do you need to prioritize and allocate more time, energy, and focus towards? ? Make a steady plan for improvement: this plan should be specific, measurable, action-focused, realistic, and time-bound.
There are more than barriers that stand on our way to our goals. Distractions, priorities, expectations, timelines, are more than just obsticles (barriers) that impede your path to your goal, some things you just can't control or barriers can't be overcomed, thus re-assessing and flexing might be neede to be done. To first indentify barriers, you need to know where you are and where you're going, and the barriers lay between those two points. Sometimes some barriers may not be able to be overcomed, be realistic, or simply too many barriers are telling you you're heading in the wrong direction. As we do, when we Navigate: Take fixes from different points (radar and visual), take fixes often, determine your position, adjust, and move on.
Another way to overcome barriers is to seek feedback and support from others who can help you achieve your goals. You can ask for constructive feedback from your peers, mentors, coaches, or managers, and use it to improve your performance and skills. You can also seek support from your network, such as colleagues, friends, or family, who can offer you advice, encouragement, or resources. By doing this, you can gain new perspectives, insights, and ideas, and build your confidence and resilience.
In my experience, having sponsors at your goal points is a great way to ensure you are well prepared for the challenges ahead and have a rear view mirror perspective (from the sponsor) as you track forward.
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? Pursue regular action: what will you leverage to keep you actively engaged with your goal? ? Commit yourself completely: how will you maintain your drive and motivation through challenges and periods of adversity? ? Continuously monitor your progress: how often will you check to ensure you are still on track with your goal? ? Accountability: who will you share your goal with? It’s easy to fall off track with your goals when you’re the only one you must answer to.
Sometimes, barriers may arise because your goals are too vague, unrealistic, or overwhelming. To avoid this, you can break down your goals into smaller, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) steps. By doing this, you can create a clear and realistic action plan, track your progress and achievements, and celebrate your milestones. You can also adjust your plan as needed, based on your feedback and results.
Another common barrier to goal achievement is poor time and energy management. You may have too many competing priorities, distractions, or interruptions that prevent you from focusing on your goals. To overcome this, you can manage your time and energy more effectively, by prioritizing your tasks, setting deadlines, delegating or outsourcing what you can, and avoiding procrastination. You can also manage your energy by taking breaks, practicing self-care, and maintaining a healthy balance between work and life.
Identify the impact you are trying to have. The one thing that if achieved would be transformational (personally or professionally, as an individual contributor, team or business) in say, the next 3 months. Then take a moment to write down how you think you spend your time across activities in a typical week. Include all 24 hours. Then audit yourself. How is your time actually spent on achieving that impact. Which activities are energy draining, which ones are energy charging. Consciously contemplate where your time and energy goes. Look for ways to optimize.
Finally, to overcome barriers, you need to stay motivated and accountable for your goals. You can do this by reminding yourself of your purpose and vision, and how your goals align with them. You can also use positive affirmations, visualization, or rewards to boost your motivation and self-esteem. Moreover, you can stay accountable by sharing your goals and action plan with someone you trust, such as a coach, mentor, or peer, and asking them to check in with you regularly and hold you to your commitments.
The truth is, setting a goal is the easy part. We literally do it every day. We make these promises to ourselves that we’ll work towards improving our fitness, education, relationships, etc. Unfortunately, we break most of the promises we make to ourselves, and usually, it’s because of this one reason. Accountability! Most people won’t share their goals with anyone because they don’t want to be held accountable, and I’ve been guilty of this for the following reasons: ? I was embarrassed to share my goals. ? I didn’t want to be vulnerable. ? I didn’t want anyone putting pressure on me. So, when I failed to achieve my goals, I was able to: ? Rationalize my failures. ? Make excuses for my behavior. ? Blame others and circumstances.