8. "Reverse Engineering" a Plan for Success

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Thorough: complete with regard to every detail; not superficial or partial.


THE THOUGHT PROCESS

My vision for how we will realize our vision, is to be either efficiently executing a thorough plan or building an efficient, thorough plan of execution.  It should be stated that we will not pursue the latter until the former has bought us the time to do so.  On the surface, a casual observer may perceive our program to be too "busy"; however, I have made it a point to clear a path for our staff and players to focus on the elements of their role which will produce success.  Our idea of "saturating" our experience with value for everyone involved doesn't include a whole lot of fluff; however, I do feel if we are inefficient and/or content with our process, a lot of "empty effort" will exist.  It is my hope that through a methodical process we can create flexible boundaries around the things we want to master and as we grow, those boundaries will also grow. This is why I believe in being intentional and thorough in everything we do.

Much has been made of "the process" as it relates to development.  I am certainly not a detractor; however, I feel as though without a detailed and thorough plan, our efforts will go largely unrewarded.  This week's post will highlight how we "reverse engineer" our plan for success.  At face value, it may seem elaborate; however, it has allowed us to "cut away the fat" of how we go about our business and keep us focused on the basic elements of success.

Our method of "reverse engineering" our plan, is as follows:

1. Define what success looks like
• This can be applied to broad goals as easily as it can simple goals.
2. Identify and prioritize the most basic and fundamental elements of success
• There are simple, repeated skills which produce success.  We have identified these skills by being intentional about our own processes along with creating a network of mentors to lean on.
3. Create a plan to "master" the basic and fundamental elements
• Once we have identified each of the necessary skills, we need to identify how to develop them (essentially starting back at #1 with each of the elements)
4. Execute our plan
• At this point our process should be devoid of any dead space or mindless busy work. 
• We should have identified "benchmarks" of success, which can be raised over time. 
5. Check our progress against our plan
• Periodically, where we are should be measured against where we started and where we are going.
• Readjust "benchmarks" as necessary
6. Repeat as necessary

Success doesn't respond to empty words or phrases and we have worked diligently to build a plan that has real weight to it.  For this reason, we choose to be thorough with our work to ensure our time is spent investing in the things which will produce the highest reward.