Did You Know that Good Intentions can Defeat You
Bocelli sings like an angel, but he was wrong when he said, “All that counts in life is intention.”
“The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention.” Anonymous
Intending:
Intending is a necessary beginning.
The path to achieving leadership development goals begins with “goal-intention.” Only the most pathetic leaders don’t intend to improve their leadership.
Goal-intentions require a how, when, and where. Gollwizer and Brandstatter label it, “implementation intention.”
An implementation intention includes a situational context.
- When I sit down at my desk in the morning, before I check email, I’ll record a point of gratitude in my journal.
- The first thing I will do when I see Bob this morning is inquire about his overdue project.
- When I feel frustrated I’ll ask myself, “What do you want to do about that?”
Deadly good intentions:
Good intentions become deadly when they have children. You decide, for example, to work on delegating, communication, and giving feedback at the same time.
Goal-directed action works best when focused on one goal.
Dalton and Spiller’s research indicates that people who work on multiple goals at the same time find reasons to not follow-through.
Suppose you want to improve delegating, giving feedback, and addressing tough issues. Focus on the most relevant goal. Address the others later.
Multiple goals:
If you must work on multiple development goals at the same time, find a way to connect them. For example, giving feedback and addressing tough issues seem connected.
Tips:
- Clearly defined goals are easier to implement, but broad goals are better than no goals.
- Keep implementation intentions simple even for challenging goals.
- Commit to rest. Fatigue diminishes the likelihood of success.
- Quick success produces false confidence. Don’t declare victory too soon. It takes between 18 and 254 days to form a habit. (Lally, et al)
What blocks leaders from developing their leadership skills?
What has made leadership development work for you?
What blocks leaders from developing their leadership skills? Willingness to put the time an effort it takes to become a skilled leader, I think this is an on going work in progress, everyday is different with new challenges.
What has made leadership development work for you? Learning to listen to others, asking the right questions, knowing when o be silent, moving forward with the knowledge to share and help others.
Thanks Tim. In a time pressured world, taking time for self-development is an investment that falls by the wayside. Sadly, it’s self-sabotage.
Intending is not doing. Doing builds relationships, strengthens your Team and achieves success. Intentions are a good place to start, but doing will accomplish your intentions and result in many more good things and results.
“Commit to rest. Fatigue diminishes the likelihood of success.” So how come so few understand this aspect of life, of work, of love. The body, the mind, the heart was not designed for full on work work work. Once you understand that you can maintain more control of your life work included.
Thanks! I’m sorry to say, I’m an intention addict.
When I was just a kid our daily newspaper had a Thought for Today printed on the upper left corner of the front page. The one that has stuck with me decades later is this: “Good intentions die unless they are executed.”
What I have found to be very important leadership skill is being able to diagnose the situation.
Figuring out what I can do to help the individual or team move forward.
Sometimes it’s providing direction, other times it’s asking questions, and sometimes it’s best to do nothing and let them figure it out.