In his book, The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni talks about the need to focus on the one thing that will have the most tangible impact on an organization. He refers to it as the “thematic goal.”

What is it your organization needs to do, RIGHT NOW? It is rolling out a new product? Is it revising an internal process? Is it developing a better way for tracking marketing efforts? 

Your management team must clearly establish the top priority, and then agree to have the entire organization focus on it. 

I know as you read that sentence, you’re probably becoming short of breath, maybe even have a few heart palpitations. If you focus on just one thing, how will the rest of the goodies in the strategic plan ever get accomplished?

My answer is simple. Would you rather have them accomplished later, after you’ve finished your top priority, or would you rather have them finished NEVER? If you can’t get everyone on the same page, the goodies won’t get accomplished.

Remember the strategic plan that paralyzed everyone with fear?  That’s exactly the scenario you need to avoid.  Lencioni summed it up quite well:  “By communicating that the organization has five or seven top priorities, leaders put their well-intentioned employees in the inevitable position of getting pulled in different directions, sometimes polar opposite ones.”

This clear-cut focus doesn’t sit well with most entrepreneurial owners, many of whom I’m convinced suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder. 

It’s probably no fun for the entrepreneur to be thorough, to really see a project through to its completion. They’d rather chase the next big idea, or the next hot new product. But this manic chase for the multiple things simultaneously only results in a gridlocked roadway of products, services and new ideas.

So take that strategic plan off the shelf, and prioritize. Then get to work…because this is the only way you will work.