Personal Strategic Clarity

Know your goals and focus to get results.

The jobs topic is the No. 1 media conversation heard daily around the globe, and the media keeps it linked to economic recovery. However, people recovery is quite different from economic recovery because jobs aren’t going to come back numerous enough or soon enough to fill the needs of millions who have been displaced or replaced. So what is the answer?

Direct selling leaders might do well to realize that their No. 1 value proposition in these times just might be their training and retraining offerings that are basically offered free. How much of that training is based on helping people regain/gain clarity about their purpose—their personal strategy for both short- and long-term success? How much of it should?

Over the years, in fact over the decades, I’ve experienced many clients, friends and colleagues really growing while part of this great industry. One of the reasons I believe this has happened is because there are so many training angles, so many mentors to learn from, and so many events to help you grow and be your best—a true win in these times.

But as I look, overall, at those who have been successful, and at others who haven’t been, I believe there is a common thread in that they all have clarity on what they want, are focused on the things that help them get it, and execute for results. I call it Personal Strategic Clarity.

One of the key issues that I have become known for and have been publishing on and teaching about around the globe is clarity. In my book Strategic Acceleration: Succeed at the Speed of Life, a movement was introduced to help people follow a simple model to positively impact who they are and who they become, both personally and professionally, as leaders—leaders of their organizations, their families and their businesses.

As I bring groups, teams and high-achieving individuals here to my private studio week after week from the direct selling industry to share this model, an interesting thing becomes consistently evident: There is no industry more dynamic and hard-driving or personally rewarding. It is an industry where anyone willing to work hard and smart and keep an open mind can climb to the top. Yet there are a lot of people and groups working equally as hard who are not achieving great results. Why? They don’t know what they’re going after, so they don’t know how to go and get it.

So how do you help your salesforce get the Personal Strategic Clarity to be set up for success? We have developed an eight-step model for helping others so the results they get are the right results. It is strategy balanced with tactics. Below, I’ve outlined this model.

Personal Strategic Framework

1. Purpose: This statement should say why you do what you do. This should be inspiring yet real. It paints the pictures of where you are going and why it is important to you. What are you about?
2. Passion/Happiness: This is about what makes you happy. List up to 20 words or phrases that describe what you’re passionate about and what makes you the happiest, so that as you complete with clarity this framework document, you will be able to more easily align with what makes you happy.
3. Values: This is what’s most important. Make a list of the top 5–10 things you value most. Then make a list of what your spouse values most.
4. Goals: This is focused on what you want to experience, share, give, have and actually become in the future. Goals should be a balance of factors, which are, of course, different for each person, but would include such things as financial, physical, home and family life, education, social and spiritual. Writing down your goals helps to point you in a forward direction. Oftentimes, people only put down financial goals, but there are a lot of factors to developing a successful and happy life.
5. Filters: Filters are about how you filter the world. This can be based on several things: your personality type, your love languages, DISC profile, and more. The better you understand yourself, your spouse and others, the better you’ll be able to communicate in ways important to them, including talking to yourself. (How about that?)
6. Roles: This is who you are to others. Virtually everyone plays multiple roles in life. Write down all the roles you play, and be gender-specific (e.g., boss, spouse, child, sibling, parent, coach, mentor, grandparent, employee, etc.). Being conscious of each role will help you be better at each simultaneously.
7. Intentional Congruence: This is mapping your world with clarity—showing how it all fits together. The more intentional you are about how “your world” works and fits together, the more congruent it can be. Intentional Congruence consists of all the people, structures and roles that are part of your life.
8. HLAs: High-Leverage Activities—HLAs—are the most important tasks that directly impact the strategic results you want to achieve. When you identify them, they can act as a filter—this allows you to better say “yes” and “no” appropriately. Because business is a results contest, this activity can have a huge influence on the results you produce.

To summarize, oftentimes groups are so busy focusing on the tactical things they need to get done that not enough emphasis is placed on the strategic side. Balancing the two will yield better accelerated execution, hence better results. Let me encourage you to encourage your salesforce to advance Personal Strategic Clarity so that strategic acceleration happens—and happens often.

I hope this simple yet effective framework will positively impact who you are and who you become personally and professionally as a leader—a leader of your organization, your family and your business.

May your success in 2012 exceed your expectations.

Tony Jeary, The RESULTS Guy™, is a coach, strategist and speaker who has positively impacted millions, including some of the most accomplished in the world. Read his books, visit his website, study his best practices and receive his monthly Lessons from the Studio.