Achieving an ambitious target

Welcome!

Welcome to this first edition of the fortnightly newsletter called "Boss, who never was". Its a collection of the coolest tips and the most woke business principles which I have learnt either from the leaders around me, I have interacted with physically or online or by practicing myself.

But before going into the content of the first newsletter - a few words about the nomenclature, "Boss, who never was". The name is a dedication to all those lovely people, who have been there - loved, respected and followed, not because they are boss by seniority in an organization, but because of the true leader inside them. They never were BOSS, they were always LEADERS. These tips that I am gonna share, are what has made these leaders successful. You won't find these tips in B-Schools or online courses or on google. These are life practices, principles and approaches. Enjoy the journey and enrich your network by sharing or practicing them.

Let's start the first episode with the tip about, "Achieving an ambitious target". There are numerous tips and books around the topic but one of the coolest principles around achieving a long term ambitious target in this VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world is - 'Half way to the wall' principle or can we call it HWTW principle

Let's understand this principle with a school level example. A kid is consistently scoring marks in mid 50s; whereas his parents and teachers wishes that he should be scoring in mid 80s at least (ok, ok......you can choose 70 or 80 or 90, as per your own aspiration). That's almost a 30 point jump. Will it happen overnight - in all probability, No ! So, the parents and teachers put a regime, help the kid learn the principles better and then the target for next test should be to get "half way to the wall" ie. half way to 'incremental target of 85-55 which is 30' which would be 15 marks extra. That is to aim going from 55 to 70. Then the rigour continues and extra practices gets added for next test, and the target now is half way from 70 to 85 ie. 77.5 - looks more achievable and doable suddenly. Isn't it.

Let's take another example - this one you would be familiar with. The Gym. You go in to loose weight from 90 to 60. What does the instructor do - they put you on an exercise and diet regime and first aim is to reach 'half way to the wall' ie. half of the target ie. 15kg - so first aim becomes to reduce from 90 to 75.

Question - Why not target 60 in one shot. One, because it can look daunting and discourage you to even start. Second, it allows for the ecosystem around you and your own habits to get acclimatised and make it more sustainable.

Well, sounds ok for gym and school. But, will it apply at business level. Well, that's where I have learnt this term first. If your business is currently at 1000Cr and your vision is to become 5000Cr business. Aim to reach half way of that to plan first set of resourcing and planning. It helps make the target more realistic, more achievable, keeps enough stretch and ambition without letting the despair take over. Finally, it allows for a mid way stabilization of systems in the organization. An attempt to jump from 1000 to 5000 can be counter productive at times, as it might lead to unsustainable practices creeping in.

Now, let's go deeper into the psychology of this principle of "half way to the wall". Ambitious goals can be as intimidating and demoralizing as they can be inspiring and motivating. Sales increase from 1000 to 5000 in one year, can be demoralizing for a team whose variable incentives depend on target achievement.

Experts say - Break it down. Our HWTW principle, still takes the core principle of 'break it down' towards achieving an ambitious target but it does not do so linearly viz. in our last example, 1000 to go to 5000 could also be broken down into 1000 to 2000, and then 3000 and then 4000 and so on. Why ? Simply because, linear breaking is not ambitious enough or motivating enough and doesn't enthuse the troops the same way as a more ambitious 1000 to go to 3000 (From 1000 to 5000 is 4000 incremental. half way of incremental is 2000. So, 2000+current level of 1000 = 3000). Thus, 'Half way to the wall' principle ensures sufficient stretch in the system.

Now, that we have learnt this principle - do try it out at your individual and team level and do share if it is helping you out. I have seen the principle being applied by some successful entrepreneur accelerator program as well.

Question to ponder for my friends in IT sector - Does 'Agile methodology' of project delivery widely used in IT sector practices linear breaking or HWTW breaking of the ambitious goal?

Feedbacks and suggestions to make the newsletter more meaningful are most welcome.