Coming up on the Leadership Growth Podcast. You want your action plan to make you feel a little bit uncomfortable, because this discomfort is going to be evidence that you are pushing yourself. You are pushing yourself into new places that maybe you're not as comfortable in being. You're not quite sure about what it might look like or feel like, and that's okay. However, you also want to make sure you ask this other question. Do you believe it? Do you believe that you can achieve this action plan? Because that then calls into question and to confirm your own motivation and how relevant and realistic, how supported you're going to be.'Cause I mean, I've had clients sit back and we've created amazing action plans and I'll sit back and say, do you believe you can do this? And they might say no, and you're like, what? Why did you just create this? Well, I was told to, no, no, no, hold on. What about you in it? And or what's the cultural aspects that might hinder or management that might hinder? What are those things? And let's be realistic about it. And what are the things that you can do within your own control to help mitigate some of the barriers? Because otherwise, it's a lovely exercise that will go nowhere. And we want to make this as realistic and beneficial as possible.(upbeat music) Hey everyone, how are y'all doing? This is Daniel Stewart joined by my brother, Peter Stewart, here for another episode of the Leadership Growth Podcast. Focusing on ideas and tools to help you build your leadership capability on your leadership journey. So like we often will do, let's start off with an Insight of the Week.(upbeat music) Peter, as you and I were chatting, you had a fantastic little short story to illustrate this with. Dive on in.- Yeah, happy to share. And it's good to join you again for another episode. These are always a highlight of the week as we are able to record these. So I was having a group coaching session with some professionals this week, and they shared this Zen parable with me that I just, I thought was really, really helpful. So I'm going to read it. It's fairly short, short little proverb, I should say. So once upon a time, there was a Zen master. People traveled from far away to seek his help. In return, he would teach them and show them the way to enlightenment. So on this particular day, a scholar came to visit the master for advice."I have come to ask you to teach me about Zen," the scholar said. Soon it became obvious that the scholar was full of his own opinions and knowledge, and he interrupted the master repeatedly with his own stories and failed to listen to really what the master was saying. The master calmly suggested, "Let's have some tea." So the master poured his guest a cup, and the cup was filled. Yet he kept pouring the cup until it overflowed onto the table, onto the floor, and finally onto the scholar's robes. The scholar cried, "Stop, stop! The cup is already full, can't you see?""Exactly," the Zen master replied with a smile."You are like this cup, so full of ideas that nothing more will fit in. Come back to me with an empty cup." So I loved how that example just highlights for us how we can be so full of ideas. We can really love the idea of learning, but are we truly focused and open to what that really means? Putting aside some of our past conceptions and notions and truly listening to something new.- So good, and it immediately reminds me, so one of the executive teams I'm working with right now to create stronger alignment, I was just finishing up some interviews, we're having an offsite next week to talk about this, is one of the challenges they have is folks are so experienced within their function, and they have so many comments to make that their meetings just go on and on and on. And everybody has something to say. And as we did a team effectiveness assessment with them, one of their lowest scoring behaviors was knowing how to curtail unproductive conversations and to be able to have effective meetings. And as I think of this image of the cup, everybody has a lot of great experiences, and the experiences and expertise, they're all by themselves, good. It's figuring out when you can share, when you should not share, when you should just shut up and just back away because your expertise, your own need to then speak has not been moderated with what's needed for us, the larger group or the team or the other person. And that is a real challenging thing to figure out when is that right moment. We'll often call it smart person behavior because smart people have a lot to say, and they often wanna share it.- Yes, they do.- And the trick is just because you have something to share, do you need to be the one to share it? And does it need to be shared right now? So it's pausing and managing your own emotional intelligence reactions in that moment. It's a powerful reminder.- It really is. And the way we're looking at that from the team setting and how as people advance in their careers and you gain more of that life experience, professional knowledge, there's a desire to want to just share, share, share. And it's being conscious of, okay, am I here in the role of learner? Am I here in the role of mentor? Am I here in the role of teammate? What are those roles and the hats that we might play? And it's being very, very conscious to making sure that we keep that cup at least partially empty so that there is room for that additional knowledge. And yeah, we might be smart, but we don't need to go and convince everybody that we are by what we say.- Yeah. And I'm even thinking the one-on-one type of conversation.- Yes.- Oftentimes this is one of the biggest differences between being a kind of a directive manager versus being a coaching manager. And it's so hard to make that adjustment, especially when we're all focused on getting things done quickly and we're going from meeting to meeting and email to email and teams message to teams message. And we are in the mode of just getting stuff done. However, to be able to shift and know how to shift so that you can then listen and you can then pay attention to the other person's perspective instead of it just coming from you. That is one of the hardest things that leaders have to do is to know when to make and to build muscles so they can make that shift without feeling like, I need to keep saying things. It's my way, or I have the best ideas. Sometimes we just got to shut up and be present and listen to others.- It's having that humility. And as we're talking about this, Daniel, I'm having a memory. So this is going to dovetail into Memory Lane.(upbeat music) We had the chance back in Portland while we were in high school to go and hear Colin Powell speak.- I remember this.- At that time he was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and... impressive speaker. And he said that he had a quote on his desk."Of all manifestations of power, it is restraint that impresses men most." And I thought, one, as a younger person sitting here listening to this, here's someone who is in charge of one of the most powerful armies in the world. And here he's talking about restraint. And I think there's this element as well as we're talking about the knowledge we have, how full our cups may be. Do we have the restraint to not have to share all of that? And do we have the willingness to be open? He had such a tremendous background of experience that he was able to draw upon, not only from the Iraq war, but so many, and of all of the power and authority that he wielded, both personally and professionally in every way, it is restraint to know how then to assert and to not assert can be even more powerful at times. In other words, to allow others to be able to have a chance, to be able to speak and participate and be active. Yeah, that statement around leaders being able to restrain themselves, showing then their power is an amazing, and it's kind of like addressing what's not there. It's the yin and the yang perspective instead of always going, no, what is it that's not there? And recognizing the power of that. Yeah, that's a great point, Peter.- Yeah, no, it is, yeah. And he's obviously a man that I've admired a lot and read quite a bit on. So it was fun to hear him and to reflect on that.- Absolutely, absolutely. Okay, Memory Lane time. So as we were chatting through before the podcast here, preparing something that came up, skis. That's right, folks. Not this kind of skis you go down and slalom and you're taking a ski lift up, no. This was a team building activity that our dad had created and built. And it consisted of two eight foot, two by sixes, maybe four by sixes. So imagine these long boards. And there are two of these, and they were like, what? Six or eight eyelets or eye hole screws that were put in and then carabiners and attached ropes to them. And so the idea was you could stand with each foot on each of these boards, and then hold on to this three foot rope or so, and have four to five to six people all standing on these skis. And they had to work together to then move the skis. And it required a lot of coordination and communication.- And is that the left, right, left, right. As you think of all, everybody would have to pull up on that rope simultaneously on the one side that they're trying to move forward a little bit. Not too far, especially if length of legs may be different on that team, but just enough. And then, okay, now we move to the other leg. And it was, he had two sets and he'd run these and it was a race to see which team would be able to get to the finish line the farthest. And the finish line wasn't that far, it was maybe 10, 15 yards down the floor. But yeah, the coordinated efforts to do that was a lot of fun to see. But it also just highlighted the fact that as we watched dad build out so many of these modules, he was very much focused on experiential learning. And there's just things that you can learn by doing, by being a part of these exercises, that you can't just learn reading a book or an article.- Yep, absolutely. Yeah, and we've continued that tradition now where we're always thinking, all right, we may have some content to share, but what can people experience? And then allow them to debrief and allow them to internalize the conflict or the communication challenges or the time management concern or the ego management, the cup filling or not filling idea, powerful stuff. And then he would ship those skis all over the place so that he could do it with various different groups. Anyway, that's a fun memory.- And do you remember what he called the big wooden box that he would ship the skis in? It was called the coffin. I was gonna say the coffin, that's terrible. I can't believe he's, that's right. As soon as you said that, I'm like, it was the coffin. That's awful. Oh man.- But that's, it was shipped to any all over. He'd use those all the time. But you think about how the personalities start to come out and people's tolerance for frustration and all he says, who's the natural leader who has to tell everybody what to do, who are willing followers, who are those that may actually have a better idea, but that person with their cup too full is not listening. So it's a great opportunity to see your characteristics come out and get a team working together.- Totally. Oh, that's a fun one. That's good. And it's a great segue into the topic today because the topic today is all about how does one move forward? How does one look to see what matters the most and how do I create an action plan to be able to help me achieve the business and people results I need to achieve? And there's lots of do's and don'ts out there. There's lots of good ideas. There's lots of ways to avoid the action planning process so that it can be effective. What can be done? So we want to talk through the action planning process that we often use, the different segments of a great action plan and things you might want to do or avoid doing to ensure that your action plan is successful. And we want to be clear, the action plan that we're talking about is first and foremost focused around development. And developing you as a stronger manager, a stronger leader of others. What does that mean? What does that look like? And that is where we're going to be coming from. And again, all with the goal of what are the business and people results you need to achieve? And what are the actions that if you continued or reshaped or improved in some way would help you achieve that? That's the whole idea.- It is. We want to help foster change and help that change happen. And for those that haven't listened to a prior episode where we talked about the Five Steps of Change, I encourage you to listen to that one because the action plan template we'll go through really takes that and it helps transform that into a template to put into action, to help facilitate that change. As we look at those five steps of awareness, desire, skills, resources, action and support. And so that really does lay out the framework by which we want to have a good plan in place so that we are ready, we are prepared and it increases the likelihood that we're going to have success in our change efforts. Because we don't want to feel discouraged. We've all done that. We've all set up goals to change. It's like, I'm going to improve in this. I mean, four months later, it's like, oh yeah, that's right. I was supposed to do it. It's so natural. It happens to all of us. So how do we get a formal plan in place to help increase the likelihood that change is not only going to happen, but it's going to stick?- Yeah. And you're reminding me, some of the best goals out there are goals that have about a 50% chance of success. In other words, if you create a goal that has a 20% chance of success, that can be so demotivating. But yet in contrast, if you create a goal that has an 80% chance of success, okay, you're likely going to make it good. Is that stretching you enough? And so some of the best goals out there, 50% up to that 60 or 70%, so it's a chance of actually being successful. Once you start getting below 50%, that's where it can be demoralizing in some ways. So it's that balancing act. So let's get into the actual action planning process and the form itself. And we'll be able to put this form out on the show notes as well. Peter, walk us through, what are the sections that are most important in creating a good action plan?- Yeah, and a good action plan, and obviously you can reference this in the show notes on the template as Daniel just said. As we go over this, you can make your own, but these are the elements that really matter, is you need some sort of a focus statement. This is what really helps identify what the overarching goal and objective is, what you're trying to accomplish. So you have your focus statement, then you have action steps, outlining what are the things you're going to do to help make that focus statement a reality, to help get you closer to that goal. And then it's looking at what are the resources you have at hand to support you. And we'll dive into what we really mean by resources,'cause it's more than just a book or attending a training or whatever. There's a lot that goes into that. And then we have barriers, recognizing that there's always going to be an obstacle. There's always going to be something that gets in the way of your plan. So what are you going to do to help mitigate that? And then finally, some signatures. And that's where the commitment level is really high. You're committing to putting this plan in place, and it's not just you, it's going to be a couple others that we suggest sign that off. So you're going to have a focus statement, you're going to have some action steps, identifying the resources you're going to use, what are the barriers you're anticipating, and then your signature commitment to it. So that's the basic outline. So let's dive into each of those parts a little bit.- I love it. And just to even emphasize, this action plan should not be done in a vacuum. It should not just be done by yourself. It needs to then be integrated and aligned with your boss. And hence, one of the signatures at the end is your boss. You want to be able to have open dialogue as best as possible with your boss to be able to have guidance as to what's the priority for you in your role, what can help you achieve the level of value now and in the future. So this goes back to the first focus statement. And this focus statement, the key around the focus statement is to make it very clean and clear and not too big. Too big in terms of both the length and scope. What we want to avoid is packing in four or five or 10 items, big ticket items and saying, let's put all of this together into one focus statement. For example, what we don't want to do is say, hey, I want to improve my strategic thinking and delegating and being attentive and present and effective communication all at once. Let's just pack them in and that's what I want to focus on.- By the end of the week.- No, right, exactly. And do it by the end of the week. It's like timeout, pick one. Pick one of those topics. And what is it about that topic that if you focused in on it, you would then be able to achieve the desired results you need to achieve? How would that help you? It's like, pick one of these things. It's huge because we can get overwhelmed so easily when we're trying to do too much. And it sets us up for disappointment, discouragement and really failure in the process. Why do that to ourselves? So the timeframe I'm usually counseling folks, excuse me as I'm coaching them, is a three to four month time period. That's what we're looking at. I think that helps keep the scope to a manageable level. It helps keep this from becoming the magnum opus of everything we ever want to change about ourselves. No, that's not going to set you up for success. For a three to four month period, what is something that you are going to target and work on in addition, obviously, to your day job? But you're going to give a little added emphasis to help enhance, build or develop some skills for you. And so that's in that focus statement, a sentence or two of what you're going to focus on as specific as possible. And I always like to include a what's in it for you. You know, what's in it for me phrase of why are you focusing on that? And this helps remind you as you're, you know, two and a half months into this plan of like, why am I doing this again? As you might not make the progress you'd hoped you had or whatever, it gives you that reminder right away.- Yeah. And so here's an example. And I'll take delegating just as an example,'cause oftentimes that will come up in various ways. At the time management, I need to delegate more, et cetera. So if you think of a focus statement as being just a sentence or two, the first sentence is I want to focus and develop my ability to delegate more effectively so I can build my team and improve my own ability to be successful. Great. Specific, and it talks about the why. And then this next sentence is get specific about the impact what will be the impact? What's the motivator? What reasoning are you gonna wanna emphasize this? Just like what Peter, what you were saying. So you wanna be very clear this next sentence. By improving my delegating ability, I will have more time to be able to be strategic and my team will feel more empowered to be stretched in their assignments. Done, period. Two sentences. That is an example of a focus statement. Clean, clear, and again, not, you do not wanna say, I wanna do delegating, strategic planning, everything, pick one. And just as you were saying, Peter, it's the three to four month window. Many of you might live in a 90 day world. What's the quarterly kind of focus? And at the end of the quarter, you can always look back on say, do I want to renew this and update it? Or do I go and shift to something else, but at least have that focus for that 90 day period?- That's really well put. So that you keep that focus. And it goes into one of our philosophies on how change really happens. And there's a short little story I'll share with you that we actually start our Lead Now book off with. And it's set in 1849. 1849, what's happening in this country? It's the gold rush. It's the gold rush. And there's this merchant out in Boston who's sitting there saying, "Hey, I want gold." So he sells off all of his stuff and he heads out West and he stakes his claim. And he's got his gear, he's out in the river, he's panning for gold day in and day out. And one day this old prospector comes and he moseys on over the hill. And why does he mosey?'Cause it's a Western, you got to mosey in a Western.(laughing) And he comes up to that merchant and he says, how's the panning for gold going? And the merchant's frustrated. He says, I'm not finding any gold. I'm just finding these big pile of rocks off to the right as he points. And there is a big pile of rocks he's gathered off the shore of the river. Well, the prospector moseys on over to that pile of rocks and he says, you've got gold here. And he picks up two rocks and he smashes them together. He says, look, as they crack open, see these little veins of gold? And the merchant looks at him and says, no, no, no. I don't want those. I don't want those little bits of gold. I want the big nuggets, like what you've got hanging in that pouch off of your belt. As he noticed, the prospector had a big old leather pouch on his belt. Oh, the prospector throws the rocks aside and he pulls out that leather pouch and starts to pour the contents into his hand. And he says, I don't know about you, son, but these little flecks of gold have brought me tremendous wealth. As that merchant sees, the entire pouch is just full of flecks of gold. It's the slow, intentional, and steady accumulation of these little flecks of gold over time. That's truly how development occurs. It's rarely in the one big nugget that's gonna change everything. So as we're building out this action plan and thinking more specifically about the focus statement, it's what are the few little flecks of gold that you're gonna add to your leadership toolkit over the course of these next few months? That's another helpful mindset.- And it's a great segue then into the next segment of the action plan itself. So the first is that focus statement, and then building on this idea of flecks of gold, what are the flecks that you wanna emphasize? What are the specific actions that you wanna build and strengthen yourself? And this is where you wanna be specific and list out what are you gonna really do to be able to get at that focus statement? It might be three things. It might be five. It might be 10. Whatever are those specific behaviors, measurable and noticeable and relevant, as well as some aspect of time bound, at least a check-in point, if not a point where it can be finished and said, yes, I've done that. And make sure that it's all from the filter of that focus statement. And this is where you can work with a coach. You can get lots of ideas from books. You can go to our Lead Now book. We have tons and tons of tips on specific actions. You can look to all sorts of different resources. But the idea is, what are those specific actions that you can do that will help get you closer toward the focus statement itself?- Towards your goal. And it's recognizing that there are going to be some actions that we might not even give ourself credit for. And this is a lot of the actions I consider more thought work. It's the pre-work that we can jump to. Like, let's go back to our example of delegating. As we started on that focus statement, we're trying to delegate so that it frees up more time for us to have some strategic thinking time. So we might immediately jump to an action step of, all right, I'm going to delegate more to my team. Okay, well, that's too broad. Before you can even know what to delegate, a pre-step will probably be to analyze and take a survey of all of the actions that you're tasked with each week. So you can even have a better awareness than it might be to categorize those into ones that are unique to you, that only you can do, and what are some that you could begin to pass on to others? Now, it's make a list of who on your team does it appear to have capacity for increased work. Okay, now, as you start to match some of the skill sets and capacity with those tasks, it helps you get into more of that idea of who you can delegate to. So we're breaking it down more and more, and you're able to not only identify the actions, but then you're able to set some initial benchmarks and deadlines of when are you going to do which step. Like, this week, here's what I'm going to focus on trying to get done. I'm going to have this part done by the end of the month. And are there certain individuals that are going to help you do that? Do you counsel with some members of your team? You know, do you consult with your boss as you're laying out some of the delegation matrix that you're identifying?- And adding to that, it can then continue like actions such as what's the one thing you will delegate this week? And then you have a date and you identify who's going to support you. And it might be your boss, it might be your peer, it might be somebody else. Okay, great. And that's what you're going to delegate. And each week, you can then renew and say, what am I going to be, what's the one thing I'm going to be delegating? And then because you're wanting to increase time to focus on strategic thinking, you could have an action to say, I need to spend a half hour this week diving into doing market analysis. Done. Who's going to support you? When's it going to be happening? Okay, end of this week. Get specific. Now, here's a caution. Sometimes as people complete these action steps, it can be easy to then say, I want to read a book, or I'm going to watch a webinar, or I'm going to attend a training. Those are all good. I just want to make sure that that is not the only thing in these action steps. Many of you may be familiar with the 70/20/10 idea, and that we learn best by making sure that 70% of our actions are experiential, on the job. 20% is more social, interactive, through mentoring or coaching. And 10% is through formal education of some sort. And the webinar, the training, the book, that's all more of the formal stuff. Good, but it's really only 10% of what should be on that list. So just as Peter was saying, so many great ideas, none of those were the formal or even the social. They were all on the job stuff. And that's where you want to focus. So keeping in mind the 70/20/10 and getting specific, this then leads into the next section on the action plan, which is all around resources. Resources, what do you have to leverage to inform? And there's also a very helpful part of this resources section that we've put in years ago, and it's a powerful, powerful one to add to. Go ahead, Peter, and talk about this one.- It's this idea of a role model. It's introducing this concept of we are surrounded with micro experts all around us. These aren't people who are good at absolutely everything under the sun. Nobody is. But as you think about this goal that you've set, and you think about those that you interact with, who do you know or are aware of that seems to be really good at this? Who's a good delegator around you? Continuing on that delegation example, can you spend time talking with them? Can you say, "Hey, can we go grab a cup of coffee? I want to work on delegating." It seems like you've figured some things out. In their humility, they might be,"I don't know, I don't know what I'm doing." Well, can I still pick your brain? It's reaching out to those resources, observing, watching, and learning from those around us is a powerful way to help us learn. And so that's the first line we have on the resources section before you get in any books or articles or other things. It's getting in contact with a role model for this skill.- Yeah, and the role model, it helps bring it to life as well. When you can say, "Yep, I know somebody who is dang good at this specific thing." And to be able to then consider, and to your point, be able to talk with them and consider it. And then also in the resources section, you could be thinking about, what are the great books and webinars and articles? Yes, as well as other folks that you may know. Who else are great experts? Who can then provide some additional perspective? And you can draw from this to then help build up the action steps as well. And this is where you can draw on your own personal experiences, experiences on others, and to value that as well. So that's the resources section, very powerful with the role model. And then there's an interesting fourth section. The barriers and the solutions. And you think back, oftentimes what people identify on their action plan, they may have wanted to do for a long time. And for whatever reason, they haven't been able to get to it. Or they've tried and it hasn't worked. Or they've been told they need to do it. And it just hasn't happened. So having a very frank and candid conversation with yourself, frankly, to be able to identify what are the barriers and what are ways to overcome those barriers to make this action plan successful.- And it all gets back to the, we want to increase the likelihood that you're successful at this plan. And when we think about barriers, as Danny, you're saying, this probably isn't the first time we've tried improving this skill or working on this area. There are fundamentally two types of barriers, the expected and the unexpected. As we think about obstacles, the better we plan for the expected obstacles, those expected barriers, and we have a plan to mitigate and solutions to help when those hit, then the more bandwidth we have when the unexpected ones hit. Inevitably they do. So we're just trying to help look to the future, recognize that we do not develop in a vacuum. We're not developing in some laboratory off to the side where there's absolutely no outside factors. We're doing this in the real world. We're doing this while we have our day job and families and personal life and other things that are going on. So we need to be realistic about the context that we live in. And this helps increase likelihood as you anticipate and plan for it. So that's the barrier section.- Yeah, and two things that often come up when you're talking through the barriers. One is testing yourself to say, does this action plan make me feel uncomfortable? Because in some ways, we want it to make you feel uncomfortable.- Say that again. Say that again,'cause that's a really important principle.- You want your action plan to make you feel a little bit uncomfortable because this discomfort is going to be evidence that you are pushing yourself. You are pushing yourself into new places that maybe you're not as comfortable in being. You're not quite sure about what it might look like or feel like, and that's okay. However, you also wanna make sure you ask this other question. Do you believe it? Do you believe that you can achieve this action plan? Because that then calls into question and to confirm your own motivation and how relevant and realistic, how supported you're gonna be.'Cause I mean, I've had clients sit back and we've created amazing action plans and I'll sit back and say, do you believe you can do this? And they might say no. And you're like, what? Why did you just create this? Well, I was told to, no, no, no, hold on. What about you in it? And or what's the cultural aspects that might hinder or management that might hinder? What are those things? And let's be realistic about it. And what are the things that you can do within your own control to help mitigate some of the barriers? Because otherwise it's a lovely exercise that will go nowhere. And we wanna make this as realistic and beneficial as possible.- Yeah. Oh, it's very, very well put. We wanna help increase the likelihood of the success. As we've said multiple times, you need to believe it. And that belief in this plan then leads to the confidence you have to be able to put your signature to it, to commit to it. And that gets to the last section of the commitment, the signatures. You're signing this plan stating, I'm gonna do this. I am going to put this into action. You are going to have a support person sign this. This is an accountability partner. It gets back into those five steps of change where you have to have that support of somebody else. You're sharing your plan with them. With the one request, please check in with me on this. I'm committing to do this. And I need you to check in on how I'm doing this. Set a cadence with them. Maybe it's just a text that happens every other Friday. Maybe it's somebody local and you can go have lunch and catch up and talk about it. However that might be, at a minimum, they're just committing to follow up with you. And this can be anybody who's willing to do that. So you're sharing your plan, they're signing it. And then that third signature is your boss, your supervisor, because especially when this is a plan in the professional setting, we want it aligned with organizational objectives. It's in line with your scope of your position and job and so forth, so that you're not heading off into left field without your supervisor's knowledge. They also can be a support for you. So they are aware of what these goals are. They can help do a little blocking and tackling out front to get some resources as well to support you in this. So we want them involved. So that's the fifth section of the commitment.- Yeah, so these five sections, you have the first one, the focus statement, the second, the action steps themselves, the third, the resources, that role model and other resources, and the fourth, barriers, and then solutions or mitigators to those barriers, and the fifth, the signatures, to make sure that you're not doing it alone. And so Peter, Lightning Round question for you. You ready?(upbeat music) What can a boss do to best help their employee as that employee creates and delivers, works on their action plan?- I think there are two ways in particular that a boss can really help their employee working on an action plan. One is keep this a frequent topic of conversation, checking in regularly as you have your one-on-ones, following up with that, so that they know you're aware and you're able to be that support. The second one is to celebrate the successes. As they are making progress on that plan, give them credit for it. You know, highlight it. They might not be one who's gonna toot their own horn, but as you are watching the progress they're making, give that feedback, help them see that you're noticing. That goes a long way to help reinforcing the actions. Okay, Daniel, lightning question for you. What are one or two things an individual can do to help ensure that this plan does not become forgotten, but it becomes used?- Yeah, the number one thing is to make sure that this is focused on results you need to achieve. It needs to be aligned to help you make a difference in your current role, especially. What are the business and people results you need to achieve? Make those very clear and align this action plan up with achieving them. Because if they are not aligned, if they're askew from them, if they're going off on their own tangent, it is going to be hard to continue to maintain momentum. And the second thing is you gotta believe in it. You gotta believe that it's gonna make a difference for you and your team and the organization in some way. Again, focusing on what are the results that you need to achieve, that's gonna be key. And by the way, I'll also emphasize, all of our listeners may be listening this whole time thinking, oh, all of this is about stuff that's not working. Bad stuff, weaknesses, however you wanna frame it. And I wanna be very clear that you can write a fantastic action plan around strengths all day long. And oftentimes that can be even more powerful than focusing on opportunities or weaknesses, because you wanna make sure that you can continue to contribute your strengths every day. And so as you focus on strengths, yes, you could also craft an action plan and opportunities. Either one, I just wanna make sure that people are not just thinking, it's all on the opportunity side of it,'cause you can go either way and both can be powerful as ways to, again, focus on the results you need to achieve.- Oh, it's such a good point. To build those strengths, to focus on it, you can, man, you can ride that horse of a strength a long way. I like to say the ceiling on strengths is a lot higher than the ceiling on our weaknesses. You know, we can build those out. The second factor I think is that we're not just talking about a plan to be applied in the professional setting. If you have a personal goal, the same steps very much can be helpful. Identify what your statement is, your action plans, what are those resources you're gonna use, what are the barriers, and who can support you in it. So it applies in all those settings, and we're excited for you to be able to leverage this template and framework for your own personal growth. So I hope as we are closing out this episode and you're thinking about what is the one thing that you can do, I would challenge, make an action plan. So now your question is, what is one area that I can target as I build out my action plan? Put it in place, you're gonna see the effects.- Great challenge. Well, Peter, it's been fun, another great episode, and to all of our listeners, thank you for joining us. Please subscribe and like so that you can make sure you're notified when new episodes drop so that you can have tools and great ideas to help grow your leadership journey. All the best, and until next time, take care, everyone. If you liked this episode, please share it with a friend or colleague, or better yet, leave a review to help other listeners find our show. And remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode. 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