Defining Success - - 6 or 7 Ways It Gets You There Faster & Makes It Stick

Defining success provides direction to everyone inside and outside of your organization.  Whether it’s outperforming a specific competitor, capturing a percentage of market share, achieving an industry award or credential, being the best at what you do, etc., defining success gives your team a framework within which they function.  By clear, consistent and frequent communication, there is little question among your team, and others, about where your organization is headed.   Here are 6 or 7 ways in which defining your organization’s success aids in achieving it and making it stick:
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Inspire engagement When success is clearly defined, it provides a platform upon which leaders can tell their story.  “Storytelling” is one of the current buzz words in business and there is plenty of research to back its effectiveness.  Data and statistics engage the language centers of our brain.  But, when numbers are fleshed out with a story multiple areas of our brain are engaged, including the sections responsible for emotion thus making the message more memorable and “sticky” for the audience.  Whether your audience is comprised of your employees, customers or investors a “sticky story” keeps it in the minds of your audience and increases their engagement.  With so many messages competing for our brains’ attention these days it helps to stand out.

Increased Productivity Defining success provides a framework from which people can make decisions and execute.  The answer to the question, “Is this choice beneficial to our clients/organization/team, etc.?” becomes much easier to answer.  People no longer flounder with decisions when the desired outcome is clearly communicated.  Your team feels empowered to make clear decisions void of being micromanaged.   As a result, efficiency, productivity and morale improve.

Attract & Vet Top Talent Your organization’s definition of success lends itself nicely to a great interview to determine if candidates are a good fit for your organization.  Just because someone has “mad skillz” doesn’t mean they’re going to be able to play a role in your success.  But, when success is defined then questions can be asked in determining if a candidate has what it takes to play a role in achieving your organization’s specific and unique definition of success.  Is this goal important and inspiring to them and why?  What role would they play in getting your organization to the Promised Land and how would they do it?  The interview becomes much more rich and informative than a stale and unidimensional “yes or no” Q&A session.

Retain Top Talent One of the distinguishing characteristics of top-talent is that they need to know when they’re successful.  They require goals and a clear direction on how to get there.  When success is clearly defined in your organization, not only should this be used as part of the interview process, but it becomes a measure against which A-Players can gage their own success. High-achievers are more likely to be drawn to and remain with an organization in which they are or can become successful.

Attract Allies When leaders do the work in defining and communicating the vision of organizational success and the accompanying story, that story can be retold resulting in engagement of all sorts of resources for success - - customers tell more customers, great employees recruit more great employees, investors become interested, organizations offering complimenting products and services refer business, etc..  People can clearly understand and communicate to others what it is your organization does, increasing exposure and your success.

Critical components to success are to clearly define and communicate it.  Taking the time to do so shifts the bulk of heavy lifting off the shoulders of leaders and engages many others in promoting and working toward that success.  (Is that a 7th reason?)

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