INsight/ Colors to Implement
It is time to implement your leadership project.
Manila, 7 June 2017 — You love to come up with new ideas for solving complex challenges? And care about people and networking all the time? Then this post may be for you.
Let's talk about you getting things done. Take a pause from ideas and networking. Are you with me?
Then turn your attention to implementing projects that translate your vision into results. The projects that matter to you as a leader; the projects that you want to get done, with results to show for your effort.
When you design your projects for implementation, an important question is how to give them the right size and the right time? If you make your project too big or too long, you will sabotage implementation, and maybe drain your positive energy with it. There are other pitfalls too.
Why not get some help from a guru as you set out to implement your leadership projects? I know of no better one than Peter Cook, Dean of the Thought Leaders Business School in Australia. Implementation is Peter's big word, his top skill. Peter is known in the corporate world as a thought leader on implementation. It is why companies hire him as speaker, trainer, and mentor on that topic.
Peter Cook: guru of implementation.
I recommend that you read Peter's book The New Rules of Management: How to Revolutionise Productivity, Innovation and Engagement by Implementing Projects That Matter. I found it an outstanding guide. A Kindle version is available from Amazon— great to have handy wherever you are.
Peter explains that as a human, you are not naturally hardwired to be a good implementor. Instead, your brain was designed a long long time ago to protect you from danger.
In Peter's words, "the problem for us today is that we don’t need to learn how to implement to survive, but we do need to learn how to implement to thrive."
To succeed today, you need a system to help you thrive, to become an expert in implementation. Four parts are essential to get you there: projects, framework, accountability, and support. Go and check them out in Peter's book.
As I put Peter Cook's advice to use in my projects, it struck me how leaders from different generations might see this challenge in a different way.
If you are one of the Millennials, who in 2020 will make up half of the global workforce, you are more likely to embrace a Green or Yellow worldview in your life and work, valuing people and ideas.
If on the other hand, you are from an earlier generation, you may have grown up with a dominant Blue or Orange mindset, focused on rules and results.
Activate Blue and Orange to implement your project successfully.
When you use the Work In All Colors model, you realize that these mindsets can complement each other very well to make you and your business more successful, and your world a better place.
The risk is that, in today's fashionable enthusiasm to keep generating new ideas and building new relationships, you will fail in implementing the projects that matter most to achieving your vision.
That is where a healthy dose of Blue and Orange thinking with a set of project goals, sound framework, setup for accountability, and a great support system will help you be successful.
Why not make sure to activate and hone your Blue and Orange skills to become a master in getting results. Study and practice project implementation!
Peter Cook's book will get you going.