Wanna Be Starting Something?

This idea is a game changer! It will be THE thing for years and generations to come! It is THE answer or at least a huge chunk of the solution! Wouldn’t it be great if….? We often get blown away by our own inspirations, carried on a wave of enthusiasm and passion for what we believe and what we want to do. We think…. This is IT!  We think our vision is so great that when we come across other people with like minds our excitement increases, the urgency develops…. The benefits, the potential, compel us into a ferocious work ethic mode…. Late nights, early mornings….coffee and matchsticks to stay awake….Must get started, must get started!!

Wait a minute; it’s great that people think your idea is great. It’s great that they want to be involved, It’s great that they’ve got the time to help…….but here’s the thing…..have they got what it takes to make it work?????

Too often with our passion, euphoria and determination, our ability to be discerning is diminished.  We are just sooo keen and so happy to be helped we don’t carry out any due diligence with our teams.  Here’s what I mean….

1. How well do you know them?
2. What is the skill set they have?
3. What is the skill set you need?
4. What are their motivations for being on board?
5. To what extent are you really of like minds?
6. How will you go about assessing who comes on board?
7. Is it your vision and your way they are expected to support, or are you welcoming a harmonising of ideas to get this thing off the ground?
8. How are you structured? What are the rules of engagement? Are you in charge or are they equal in status? Do they know the answer?
9. If you intend on leading do you know what kind of leader you are and how you are going to build the team?
10. To what extent are you open to change? If you are not what might be the implications of this?

These are the critical 10!  Solid foundations or starting points are critical to the success of the mission.  Addressing these ‘criticals’ will potentially save a lot of heartache and minimise the risk of failure. Sure there will be problems, but how you started will have implications for how you deal with challenges and the extent those challenges become crippling barriers to moving forward.  The key here is to take time to suss things AND people out, gel and grow.  Things will be revealed during this process and a lot of assumptions clarified.  Don’t forget to check yourself in the process too. If you are not clear, honest and operating with integrity – not really letting people fully understand what they are signing up to, your motivations and vision, this will became very problematic in the future. Oh! And the potential addition to the critical 10: Friendship – being a friend (or a spouse even) is not a valid criterion in and of itself for inclusion in the mission. Why? See numbers 1 – 10 above.