4 Steps to Collective Sprinting

It’s been 3 years since I sold my company, 2 years since I started coaching, and last week I did my first facilitation as a coach.

It was a BLAST.

Looking through the feedback, the team I facilitated is ready to execute! Here’s one reaction that made my heart sing:

Collective sprinting. What better Christmas gift could you ask for?

I saw how the team and I got to play together: their knowledge of the business melding with my goal structure and ruthless prioritization.

My favorite part was watching as we took the team’s blob of dreams for the year and turned them into prioritized goals with ownership and check-ins.

Having structured (and failed at) goal-setting many times, here are my top principles for goal-setting:

1. The CEO needs to prep the company-level goal on her own.

This is where the leader takes all her perspectives of fundraising, customer development, and team experience to focus the team’s energy on one key strategy every 90 days.

She can get feedback on it, but its creation is NOT a collaborative exercise. It creates too much chaos.

2. Every goal must have only one owner.

There are no co-owners or shared owners. One person is responsible for driving all participants on a goal forward, and this person knows where every subtask is at all times and where key blockers are.

This does not mean that one person executes alone.

Many people and teams will collaborate on a goal, but there must be one person held responsible for its overall momentum.

3. Have 1 company-level goal and maximum 3 sub-goals.

Founders and teams fight me tooth and nail here. They claim they can get 6 big things done this quarter.

But I know this is BS.

Focus is how you win. Getting the entire team to row in the same direction is powerful. It’s the key to small troops defeating massive armies.

4. Force rank your sub-goals.

Sub-goals aren’t equal. Rank them with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd priority slots.

Then make it clear that if priority 1 is blocked, any and all resources and people must be available to unblock it. Even if that means pausing another priority.

This clarity empowers teams to make micro decisions without having to constantly check in with leaders about what’s important.

Give your team clarity and focus, and get ready to see an explosion of energy and motivation.

I’m so freakin’ jazzed, I’m offering a Goal Guru program where I help teams craft and deploy stellar goals. I don’t just coach you, I’m side-by-side to craft and implement goals with you. Then I set you up with accountability tools to ensure you sprint to success.

For more information, reply “Goals” below and my team and I will reach out.