4 Steps to Write a Killer Success Strategy

4 Steps to Write a Killer Success Strategy

We all like to win. No one ENJOYS losing.

We all like to succeed, and we all like to feel we are getting work done. When we succeed, we feel happy.

When I was serving as a Student Director part of my job was to help parents succeed at parenting their children.

That was the easy part.

The difficult part was helping parents FEEL like they were succeeding.

Have you ever known which direction you were going, what you were supposed to be doing whether on a home project, at work, school, etc.? Have you felt as if you were taking the right steps but weren't sure you were actually succeeding?

This is where a success strategy comes in! Sometimes we need to feel as well as KNOW we are succeeding and making progress.

A success strategy is like a map for landmarks you can point to and tell yourself, "ah, yes. We are moving in the right direction and making good progress."

Sometimes we use goals as ways to mark out these successes. However, a goal assumes an endpoint. A success strategy keeps us moving further up the road towards something greater.

1. Pick key milestones and set them up on a timeline.

For example, I chose words like Ownership, Belonging, Belief, and Mission. These are examples of key "developmental milestones" at important moments in childhood development.

At a young age we begin to feel ownership of things, as we grow we crave belonging, when we get to be teenagers and older we start to develop a belief system based on our own experience and not what we have been told, and as we fully emerge into adulthood we sense the need for a greater purpose and calling.

In your field, these milestones might be Research, Create, Improve, and Fulfillment: research a need, create something which fulfills said need, test and improve upon it, and produce the final service or product. Another quick example, Hear, Listen, Develop, Engaging: make sure your clients feel heard, listen intently for actionable steps and processes, develop a plan to help the clients or improve their situations, and engage the clients with your proposed plan and continue to follow up and follow through.

Keep these milestones simple and punchy. You want these to be memorable and meaningful.

2. Take a step back.

You have your milestones and the broad ideas behind them, driving them forward. Now, you need to take a step back and think through all the steps involved in achieving or meeting that milestone.

For example, I mentioned we begin to feel ownership of things at a young age (try to share with any toddler and you'll know what I mean). Part of this process stems from the developmental milestone of object permanence, that an object can leave our field of view but still exist. We tend to develop this for a long time and its grasp on our psyche evolves.

Young children begin to feel a part of something early on. We keep this in mind, and we make sure students feel ownership in our programs. We help them engage in actions within the class which they may not be used to and may push them out of their comfort zone, like leading a song or game or even leading a discussion, so they can feel a part of what is going on and take ownership of the overall program.

Now, throwing it to you, this could mean your milestone of Research has a flow of certain types of resources used or certain criteria to qualify as acceptable for your final product. For the milestone of Hear you may need to get in the habit of vocalizing and making obvious body language cues you are tuned in to every word the client is speaking.

Hopefully you see how these can begin to develop in little ways you can see you are making progress within the milestone and how to start shaping them into little successes launching toward you the next success and the next one and the next one....

3. Create ways to celebrate.

This may seem silly depending on how short the process of certain milestones may be so make sure and celebrate them when you can.

Every success should drive us forward to even greater successes, so each success should be celebrated as the next great success!

For example, when a student agreed to help lead the discussion and question times we gave a sincere "thank you" and clapped for their step in taking ownership. When a student invited another student to come to a movie night, we would shout, "that's awesome" (even if they didn't come). Even if a student tells us they wanted to come but had something come up or their parents couldn't bring them, we encouraged them with a, "I really appreciate you trying your best to make it!" We celebrated our successes with parents in the same way and encouraged them to celebrate these successes as well!

If we take a look at the Research milestone again and know we need three pieces of verified information from a specific source. No matter how simple they are to gather, we celebrate each success privately or publicly - go ahead, check that box off with pride or send an emoji in a group text so you all can see each other's progress and encourage and celebrate one another.

Looking at the Hear milestone, let's keep a mental note for all the positive cues we are sending to the client and when it is our turn to speak reiterate some of what you heard to prove to yourself and the client you heard them loud and clear. Then, if the client notices, too, give a big smile and a, "thank you for noticing." Celebrate around the water cooler later.

Get creative with these as best as you can and celebrate them with your team, yourself, your client(s), whatever it looks like and fits best for your context!

4. Communicate!

The last key step of a killer success strategy is to communicate them clearly and effectively.

If these success strategies are for clients, then make sure they know them and how to celebrate them. Put them front and center and speak them often. If these are for your team, make sure they are mentioned at every meeting and every team member knows how to recognize them and celebrate them.

One last example from my experience.

We communicated these success strategies to parents so when they began to wonder how their student was doing we could point to a milestone and say, "Your student is at the Ownership phase. This means we should see them doing any or all of these items. Your student is volunteering to ask and answer questions. You have mentioned them asking questions to you. They are doing great and you are doing an amazing job parenting them!"

A success strategy keeps everyone on board and moving in the right direction. The more we succeed, and feel we are succeeding, the easier our work becomes and the better we feel about our work.

We are happy when we succeed.

When we succeed we want to continue to succeed.

We already have strategies in place to define success, but they aren't always clear, and they are rarely communicated.

Be intentional. Put these steps into practice and you will feel like you are constantly winning and getting work done!