Every leader, and every organization, wants to make progress. There’s nothing exciting about living in a state of compromise or apathy. Even worse is backward progress. Yet all of us are smart enough to know that desire alone is not enough. Just because you want to make progress doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed. You have to remove certain inhibitors to progress in order to see forward momentum. What are those inhibitors? Consider five of them:
1. Unclear Vision
Vision is undeniably essential to any personal or organizational effort to create forward movement. Without vision, you’ll wander to your next destination…it just won’t be a preferred destination. Thus, the first inhibitor to making progress is unclear vision. You can’t get “there” when you don’t know what “there” looks like. And if you do see “there,” you won’t get there without clearly casting your vision to your team.
Unclear vision typically shows up in three forms: borrowed vision, self-imposed vision, or fuzzy vision. Borrowed vision occurs when a leader steals someone else’s vision and makes it his own. Self-imposed vision happens when a leader dreams up a vision without seeking God for His vision. And fuzzy vision happens when a leader simply doesn’t take enough time to see the vision clearly. It’s usually a rushed process that lacks prayerful, reflective thinking.
2. Irrelevant Strategies
Sometimes a leader has a clear vision, but they don’t have relevant strategies to achieve that vision. They’re afflicted by outdated and well-worn methods and programs. While they might have a vision for the future, it’s often viewed through the lens of strategies from the past. Your vision should drive your ideas, not the other way around. If your methods and strategies seem ineffective, evaluate them carefully and strategically. To evaluate and update your strategies, ask four questions about each one: What’s right? What’s wrong? What’s missing? What’s confusing?
3. Ineffective Execution
The next inhibitor is the inability to effectively execute. You can have the most inspiring vision and great strategies, but if you can’t execute, you’re dead in the water. Some people are fun to have on a team, but they just don’t get much done. They can’t execute. Everything takes longer than it should. As a result, they inhibit progress. Execution requires accountability and regular, strategic conversations to measure progress and make necessary adjustments. Regular one-on-one’s make this possible.
4. A Lack of Will
I was recently having lunch with a friend who has extensive leadership experience. We were discussing strategy and execution, and in the meeting I asked him which of those two ingredients is missing most frequently in organization. He said, “Neither. The biggest missing ingredient is the will to change.” If you don’t have the will to change, your strategies and execution really don’t matter. “Will” makes the difference. Will helps you make the hard decisions. Will drives you to actually implement your strategies and execute your plans.
5. Disengaged Teams
The fifth inhibitor is a test of your ability to recruit, equip, and deploy a fully engaged team. Author and consultant Patrick Lencioni describes this dynamic in his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. The first level of dysfunction is an absence of trust. When teams are void of trust – lacking vulnerability with one another – they fear conflict. This fear of conflict prevents them from engaging in the healthy debate of ideas. As a result, because opinions aren’t voiced (or heard), team members lack commitment to the proposed idea or solution. This lack of buy-in causes the team to avoid accountability. In the end, there’s an inattention to results.
Simply put, nothing gets done because the team has disengaged. In some cases, team members need to be assigned different roles that better matches their gifting. Other times, team members need to transition out of the organization. If your team is disengaged, identify and address where trust has been violated. In addition, focus on building relationships, welcoming feedback, equipping your team, and empowering them with responsibility and authority.
These five inhibitors to progress prevent you from answering the five questions every organization must answer:
- Vision: Where are we going?
- Strategies: What’s the most effective method to get there?
- Execution: When will it be done?
- Will: Are we willing to make the hard decisions?
- Team: Who’s responsible for each step?
Question: Which inhibitor is slowing your personal (or organization) progress? What do you need to do to get the ball rolling again?
