Success is a journey and your organization’s success relies on the people who are on this journey with you. Arthur Ashe, the great tennis player and activist first wrote the now famous line that “success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.”
The journey your organization makes is the product of everyone’s movement. In successful organizations individuals pull in the same direction; but, if there is a lack of clarity about how to pull in the same direction, it’s like a dogsled with an uncoordinated team, it moves very little.
Mission, Vision, and Milestones
Mission statements define what it is that we do and how we serve people. We all need a strong reason for our efforts.
The vision statement and key milestones outline your chosen path. They result from an examination of the demographic trends that influence your business. Since the needs and desires of every population segment are constantly changing, your organization needs to determine where the people you intend to serve will be in five years and set a course to meet them there.
Each milestone is a destination along the way. You need to develop clear, specific, measurable goals to reach each milestone. Clarify what short-term actions will be executed to make it happen. Individuals need to recognize their own key milestones so they will see the road before them.
Celebration is Important for Success
Although you may never achieve the exact vision, repeatedly meeting specified milestones unfolds as success. Because people don’t always recognize this it is essential for all managers to observe, note and point out successes to every staff member, help them celebrate; even if only to say, “Thank you.”
We build confidence when successes are recognized and acknowledged by someone that we respect. All individuals attempt to pull in the right direction. They will carry the organization on a journey through many milestones and the organization will reap the rewards of greater successes.