The annual focus on new goals and targets does not need to be drab. Make your year a look-forward event that happens all year.
PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION
Katie: Here we are again. Welcome to the Skirt Strategies! I’m Katie Snapp.
Carol: And I’m Carol Wight.
Katie: I don’t know why I hesitated. Sometimes I wonder whether I should give my last name so people don’t look into my criminal record.
Carol: Well, right. You have such a long line of criminal…
Katie: Tell us what we’re going to talk about December of 2011.
Carol: This December – right now today, we are going to talk about “Mission, Vision and Goals.”
Katie: Okay. And why do we want to do that? That sounds like something old to me.
Carol: It is a little tried. But I think it’s really important that in December, you start thinking about January. Start thinking about your New Year and where you’re going to go with it. Because I mean, months creep up on us very quickly and we all know that. And the most important thing is that we plan to do these things.
Katie: Okay.
Carol: So I think, “Mission, Vision and Goals” is a way to plan your future.
Katie: So what I like about that… And this is what I like about you – is that many of us that have gone through training – whether you’re a veteran or whether you’re a new emerging leader, you hear some of these regulars. I call them “The Fundamentals,” but a lot of leaders call them basics, “It’s too basic for me.”
There’s a real danger in forgetting those and you overlook them. You really can’t build upon things if you don’t have some of those fundamental building blocks down. So I’m glad you remind us of these sorts of things – regardless of how tried they are, Carol.
Carol: Well and there’s new things you can call. You can call your mission now, your purpose. They circle around because they are fundamental.
Katie: Okay. And we won’t make it right.
Carol: No, we won’t. We’re going to make it very fun. One of the things that has come up for me lately is, (what was I telling you?) Affirmative…?
Katie: Appreciative Inquiry
Carol: And basically, it’s asking positive questions and it’s looking at your life positively and how you’re going to go forward with positive results.
Katie: So saying something like, “You’re not going to do it that way, are you?” It’s that positive. Even though it’s an inquiry, it’s not appreciative.
Carol: Yes, not quite appreciative. I mean, for a long time we did this a lot – which was the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
And everybody goes down that road and you think about all the things that could go wrong. And boy! By the time you’re done with that, you just want to give up.
Katie: Okay.
Carol: And so the appreciative inquiry really helps you not go down that road. You know, what does it look like when we’re at success? That’s one of my favorite questions when we’re doing strategic planning.
Katie: The challenging…
Carol: Yeah.
Katie: Define what success would look like. How does that to visioning quite a bit?
Carol: It does. But it takes you off of the road of the negatives and gets you onto that positive. And you’re more likely to get there if you can think of the wonderful things that this can do for you and your company – rather than where the threats are out there.
And not to say that you shouldn’t do some of that and look at some of that, but I really do think the more positive you can be – especially about your goals, the more you’re going to be able to achieve them.
Katie: So goals should probably not focus on, “Stop doing something.” Appreciative inquiry would validate that approach. Switch something around to the positive, instead of saying, “I’m going to stop berating my employees.” You might say, “I’m going to encourage three employees every day.”
Carol: Yeah
Katie: And it’s so much more centering, to have that sort of an outlook. So here’s a reminder that terminology in vision, mission… (What do you call it? A vision or a mission?) Don’t get caught up over the terminology because it’s not about that, it’s about getting something that works for you.
This month, let’s challenge those of the Skirt Strategies subscribers to put something down and check it for positiveness, positivity. What else can we challenge them with? Mission, vision and goals.
Carol: Well, if you’re working on yourself, think about what does success looks like for you. I mean, at what point do you say – “I am successful.” And I hope it’s right now to a great extent. But then, what else can I add to be more successful in my life?
Katie: Right.
Carol: And look at the positive, go forward with gusto and fun and fabulousness that you are.
Katie: Gusta!
Carol: Gusta.
Katie: With a female, it would be gusta. I don’t know. I’ve made that up.
Carol: You make up a lot of words.
Katie: I do. Yeah. Well, shall we wrap it up there?
Carol: Let’s do.
Katie: I think we’ll leave those members that are subscribed. You can subscribe to the monthly free where we will get to send this for you, free of charge. That’s so nice of us.
Carol: This video will come to you.
Katie: Free of charge, each month. So we will put in front of you a different topic so that you’re getting a nice, well-rounded, different leadership technique or topic each month.
And those of you that subscribed to the monthly membership and pay only $27 a month – which is still quite a steal. For those of you, we’ll make sure that we delve into this just a little bit deeper so that you cast some challenges and we’ll give you a couple of templates for going forward. But we would love to have everybody as monthly member.
Carol: It would be wonderful. And we do appreciate our monthly members. I know you guys are getting more out of this than anybody.
So hang in there with us. One of our goals this year is to have…
Katie: A thousand of them.
Carol: Thousands of monthly members. So join us. Thank you.
Katie: Bye. Have a great Christmas everyone!
Carol: Yes. Merry Christmas! Bye, bye.
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