Lead the Quest

In his bestselling book, How to Lead a Quest, Dr Jason Fox says, ‘As soon as we step outside the relentless busy work, we begin to realise and appreciate that our current (default) business model and modus operandi may not be relevant in future contexts.’ In order to break through the entrepreneurial ceiling predicated by chaos and overwhelm, we must recognise that what got us to today will not get us to tomorrow.

Our future direction requires a new game plan, one that inspires us, motivates us, gets us out of the daily weeds and, above all, interests us. There is no point designing a game plan and future business state that does not align with that which floats our boat!

Having said that:

It’s not enough that our quest provides us with purpose; it must inspire our people as well.

You will be calling on them to march side by side with you on your quest to scalability, and if you genuinely expect them to do this, the least you can do is create a culture and role that works for them.

Many overcomplicate this process, but the reality is that it doesn’t have to be that hard. The process you adopt in developing the direction to achieve your business by design is just as important as the direction itself. If we harness the collective wisdom of the group in developing our quest, they will be more invested. On this quest, we are looking for leaders and foot soldiers who believe in what we are doing and willingly provide discretionary effort on behalf of the team.

To achieve this, you must create opportunities to collaborate and communicate with the organisation and talk to the vision in the day to day. You must never take for granted that you have successfully communicated what success will look like.

It is critical that everyone understands their role and value in achieving the collective good.

You must seize opportunities to celebrate wins and highlight effort. You must take the time to celebrate the individual and showcase what good performance looks like. You must ensure your people have the resources they need, and the practical skills required to undertake the tasks you give them. Above all, you must enjoy the journey. Have fun focusing on the day-to-day activities that align with your quest and encourage others to do the same.

Are you leading a quest to create your business by design?