In Geno Wickman’s book Traction, he states that “the most successful business leaders are the ones with traction. They execute well, and they know how to bring focus, accountability, and discipline to their organization.” The concept of traction means that highly-effective leaders develop processes and systems that help sustain positive momentum for the organization. Jim Collins describes this idea as “turning the flywheel.” Here are five ideas that sustain positive momentum:
- Continuous Improvement: Sustaining momentum once it’s achieved means seeing every situation as an opportunity to improve. Once the pendulum starts swinging, it’s easy to become complacent and believe that it’s good enough. Great leaders walk into every situation looking for an opportunity to make it more efficient and improve it. Sometimes, they’ll find that it is effective and other times they’ll need to adjust. How consistently do you see opportunities to improve?
- Raise the Standard: While the momentum swings efficiently at this point, raising the standard in key areas keeps it moving consistently. Raising the standard means taking key, impactful areas and challenging people to achieve at an even higher level of efficiency or productivity. The positive impact of the changes throughout the process already set a higher standard and people are more driven to push the limits. How consistently do you raise the standards?
- Revise Goals: One aspect of raising the standards means revising and setting new goals that better align with the new direction. A critical aspect of revising the goals is to adjust the outcomes and shorten the time frame to achieve them. These subtle changes push others to raise their standard and focus on continuous improvement in their work. Do you consistently revise and sharpen the focus around goals?
- Build Leaders: Building momentum to keep the pendulum swinging requires leaders to develop other leaders. Creating capacity in others to move the needle really impacts the larger organization. Not only does the organization have one visionary leader, but it also has smaller, impactful leaders throughout the organization who keep the momentum working. How effectively do you build capacity in other leaders?
- Challenge Status Quo: Consistently challenging what’s been done in the past is a requirement for sustaining momentum. Just because something worked getting to a certain point does not mean that you’ll reach higher levels of success with it. Great leaders always challenge the status quo to push thinking and achieve better results. How quickly do you challenge what’s been done?
Creating and sustaining positive momentum is the foundation of highly-successful organizations. Great leaders know the relentless effort needed to create momentum, but they also know the key strategies that sustain success. Moving an organization past initial growth means having an improvement mindset, raising the standard, and consistently challenging the status quo. Building a team that believes in growth allows the process to continue moving forward.
What is your process for sustaining momentum for the long-term?