A Personal Invitation

J David Schmidt is a long-time friend of the WCA and has served as a strategy consultant to our team, on-and-off, since the beginning. Today he gives us some helpful handles (and a tool) to identify and get moving to apply the key ideas we took away from the recent GLS.

Two weeks ago, I walked into my office, pulled out my GLS name tag lanyard and hung it on the bookshelf across from my desk—a reminder to myself to do something with what I heard at GLS15.

But I’ve got a challenge—one I’m fairly sure that tens of thousands of other GLS15 attenders have too. It’s facing this gap:

What we heard————–GAP——————Acting on what we heard

I have been to the GLSs many times since it began, including the first one. My personal challenge hasn’t changed over the years:

What one thing, just one thing am I actually going to execute in my life and work, that results in some measurable change God at least can see, and maybe I can see?

Last year that one execution decision was:

• help as many of my clients as possible to value the “strategic conversations” Joseph Grenny spoke about

The year before it was:

• fully embrace the significant implications of Vijay Govindarajan’s three-box strategy framework

Bruce Williamson, former president of The Sterno Group, turnaround expert and current member of the National Advisory Board of The Salvation Army, said to me that Thursday at the GLS,

“All this is just interesting information—unless there’s execution to back it up.”

Bruce’s observation mirrors mine. We get more than we can digest at the GLS. But we also receive a personal invitation—an invitation to identify and act on one or two things that will make the biggest difference. Attending a leadership conference doesn’t change anything, anywhere. Execution–acting on what we heard, does.

Execution might mean moving toward some grander vision in our lives. Or smaller. Or moving on from where we are. It may mean stopping something entirely. Receiving feedback better. Pursuing GRIT, or closing a power gap. Or opening ourselves to someone who might have a key role in the next chapter of our story. For nearly all of us, the unique story we are living out personally, in our organizations and churches—means what we need to execute is unique to us. As challenging as they are to hear, Horst Schulze’s words identify our personal responsibility for GLS content: “When you are the leader (in this case, of ourselves), you forfeit the right to make excuses.”

At the risk of oversimplifying really quality insights from the book,

The Four Disciplines of Execution, (by Chris McChesney and Sean Covey) I have found their counsel helpful in closing the gap between what we heard at GLS15 and doing something with it:

• Identify what is wildly important. What 2-3 ideas did you hear that rise to the level of a mandate for you personally? For your organization?  If you are a person of faith, what is that tug on your heart—that whisper God might be inviting you to consider? I both treasure and sometimes wonder what God might be inviting me to in this next season. Identifying what is wildly important takes getting quiet, an open spirit and self-awareness.
• Disproportionately resource what is wildly important. This is the game-changing idea. In life we typically “fund” or resource what we value. There are times though, when it is both wise and strategic to over fund something because it has taken on new and important value to us. Disproportionately resourcing what is wildly important means actually moving resources (like money, time and human talent) from column A to column B on our personal and organizational “spreadsheets” to create needed change.  This takes courage.
• Use a simple, compelling and visible scorecard so that within 5 seconds you can tell whether you are valuing what you said in a moment of clarity, was wildly important coming out of the GLS15. This takes a few minutes to create.
• Put a repeating “GLS execution check in” event on your calendar. This will give you the permission and nudge to keep revisiting months from now, what is wildly important. This takes a moment or two to create.

After the GLS, my wife and I went home–and took a one-hour power nap! Now begins the fun and challenging work of taking the steps above to execute. I have a friend who said, “I’m just too tired at the moment to deal with this. For me, I will put a meeting on my calendar, one month from the end date of the GLS. Then go at it personally and with my team. A little space and time can be a cure for jamming too much too soon.”

Would you like a hand in identifying and prioritizing your take aways from the GLS—whenever you do it? You can find a downloadable worksheet here.