Once you have defined your Needle Movers, you have to take them further by outlining how you will exactly achieve them.  Otherwise, you may have just set goals which tend to simply be vague, unaccountable desires.

You may want to begin by setting some annual Needle Movers.  Once set, then you can lay out your monthly Needle Movers to track your progress. See how the process starts this way? First you determine what RESULTS will dramatically change your business and life. Then you list what some ideas are to achieve each result.

Drilling Down Into Details

As you start to drill down on your Needle Movers you start understanding how to distribute the work over the coming months, and across your various team members.

Here’s a template to use to identify and track your needle moving RESULTS. Grab a piece of paper and place it lengthwise (or in “landscape” mode if you’re on a PC). Now make 4 columns. The first column is labeled RESULT (this is one of your needle movers), the second column is labeled ACTIONS (these are the actions to take to achieve the specific needle moving RESULT), the third column is labeled OWNER (this is the person who is accountable for a given ACTION) and the fourth column is RESOURCES (these are the resources such as web sites, software and other tools or people to help an OWNER complete a given ACTION.)

A given RESULT will have usually 3-10 ACTIONS, which may have different OWNERS for each ACTION. There may or may not be RESOURCES for a given ACTION.

Get the idea? It’s all about determining the key results that you want to achieve and then listing all the actions that must take place to achieve that result. Assigning an owner and offering resources will of course help too.

The next time overwhelm or lack of focus creep up, count on your Needle Movers to shed light on where your energy and time must be allocated. As a result you’ll see a significant increase in your own productivity and focus, as well as that of your team. And you know how GREAT that feels!

CCA has developed a proprietary “Needle Mover” training and “Motivated Accountability System” to set execution at the highest bar possible. To learn more, contact Christine Comaford, The Executive Coach