Good Plan, Good Team:
Engage and Execute for Success

By Pat Heydlauff

Success rewards are much greater than the risks when leadership begins with a crystal clear objective and only then creates the plan for execution with a fully engaged focused team. Once the goal is set, a good roadmap is essential before you start building the team or training the existing team.

The more clarity leadership has about the end goal, the easier it will be to create the plan, engage and focus the workforce so they will successfully execute the plan. Therefore, the real secret is developing with laser precision the specific goal you wish to accomplish and then engaging the "flow of focus" of your team to create the best plan to accomplish it. Elevate and empower the team on an individual level. Engaged, focused team members experience less stress and more job satisfaction resulting in improved productivity and increased profitability.

According to Dwight David Eisenhower, 34^th President of the United States, "A platoon leader doesn't get his platoon to go by getting up and shouting and saying, 'I am smarter. I am the leader.' He gets them to go along with him because they want to do it for him and they believe in him." However, in today's business environment a new dimension has been added to his strong leadership philosophy. Not only does the leader have to move together with his team but understand that maximum success in the workplace comes from getting the team involved before taking the first step.

Reach out to team members: When creating the perfect plan to reach your desired objective, you need a roadmap that will provide you direction, options and an engaged workforce to get you there. By reaching out to your team members and expecting them to focus on the long term goals, you are fully engaging them and they are intentionally participating. Because they feel accepted and valued for their opinion, not judged and rejected, they will fully engage in accomplishing the plan to the best of their abilities.

When developing your plan, create word clouds for visual and audio clarity. Use "flow of focus" diagraming to develop the physical roadmap bringing everyone aboard. Do not keep your thinking and ways of communicating chained to the past - jettison and shred old ways of creating the future and how to reach it. 

Clearly Communicate Expectations: Whether your plan is for a short-term one-time project or a long-term corporate vision with numerous foundational goals, communicate, communicate, communicate. Tell them what you need and then tell them again in as many forms of communication as possible. Long gone are the days of verbal communications, an occasional reminder or redundant time wasting meetings. People today are more visually connected than any other time in recent history, yet their workplace communications are far less connecting and interactive than their personal text messaging and Facebook pages.

Steve Jobs, Co-founder, Apple Computer Corp. once said, "Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected." Let your team know what your needs, expectations and aspirations are. Tell them, show them, interact with them and tell them again leaving ample room for interaction so, you are confident they have clarity. This one step works especially well with Generations X and Y who have never known a world without computers, cell phones and instant everything.

Connect and Reconnect: An engaged workforce needs to be focused on your end goals and not be distracted by their workplace environment or their social media and personal connections. There is a flow to the focus of your workplace and productivity drops if it is distracted in any way through even the simplest things such as:

• Office supplies located a long distance from the workforce

• Stacks of papers, files and boxes not properly stored

• Cluttered hallways being used for storage

• Colors on walls conducive for partying and social interaction rather than calm productivity and sales

• Walls that act as barriers for the flow of focus and productivity

Eliminate the "flow of focus" distractors by organizing, filing, making room for proper storage, purging files and systems, removing barriers and painting rooms and work areas appropriate productive colors.

The "flow of focus" is all about engaging and focusing employees’ goals and objectives with the organization's vision and shareholder's expectations. This need not be such a difficult process – use laser precision on creating your goal, involve and engage your workforce in creating your roadmap and then rid the workplace of clutter-filled distractions so they can maintain their "flow of focus" on your goals and objectives.

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