Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Who=?ISO-8859-1?B?uQ==?=s in Control of Your Goals? - - Profit Pointers=?ISO-8859-1?B?gSAgIA==?=Curriculum, Issue 27


            Christine Harvey is the Author of 6 Business and Leadership Books published in 25 languages by 48 publishers worldwide,
                including international best seller ‘In Pursuit of Profit.’


(For application of these principles to:  business, real estate, network marketing, personal development, see APPLICATION TIPS below.)

Hi All,

In Chapter 21 of ‘In Pursuit of Profit,’ I give one of my all time favorite analogies. I compare being out at sea with Management Controls. Wait – don’t think “YUCK – Management Controls – Is she crazy?  What’s exciting about that?”

‘Management Controls’ and ‘Goal Controls for Life’ are the same - AND THEY’RE EXCITING - They get you to where you want to be. They do that by measuring your RESULTS against your TARGET.

Here’s the example I give in the book about being out at sea. When Tom and I had our boat on the River Thames in England, we decided to take it out into the English Channel. Near the coastline are a series of Bouys floating in the water near the coastline. These bouys stand out of the water a couple feet high, and each has a different colored light flashing on it.

In order to find our way in these deep waters, it was necessary to check the color of each bouy we passed on our right and then on our left. Then quickly we had to compare it to our navigational chart. The bouys were coming up so quickly, that by the time we checked on our right and our left and then the chart, we were up against a new set of bouys. All the while the shore line was getting further and further away and the feeling of being in ‘deep water’ with tides against us was pretty indescribable, and not unlike life and business today!

We could see how easy it was to go off course. If we started to go off course and didn’t take corrective action immediately, we would be in big trouble. After 2 or 3 sets of wrong bouys according to our charts, we knew it would be difficult to get back on course. In addition the weather could change and the current could turn against us, making it even harder to get back on course.

So here’s the analogy. We don’t go out to sea without planning our course ahead, and we don’t go out to sea leaving our charts behind. If we do, we’re in big trouble.

So why do we think we can do that in life and business? Or as Dr. D. Campbell says, “If we don’t know where we are going, we’ll end up someplace else.”

Are you where you want to be right now? If not, maybe you haven’t planned out your goal so that you have targets to follow like the bouys in the water. A management control system – whether in life or business - must link actual performance to the PLAN. Many companies make the mistake of recording their results (without linking it to the plan) and think they have management controls. But they don’t. Without linking results to the PLAN, they merely have a report, but not management control.

What good does it do to know where you are if you don’t know where you should be? It’s like Tom and I saying “Oh look, we’re between the red and the blue bouy, without knowing that we should be between the green and the yellow bouy in order to stay on course!

In Chapter 21 of ‘In Pursuit of Profit,’ I give endless examples of how to apply this to your business. Please read it and get greater insight into your company planning. We are in deep waters now with the economy worldwide. You can’t be out at sea without charting your future and monitoring results against TARGETS. Nor can you do that with life either – if you want outstanding results – which I know you do.

3 MINUTE ACTION TIP:  Stop now and plan a time you can write down your goals. Then break those goals into likely milestones along the way. These are your sub-goals. They will serve as your bouys in deep water. Now put dates against each planned milestone sub-goal. Carry that with you and check it daily.

(If you need more assistance with that, join our Prosperity Team starting soon. Email ChristineHarvey@ChristineHarvey.com.) There’s no time to waste.

All best,
Christine

APPLICATION TIPS:

Business and sales, Set your goals and sub-goals to increase your business.

Real estate investment, Set your goals and sub-goals to improve your results.

Network marketing, Set your goals and sub-goals to bring in more team members and improve team results.

Personal/ leadership development, Set your goals and sub-goals to improve your results on any goal in your life.

REFERENCE RESOURCE: Chapter 21, Pages 177-187,  In Pursuit of Profit, by Christine Harvey - an international best selling training tool, used by corporations around the world to improve results instantly.

About the Author: Christine Harvey is the author of six international marketing and leadership books now published in 25 languages by 48 publishers, including ‘In Pursuit of Profit.’ She was the first woman and first American elected to Chair a London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and a business start-up initiative launched by Prince Charles. She served as Director on the International Board of Zonta, with 36,000 members in 62 countries, as well as two venture capitol boards – one in the UK and one in the US. She’s been honored to address two Parliaments of the world on the ‘Privatization of Industry,’ and ‘Policy for the Growth of Private Industry.’ She has been interviewed by the media in dozens of countries. Her company trains people in sales, motivation, management and presentations with persuasion - in America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Contact ChristineHarvey@ChrisitneHarvey.com with any questions you might have or ways we can serve you.