Managing Goals – Leaders Know How To Trim The Tree

Managing goals, leaders and trimming trees? Hang with me.
Let me tell you, I am a goal junkie. I constantly set goals
for all kinds of things in my life. They are all SMART
goals – they meet the criteria for good goals – I know how
to do that. The only problem is my wants always exceed my
gets. And that’s a problem. How many of you have the same
problem? Too many goals – too little time – too many unmet
goals that have the ability to demotivate. You know what
you want – you know how to get there – but the results
simply do not meet the intentions. Leaders know how to fix
that all too common condition.

A story about trimming trees:

I have a tree in the backyard. A Palo Verde tree -
absolutely beautiful. Green trunk, delicate leaves, many,
many branches and, like many desert trees, it’s covered
with hard, sharp thorns. Tough to trim without my becoming
a pincushion – so it didn’t get trimmed.

Up until last year it had lots of foliage – even in the
driest months. Then something happened, and this year there
are any number of small and large branches that are dead -
dry as a bone. There’s still some foliage, but not what it
had been. The tree looks like it’s dying. We increased the
water, and some of the branches flourished, but many others
didn’t. I trimmed the outer branches, and removed a lot of
the dead growth – but still no real progress.

Finally I consulted a tree expert to see what could be
done. The expert took one look at the tree and knew exactly
what had to be done. He could see that the tree had grown
without any trimming. Lots of small limbs that should have
been trimmed had grown into large limbs. There must be 15
or 20 limbs that are creating this pattern of unrestrained
growth. Only problem is that the tree’s root structure
can’t support that much foliage – this is a desert tree,
adapted to a low water environment. The result is going to
be the death of the tree – unless the number of major tree
limbs are reduced to no more than 5 to 7.

Since talking to the expert – my tree coach,  I’ve stood
back and circled that tree any number of times, and now I
know which limbs to remove to get down to 5 to 7 major
branches. Looking back, if it had been trimmed periodically
it wouldn’t need this kind of major surgery. Once the
trimming is done, I will have a tree that won’t look so
good for a while, but it will flourish as it recovers from
its foliage overload. My tree expert/coach -  told me if I
hadn’t sought out somebody with knowledge of the type of
tree, its structure and needs as well as its growth habits,
and then followed the advice given to reduce the burden on
the tree root structure, within two to three years the tree
would be dead, or blown over by one of the violent summer
storms we get in Phoenix.

Now that major surgery is being done, I promise to trim it
every six months, and not let this situation occur again.

What does this have to do with goals?

I sat down to review my goals for the first half of the
year and wasn’t too pleased with my accomplishments. Oh
sure – I had gotten a lot done, but there were so many
things I had included as either goals or as action items
that my list of the things I completed looked pretty puny
next to the list of things I wanted to get done. Then it
occurred to me that my goals and that Palo Verde tree had a
lot in common. And just like that tree, my goals had grown
to the point where I could no longer sustain and meet them.
I had gotten myself to the place where I had put too much
on my plate at one time, and was busily trying to support
too much with too little. I realized I had to admit my own
limitations.

My goals had become so numerous that many were wilting on
the tree – they were undernourished. And yet, I was working
my butt off to support all this wild growth.  Luckily, I’m
stepping back – like my tree expert/coach advised – and
taking a really hard look, and cutting back this thicket of
goals to 3 to 5 major goals that I can support. I will be
better for it – and more successful – and able to support
more things in the future, but first I have to trim the
tree – keep the 3 to 5 most important goals as the most
important goals, and then work them – hard. Leaders know
you have to nourish the major branches – and in doing that,
allow for stronger long term growth.

Take a look at your own tree of goals, along with your
thicket of must do’s and have to do’s – and if you see too
many branches for your resources, trim – and trim
aggressively so you can focus on success in the main
things. And while your at it, take leadership and get the
other people in your universe to do the same.

Do it today – the beginning of the second half of the year
is a great time to adjust, reengage, reevaluate, and come
out of 2007 with success in the truly most important things.

—————————————————-
Andy Cox and the Cox Consulting Group have helped many
organizations in designing and implementing change. To
reach the Cox Consulting Group, go to
http://www.coxconsultgroup.com .