Pathways to Success

Goal setting is important technique in the business adventurer’s toolbox. Goals are essentially the steps required to achieve your vision. Goals can consist of two types; ‘have to’ goals and ‘want to’ goals and there is a critical difference between them. The most effective goals are set by us rather than imposed by others. This way they are related to things you 'want to' achieve rather than those you 'have to'.

In order to reach your goals it is useful to use milestones. In essence, milestones are something that must be achieved in order to take you closer towards achieving your goal; in other words they are stepping-stones. Sometimes milestones must be achieved in a certain order to take you in that direction; at other times you will have a choice.

Having set milestones it is necessary to ensure that they are met. It is not always effective to wait until the end of a task to evaluate. A review approach I have adopted on expeditions, for which I have coined the phrase Tent-Time©, is a way to manage progress towards the completion of milestones.

Using Tent-Time©, you can improve the way in which the task is carried out and managed before it is completed. It enables you, and your team, to learn from mistakes and ensure they are not repeated in future tasks.

In simple terms, Tent-Time© is time out to review feasibility and performance, listen to feedback, recognise success, learn from failure and modify plans accordingly. It is important that planning allows for Tent-Time© to take place and in the most objective manner possible.

Tent-Time© is the basis on which team members understand how they are performing and what areas they need to improve on, what is going on within the team and how they are contributing to wider team goals and objectives.

Tent-Time© provides evidence to justify a pathway to success with potential setbacks and difficulties readily highlighted. Individual awareness and mutual understanding increases and communications improve. The effectiveness and efficiency of team progress is monitored and team cohesion and confidence is reinforced through recognition of progress.

5 great tips on How to motivate your team

The ability to motivate is what transforms a leader into a high performance business adventurer. Motivation comes from within individuals but leaders do play a significant role in influencing motivation. Everyone one of us is motivated, and de-motivated, by different factors and what works for one person may not work for another. To motivate is to pump people up. It aims people toward a goal and then fires them toward it like a rifle shot.

Too often, the people listening do not share the courage of the leader who is doing the pumping and aiming. When the pump's away, the people deflate. More people need to be lifted up than pumped up. This is what inspiration does. The real challenge for the business adventurer is to identify what motivates team members and take steps to provide that factor.

The challenge is further compounded as individual motivators change through their life and as external influences are applied. It is a useful practice to regularly seek feedback from team members on what motivates or de-motivates them. Here are 5 great motivation tips

1 - Be motivated yourself As a leader your behaviour has a big impact on your team. Being motivated will transcend to your team and encourage them to achieve higher levels of performance.

2 - Select people who are motivated
If you can, select those who are motivated. A team of self motivated individuals will invariably achieve higher levels of performance and results.

3 - Set realistic and challenging goals
People generally strive to achieve what is expected of them. If you set challenging achievable goals your team will work hard to accomplish them.

4 - Recognise progress
When your team achieves an important milestone share the success collectively. This enhances team cohesion and provides inspiration and forward momentum.

5 - Give recognition
Catch team members doing something right and ensure that you communicate the fact to them and others. This can in the form of an award, a notice in a company newsletter, or an email or telephone call to them.

One Man Epic

On the 26th of February 2010, Australian Tom Smitheringale will set out from Ward Hunt Island at the northernmost edge of Canada with the aim of of being the first Australian to reach the geographic North Pole solo and unsupported.

A feat described by the world's greatest climber Reinhold Messner as '10 times more difficult than climbing Mt Everest' and one that has only been achieved by 2 people in the history of polar exploration. An epic battle by one man against blizzards, bears and broken ice, covering 800km in under 60 days on the ice.

To explore and follow Tom click here

The Art of Decision Making

For the business adventurer the art of effective and timely decision-making is a key role, particularly with regard to major decisions that impact on organisational strategy. Minor decision-making should be delegated to the lowest level possible in line with requisite experience, capability and capacity of the junior manager.

New business adventurers need to learn very quickly they cannot do everything themselves. Part of effective decision-making is letting others implement your decisions. It would seem obvious at the entry manager level that this lesson should be the first learned in business management. Yet surprisingly it isn’t. A leader is someone who utilises people and brings out the best in them, so delegate away. Trust your people to do what you trained them to do.

Even if it is a critical task, they will not learn to be leaders themselves without going through the same trials as you did as a leader. Guide them and coach them, but never believe you cannot delegate every task you have.

Tough choices are also a daily requirement of decision-making. Business adventurers have to hire and fire, to sign off on new strategies, and to risk investments - all of which can lead to stress and guilt. The presence of guilt is not a result of making the wrong choice but of choosing itself. And that is the human condition: you are a being that chooses. However, to make a proper decision, one has to be well-informed.

7 Questions
Here is a simple model for decision-making that I have used on my adventures both during the planning and preparations stages and on the ice. It should be thought of as a mental checklist which should be followed when considering a course of action.

What do I want to achieve and why?
What could go wrong if I take no action?
What have I assumed?
What resources are available?
What constraints are there?
When do I need to take action and where?
What is my fallback option?

Venture into New Territory

The business world is full of examples that demonstrate the value of trying something new. As business adventurers, each one of us is an entrepreneur at heart, and we love the challenge of trying something new. Leaders of the future need to have the stomach for conflict and uncertainty, both among their people and within themselves. That's why effective business adventurers need to have an experimental mind-set.

Some decisions will work, and some won't. Some projects will pay off, and some won't. But every decision and every project will teach you and your organisation something about how the marketplace is changing and about how your company compares to its competitors.

Having self awareness of your strengths and weaknesses, or your capabilities, is incredibly useful for the business adventurer. Often what you may consider are your strengths and weaknesses are very different to how others perceive you.

Having identified your capabilities look at ways in which you can improve them further, or develop areas where you are not so capable. Always strive to stretch yourself, look at what you can do that makes you uncomfortable and step outside your comfort zone. Tackle your fear and limiting beliefs head on becomes easier the more often you do it. Your self confidence will build and you will create new opportunities for yourself.

Your first unknown is also learning how to be a good business adventurer. Everything else is connected to this skill. Ask any new manager about the early days of being a boss. Indeed, ask any senior executive to recall how he or she felt as a new manager. If you get an honest answer, you’ll hear a tale of disorientation and, for some, overwhelming confusion. The new role didn’t feel anything like it was supposed to. It felt too big for any one person to handle. And whatever its scope, it sure didn’t seem to have anything to do with leadership. Once you’ve figured out how to establish yourself then you have to deal with why you are a leader in the first place.

Much of it has to do with leading people and teams into new ventures; it was why you were chosen to be a leader in the first place. You showed qualities and skills that evidenced a high potential of success in dealing with the unknown and as a leader. Many times going into the unknown actually requires courage to move in a new direction. The status quo may want to sit still, not change anything and keep things the same.

However, to improve or move ahead, a business adventurer may find that the solution is convincing everybody to step out of the boat into the water, even if many are afraid to do so. Courage to try something new, despite the crowd, is an inherent skill of the business adventurer.