COACHable/ How AAA Works
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Manila, 23 May 2018 — So you have set your sights on a new skill to expand your leadership, and it feels like you're hitting a wall. Now what?
The trainees and coachees who work with me are always discovering new leadership skills they want to learn. For example, for many, it is speaking up more and becoming an effective public speaker. For others, it is asking for feedback on how they're doing on their leadership behaviors. And for some, it is learning how to say No to people when they come with requests that divert from their priority tasks.
Becoming an effective public speaker, getting feedback, and staying focused on your priorities, these sound very attractive for sure. So you embrace the idea. You are attracted by it. And then comes the challenge. How to find time to get going, and how to keep going when you have so many other things on your plate?
You feel the attraction and you want to make progress, yet after the initial enthusiasm, it feels like you are hitting a wall. What do you need to do to keep going until you achieve success?
Here is where the Triple A process for leadership results helps. Remember AAA-rated banks? They are at the top of the ladder for being trustworthy, reliable, and successful. Just like the kind of leadership you aspire to become known for.
For leaders, Triple A stands for Attraction, Action, and Achievement and the process describes how to attract achievement into your life. To get your bearings, read my Personal Power Page on Attracting Achievement.
Now, in this post, let's unpack that a bit more, and explore what it takes to start taking action and to keep going. What are three things you need to do?
Attraction
Like most things concerning leadership, your attraction starts in your mind, with the way you think. So you were attracted by the idea that a certain skill will make you more effective and successful as a leader. Great. Now, what will you do? Many things can attract us, and many Attractions remain dreams in our head.
Is learning this skill going to become a priority for you? If so, why? Will it bring you closer to your life or career purpose that you are passionate about? Or not? If it will bring you closer to your purpose, then it's time for a decision, to consciously pay respect to your Attraction by taking Action.
Action
So you have decided to take action on your idea! You have connected it with your passion for purpose in your work and life. Now you need to muster your courage to start. The most important step is always the first one. Like in any ball game, the action doesn't start until the ball is brought into play. As you go for it and start playing the game, give yourself space for making mistakes, for experimentation.
And don't forget to reward yourself and celebrate your first results. That will help to motivate you for tomorrow. Use learning resources to help you. One-page tools can guide and remind you. An important part is to create routines, to make your practice a part of your daily and weekly schedule. It often helps to let it replace something less important you used to do earlier. That way, you start building a new habit of learning the skill you have set your eyes on.
Achievement
Now comes the harder part. It is to keep up your practice. To make it deliberate. In her book Grit—The Power of Passion and Perseverance, author Angela Duckworth remarks that enthusiasm is common and endurance is rare. Since you have decided that your Achievement to learn your desired skill is going to bring you closer to your life or career purpose, you acknowledge to yourself that you're in it for the long haul. You bring your passion to bear, to keep up your practice. You let go of less important activities.
As you practice, getting feedback is critical to keep you going and help you improve as you go. You ask people to give you feedback, starting with what you are doing well, and then where you can improve. Celebrating progress and using valuable feedback empowers you on your journey.
You keep reminding yourself why your practice matters: this is not just an activity to be done, this is something that will directly connect you to your big goal, to transform you into an effective leader. Your practice is nothing less than the fuel your rocket needs to lift off and get to your destination. Walls can no longer stop you as you keep going, achieving, and growing your leadership skill.
Putting your trust in the Triple A process will help to get you started, to create a deliberate practice, and to keep you going until you achieve results that empower your leadership and help you grow more leaders around you. Let me know if you have questions about it!
“Everyone has dreams. Few people take action. Most wait for ‘the right conditions’ that never come, and lose precious opportunities. Using these Triple A steps, you keep attracting achievements in your life.”
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