Allen the Visionary

I love Allen but he is also a little nuts. 😉 He has this vision and it’s all about the future and how he wants to change the world and how it’s going to be great. That’s all good. I love that too. But there are a lot of risks involved in what he wants to do. He really wants to get out of his comfort zone and try new things, but if you are not careful, you might also get out of your competence zone which is not as fun.

Stay Focused, Allen

So “I love Allen but…” has turned into an inside joke with our team but I wanted a chance to elaborate and explain that I think it’s the nature of a lot of visionaries. I think it’s great to have big goals and dreams but sometimes we need to take a step back and make sure we aren’t reaching for the stars when we should be reaching for that branch right in front of us.

Staying focused on quarterly and annual goals is integral to intentional growth and is something our consultants consistently teach and help guide in weekly Power Hours with clients. Likewise, stepping down from a quarterly goal isn’t something we take lightly. At the end of last year, our entire leadership team had spent hours in a room deciding on the best goals for Eureka Process in Q1 and left that day reinvigorated with fresh targets set.

Nonetheless, within a few weeks of 2022, a few of us realized that a couple of the goals weren’t aligned with who we are at Eureka Process, our long-term goals, and what we want to do for our clients.

Take Time to Reassess

After debating back and forth, we came to an agreement that this couldn’t wait 2 months until the next Quarterly meeting to say that the goals were a bad idea and therefore, they didn’t get done. We needed to reassess as a team and bring it to Allen’s attention at our next weekly leadership Power Hour.

When the next leadership meeting rolls around, there we sit. Allen sees the note in the Incoming Updates. He gives us the ‘does that say what I think it says?’ look. I start right into the update and break down the issue.  Veronica is chiming in.  We are literally tearing down a goal in a leadership meeting that we helped create a month before.

Open and Honest Communication

Not even for a moment did I feel bad for doing it. Why? Because Allen has created an environment where it’s not a bad thing to share what you are thinking.  Does it mean everything will go the way you want? Of course not. But by building this trust between our team, I felt 100% comfortable saying “I think this goal was a mistake and I think we need to reconsider it.”

As a team, we started discussing the issue and we came to an agreement that we had made a mistake.  More important still, Allen as our leader admitted it was a mistake.  Seeing your visionary say they made a mistake shows their fallibility and this vulnerability builds up trust.

Leaders & Teams

As a leader, you should, and arguably need to be asking questions to effectively open communication and invite conversation from your team. This is part and parcel of leading a team. Putting your ego aside and building trust is integral to growing a team and business in a successful and healthy way.

If you want to learn more about how to grow intentionally and how to foster your team to be their best, reach out to eurekaprocess.com to schedule a consultation.