PITFALL #4: YOU’RE NOT BEING REALISTIC

If you’ve read the last three newsletters, you have learned about three critical pitfalls that prevent people and organizations from getting it done.

To avoid the last pitfall, you will have to get real about all that you are trying to get done. If you’ve chosen your goals well and articulated your future state effectively, you and your team are probably excited about what you’re trying to achieve. That’s a great thing because enthusiasm and excitement are motivational; they can yield greater productivity. However, it’s also true that, when people get excited and enthusiastic, they can also get unrealistic.

They forget that people are human; that they aren’t always performing at their peak; that unforeseen events may cause them to have to deviate from their plans; that other things may be going on.

Remember, seeing possibilities is not simply being optimistic; it’s the balance of clear-eyed realism about our current state – and the ability to see a better future.

In our excitement, though, we often build our Leadership Frameworks around the best case scenario. We assume that everything will go right the first time – that our teammates and employees and customers will always understand what we’re trying to do and get excited about it. That it will cost exactly what we budgeted. That we won’t have to contend with resistance.

Look, it’s great if you can achieve the best case – but you can’t count on it. You can’t build a whole plan around it. You can hope for the best case – but you need to be clear-eyed about what the most likely case is – and prepared for the worst case.

The most common setback that you need to account for is resistance. The best case is that everyone gets on board the first time. But the more likely case is that there is some resistance – and that resistance will require more time and more energy. If you expect that, you can plan for it. You can identify who is likely to be a resister – and you can develop a plan to work through that resistance.

You also need to plan for roadblocks that delay your timeline. Once again, in the best case scenario, people do everything right the first time, on time. But the most likely scenario is that it’s not perfect the first time. Mistakes occur when you’re doing something different – that’s part of the package. Things will have to be re-done, re-started, modified, revised. When you’re planning for your most likely case, make sure you build in time and slack for all of those things.

Once you’ve built your Leadership Framework for a particular goal, you need to pressure test it. Identify where the issues might arise. Think about who you might ask for help in pressure testing. You don’t have to do this alone. In fact, you should not do this alone.

Most people underestimate the degree of difficulty and the time required to get things done effectively. It’s human nature. We all want to think about the best case.

But setting the right expectations is critical. You want to be able to celebrate success with your team – and if you always set expectations around the best case, you will almost always fall short. 

The going will get tough. And instead of rallying when the going gets tough – instead of celebrating all that you’ve achieved and preparing to weather the storm – you and your team will feel disappointed. Frustrated. Like you want to quit. Over time, that disappointment and frustration wears people down.

So you have to set the expectations right so that your goals are reasonable and achievable. So that you’ll have something to celebrate when the most likely case comes to pass.

And, while you may hope for the best case and plan for the most likely case, you must also always be prepared for the worst case. The worst case may occur because you can’t control everything. You cannot prepare explicitly for everything, because you can’t predict everything. However, you can plan for how you will respond if something happens and you fail to achieve your most likely case.

The worst case occurs because something we didn’t anticipate happens. When facing these setbacks, a good leader pauses, reflects on lessons learned, and recommits to achieving their goals – although that achievement may take more time and more effort. You also need to level with your team about what the setback is, why it occurred, and what needs to happen now to recover. Don’t sugar coat or run away from reality. Face it head on and move on.