Swamy got a request to motivate students in a college recently. Swamy being what he is, a little bit of preliminary excavation happened, to understand the situation (not problem or challenge – always) better. What was supposed to be an hour or two long lecture on motivation (which, at least in Swamy’s view, is a sheer waste of time and energy on everyone’s part because motivating someone is near the top of the BAUHumbug list), may eventually blossom into a long-term intervention that will help the students get equipped to face the survival war zone called corporate career. But this post isn’t about that (though you’re welcome to avail Swamy’s Human Potential DISCovery + NURTURE offerings, for yourself or your organisation or institution).
This kind of pointless flurry of activities happen all around us – especially so in the corporate training or learning & development space.
80% of the training that’s offered to employees of corporates will remain ineffective because they don’t STOP before they start.
Blinking..? Read on to know the Ws!
Anything a being – including silly humans – does in Life will be done better, if that being or the organization that the being is part of learns to STOP before they Start, well, anything in Life.
“S”trategy – What are you doing / going to do. To get to where you want to be. By when.
Most people confuse Strategy with Why or How, but it is essentially the big What.
What do I / we want to be 10 years from now?
What will be the growth in our market cap 5 years from now?
What will our customers need 3 years from now?
What changes I / we must make to raise the bar of output / outcome by x% an year from now?
Consultants (yep, those suited, booted folks speaking jargolingo non-stop for hours to make you believe that your well-run business is doomed if you don’t adopt some vague cutting edge model with the tailored framework they’ll offer specifically to you for a pro fee of $300 / hour – oh, that’s a conservative estimate 😨) will vehemently raise their hands and voice that the last one isn’t strategy. Who gives a damn anyway, for it’s their business to survive on such hazy minutae .
In essense, if you don’t know what you want to be that’ll get you where you want to be in a certain amount of time – in future, obviously – whatever you’re about to start (or already doing) is going to sputter someway along like an automobile that ran out of fuel on a deserted road where your fancy mobile costing a bomb couldn’t find VoLTE signal to call for help!
Pic: The starting line-up for the 10km run, Chennai Marathon 2015 – Mrs & Jr Swamy are seen alongside the head of Isha Vidhya – a rural education initiative by Isha Foundation, to support which thousands of Isha Yoga meditators participate in the annual event.
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“T”actics – How are you going to do what you want to do to get where you want to be, by whenever (years or months or weeks or days or hours…).
Leaders (genuine ISI certified or generic ISO certified) spend tremendous amounts of time, effort & energy in Strategy, instead of Tactics, which is neither smart nor wise.
Contrary to popular belief, this is what leaders need to focus on and invest their energy, thoughts and action in, not the former one (though that’s important – to begin with), nor the latter (which we’ll get to know shortly anyway, won’t we). In fact, those who get immersed in the latter aren’t leaders at all, because they inadvertently cause more harm to realising their own vision.
How will we become the No.2 player in our chosen space? (leave the No.1 to those who love high BP & excessive cholestrol & be joyful)
How will we differentiate our product / service from the umpteen pretenders?
How can we navigate around the known roadblocks to get to where we want to go?
In a nutshell, this is the pacing of the marathon (Swamy’s long-distance runner bro & s-i-l will be delighted ;), without which, your chances of finishing the marathon (far more important than winning – ask any Olympian, if in doubt) are as slim as those models on the ramp with ridiculous waists that can’t hold that barely there clothing!
Pic: Swamy Jr Akash PC Iyer setting the pace in a segment of the 10km run, in the Chennai Marathon 2015. This was his first Marathon.
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Operations – Ops is the Oops part of whatever you want to do, to get to wherever you want to be, by whenever.
This is the breakdown of your S, i.e. What, based on the T, i.e. How, into actionable bits and pieces that can be comprehended, owned and acted upon by individuals and/or teams. Usually misunderstood as the plan, since Managers love to have as many plans as they can (isn’t that why they’re aka Damagers :O).
The crux of Oops, ahem, Ops is action, not the plan.
In the IT services space (just as an example – other spaces aren’t that different), customers got so pissed off by the quantum of planning, which is grossly disproportionate to the quantum of action, they embraced a new model called Agile, almost en masse’ a few years ago. Reason is, Agile is all action – daily and hourly. Accountable action. That’s what Ops should be, not reviewing based on a plan what didn’t happen and why, a week or month or half-an-year later. But Agile is just an example. Ops is action. Period.
Pic: A sea of runners in action, in support of Isha Vidhya, at the Chennai Marathon 2015.
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So, what the heck is the P then? Before that, let’s do a quick rewind to see if you’re ready to STO-P!
S(trategy) – What do you want to do / be, by when. S is envisioning (& articulating – for the benefit of believers / followers / doers to comprehend) the entire marathon, not just the start or stop.
- Top-10 best-selling book in 3 years
- Medal at world championships
- 50% market share
- 100% placement for students
<fill your S here>
T(actics) – How do you go about where you want to be. T is comprehending (& detailing – for the rest of non-suit types to know) how to compete & complete the marathon.
- Define the reader demography for the Top-10 bestselling book.
- Will the style be third-person storytelling or first-person narration of events and facts.
- Ebooks or paperback or both.
- First of a trilogy or stand-alone.
<detail your T here>
O(perations) – What are all the things that need to be done by when to get to where you want to be to be whatever you want to be. Oops, that’s how detailed Ops has to be, but not necessarily that confusing. 😀
- What is the daily fitness routine? Each for how long? At what time?
- What’s the change in daily diet? How many times to eat? What? When?
- Which are the tournaments / competitions that are useful for progress? How to register? What’s the fee? Where will the registration fee come from? Who’ll do the travel & accommodation booking?
- When do the reviews of progress happen? What will be reviewed? How to get instant feedback on changes to be made to the routine?
<list down your O here>
Pic: Wow, we’ve done it. Swamily, all 3 of them (their 2 charming 4-legged daughters couldn’t register to run along) have completed the 10km run in the Chennai Marathon 2015. Swamy & Mrs can’t run, due to major surgery in their left legs, so they walked the distance. Jr ran & walked the distance, for the first time in this lifetime.
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You’re ready for P, only after filling the <your> segments of STO. No kidding! ✋
All right, you’ve now got the (aha, finally, something truly valuable, in this lifetime) Strategy, Tactics & Operations of something you want to accomplish. Is it time to start? Not so fast, dear reader.🙋
Do you know Why you want to do whatever you want to do to be wherever you want to be?
P is the Why. Big Why, i.e. Purpose.
Without clarity of Purpose, however fantastic your vision is, whatever level of insight your detailing has, whichever depth of detail your action plan has.. won’t still get you to wherever you want to be by when you want.
Gandhi had clarity of Purpose. He got India freedom from the brits, once and for all.
Bolt had clarity of Purpose. He will remain a living legend, the greatest sprinter ever, for a long time.
Sadhguru had clarity of Purpose. His creation – the only Dhyanalinga on this planet – will sow the seed of liberation in all seekers who set foot in his space, for a very long time.
Pic: Swamily’s Purpose for participating in the Chennai Marathon – raise awareness about & support Isha Vidhya.
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What’s your Purpose! Why do you want to do whatever you want to do?
That’s the P of STOP. The last but the most important piece of the puzzle.
That’s Why you need to focus on the P first.👍
<fill your P here>.
That’s how you STOP before you Start – the Life Marathon!
Note: Isha Vidhya is an official Charity partner of the Chennai Marathon in 2016. Swamily will be participating to support Isha Vidhya, naturally. You too can!
Be joyful & spread the cheer 😃
~Swamy
Swamystery 