This afternoon as I was making my way to the TSA person who would check my boarding pass and identification, a woman behind me kept stepping on the back of my shoe. You know, like kids do when they are 4 or 5. I stopped, stepped to the side and offered to have her go ahead of me. She did without saying a word.
As luck would have it, this person who was in such a hurry at one point was utterly unprepared once she stood in front of the TSA person. She fumbled, bumbled, giggled and flipped her mink stole around nearly hitting me in the face since I had caught up with her. It took-I’m not kidding-3 full minutes for her to find her drivers license. This, in the Expert Traveler lane.
Do you notice people in your organization who are rushing toward something only to arrive unprepared? People who are like gerbils in wheels, frantically pushing but not thinking, planning or make great decisions? Ah, of course you do. Maybe you’ve done it yourself. I recommend an alternative –
1. Identify your objectives. Outcomes, results not methods.
2. Think.
3. Prepare.
4. Execute.
5. Reward the things associated with success and stringently avoid rewarding those that are not. For example, speed and urgency are not always desirable. Don’t reward speed when it isn’t valuable. Good judgment is nearly always needed but not often acknowledged for the extreme value it has.
