Eric Herrenkohl's Blog » Uncategorized http://www.herrenkohlblog.com How to Create an A-Player Team in Your Business Tue, 23 Nov 2010 18:05:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 Keep Your Eyes Downhill, and Your Skis Will Follow http://www.herrenkohlblog.com/2009/03/01/keep-your-eyes-downhill-and-your-skis-will-follow/ http://www.herrenkohlblog.com/2009/03/01/keep-your-eyes-downhill-and-your-skis-will-follow/#comments Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:09:49 +0000 Eric Herrenkohl http://herrenkohlblog.com/?p=103 Occasionally, I get to downhill ski.  On our last trip, I finally learned how to handle the black-diamond mogul runs.  When skiing one of these steep slopes in the past, I usually ended up flat on my back.  If not, I was off on the edge of the slope, my skis pointed into the forest, completely sideways on the mountain.  I could not figure out how to make progress down the hill.

Then it dawned on me.  I was going sideways because I was looking sideways – literally.  I was so worried about the moguls that I was watching them the entire time, and then inevitably skiing right into them.  I realized that if I wanted to get down the hill, I had better start looking down the hill.  I did, and sure enough, my skis followed.

Performance Principle:  Keep your eyes fixed on where you want to be, and the rest of you will follow.  Obstacles have a tendency to draw our attention.  We get focused on the problems rather than the objective, and then wonder why we are not making real progress.

Questions to Consider:

  1. What specific challenges or obstacles keep arising for your team?
  2. Instead of focusing on “overcoming” the obstacle, have you defined what success looks like?  What is the goal toward which you are aiming?
  3. How can you and your team stay focused on the success that you want rather than on the problems you want to avoid?
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