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The Director's Cut: Your goals for 2003
David Taylor on the next 11 months and why now - not 1 Jan - is the time to set goals...

By David Taylor

Published: Wednesday 29 January 2003

Seldom has a new year started with such doom and gloom. The IT industry continues to struggle, demand for key skills is declining and to cap it all our illustrious Prime Minister tells us on New Year's Day that this is going to be one of the worst years ever - that's inspiring leadership for you.

It simply does not have to be like this, and this column will set a new agenda for the 11 remaining months in 2003. It will be a compelling one around your success, ambitions and dreams.

You may think it is strange to be looking at these subjects one month in but that is actually the very best time to do so - because by now 99 per cent of the population, and people reading this, will have abandoned their New Year resolutions.

The beginning of a New Year sees us make new targets, dreams and ambitions for the 12 months ahead. We do this for ourselves, our IT teams and our projects, and this focus on what successes we are about to achieve can be highly motivating.

And then it all goes wrong. As an individual we fail to keep to our new personal regime, and as a team we become just a collection of different individuals. As our project misses a deadline we start to focus on risk and what can go wrong.

Why does this happen? Why do these New Year hopes fade so fast? I believe there is one reason, above all others, that causes this and it can be powerfully reversed.

This conspiracy is very powerful and works against us every day of our lives. It stops individuals in their tracks, causes teams huge conflicts, and is one of the main causes of project failure.

It starts when we set our goals. Every single person reading this will have a different definition of what success means to them. This is within the overall headings of 'money', 'freedom' and 'happiness', of course. So our plans are very personal to each of us. Teams and projects will share more conformity of ambition - "To be unstoppable," "To be more open and trusting with each other," "to deliver x by y" and so on.

And yet, as different as each of these may be, how do we judge how successful we are being, in these and all other areas? I'll tell you how: By how other people are doing or, even more damaging, by how we think others are doing.

As people we constantly compare our achievements with those of other people, as teams we seem to working against, not with, other parts of our own company, and our projects are constantly compared with benchmark this and best practice that.

Comparing how we are doing, particularly as IT teams, can be very powerful. We need to learn from the experience of others, for one thing.

But it can be crippling, for it takes our focus, energies and resources off achieving what we want to achieve. Also, benchmarking is simply not good enough, especially in tough economic times - we need to soar ahead of others, setting new heights, not simply being as good as everybody else. Finally, it removes ownership of challenges and issues. If we find another project has encountered a problem, it justifies us faltering at the same time.

The way to overcome this is simple. By all means, let us evaluate how others are doing, and learn from external experience, but overall let us marshal our own people, our own forces. By setting clear, concise and compelling aims on a personal, team and project level, by deciding (i.e. closing off all other options) that we will achieve these, and by then doing what we have to do, we take command of our own lives, futures and destinies.

2003 can be the best year in your life, so far - in your personal lives, in your teams and projects, and for your organisation - if you so choose.

David Taylor is the author of best-selling business book The Naked Leader, president of IT directors association Certus and a regular contributor to silicon.com.

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