You’ve got questions, and we’ve got answers. Hi, I’m Kevin Eikenberry, answering the questions that new leaders ask us. Actually, it’s our goal to help all leaders become more effective, productive, successful and confident. And this video series is one of the ways that we try to do that.
Today, I’m answering a question about starting strong. How do I start strong? Are you ready? Let’s go.
How do I start strong? Starting strong at what? Well, it could be anything. As you watch this video, think about your role as a leader. Perhaps you’re moving into a new role as you might think about how to start strong there. Perhaps it’s a new project or a new initiative, and you want to get off to a great start.
How do I start strong? It’s a general question that has some critical things that we can do to be more successful regardless of what it is. Because you see, a good start is important because it helps you build momentum.
We all know how momentum is, right? Like if we get into a hole, it takes a long time to get up. But if we get off to a good start, then things get rolling and that energy and the effectiveness seems to build on itself. And as we build momentum, we probably build confidence. And confidence is a huge boost to our ability to be effective and successful. And so we just really when we starting, we want to make sure we’re getting going.
Right. So how do we get off to a great start? That’s the point. So the question then is how do we do it? And we give you three things that you might want to consider. Now, you might be thinking that I’m going to say, well, just go get started. Just go to which I’m going to say, Not so fast, my friend. I want us to start strong. Not necessarily fast, right?
So the first thing I’m going encourage you to do is to set clear goals, whether it’s an initiative or a project, whether it’s onboarding a new team member, whether it’s a new role for yourself. Whatever it is, make sure there are clear goals for what you’re trying to accomplish. Because if you have clear goals, it will go much more effectively.
It will keep you on track and also clarify expectations. If it’s a project with others involved, then make sure we’re all clear on what’s expected, not just what the overall goal is, not just the what, but the how we’re going to do it. Time spent on setting clear expectations will help us in the long run. It’ll help speed up our overall process, right?
And next, have a plan. And you may be saying, Kevin, a plan, really? We’ve all heard about that. But what about the fact that we get started. We had that we build this plan, and we’re all this waiting around. We don’t get started, and then the plan has to change anyway.
Yeah, but we need a plan to get started. It can be flexible. We thought we weren’t going to want to engage others as appropriate in this plan, but we need something that it’s going to set us up to succeed. We have a goal, and we have a plan to achieve the goal.
You see, starting strong doesn’t mean immediately running. It means preparing to run effectively. And so I’m not suggesting to overanalyze or to keep waiting, but I am suggesting that a little bit of time, depending on the situation, that a little bit of time spent in thinking things through. Building a plan, having a clear goal, will make all the difference in helping you start strong and finish even stronger.
Let me close with today’s tweet. Getting a strong start to something new is important, too important to rush. Build a foundation, and your progress will be steady and sure.
We’ve answered many questions in the past, and we can answer your question in the future. Send your question to us to info@KevinEikenberry.com. If we’ve already answered it, we’ll send you a link. If we haven’t, you might hear me answering your question here soon. Either way, I hope you’ll come back for another episode soon.
Now, if you are really starting in your leadership role, one of the ways that you can start strong is by taking advantage of our free video series, Your First 45 Days. I hope you’ll take advantage of that, and I hope you will be back here next week when I answer more of your questions.
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