Ready, Aim, Fire

As a leadership coach, I spend most of my time with leaders and their teams, looking at the ways that their leadership impacts results, teams, cultures, achievement of the mission, and the like. It is almost a truism to say that who you are affects the way that you lead, being so obvious. But many times, leaders do not look closely enough at how their own personality affects the team, or the entire organization. In fact, it is fair to say that teams and cultures often take on the personality of the leader, and begin to mimic his or her strengths and weaknesses.

At times, one such area I ask leaders to look at themselves is in the balance of "ready, aim, fire." This is an important phrase when carrying a firearm for sure, but just as important when leading a team of organization, and it often mirrors the personality of a leader, not just a soldier. When a soldier goes to fight, he or she must do all three and do them in this order: ready, aim, fire.

Readiness speaks to a lot of things, among them "do I have the skills to do this? Is my firearm cleaned and in top shape to perform? Do I have adequate ammunition? Is my practice commensurate with the required shot? Have I considered all the risk factors?" Etc. etc.

Aim speaks to focus and knowing what my target is, and having the gun actually pointed at what I want to hit. Target knowledge, specificity and focus. Do I know what I am shooting for and am I properly aligned to hit it?

Fire is the ability to actually pull the trigger, make it happen and execute in a way that does not destroy the aim.

So back to our leader. What is their personal penchant for "readiness?" Does due diligence, planning, honing skills, getting staff properly equipped, training, budgeting, having enough money, having the right people in place before launching come naturally? Or...is the leader impulsive and more apt to lead in a "fire, ready, aim" sequence? Are they so action-oriented that they often jump into new strategies, projects or directions before getting the proper steps in place? As a result, they don't consider what they are doing to the people who actually have to execute the project, as they were not ready to jump into the pool when the leader jumped. Homework, pre-work, and getting others ready are very important to successful outcomes.

How about "aim?" Many leaders are creative and visionary, but not very focused. The last idea brings forth the next one, and they get distracted easily. Being a bit ADD in style, they create a lack of focus and "aim" for the team or organization. As a result, the efforts are often scattered, stalling out, confused, and unclear to everyone. This gets very frustrating to people and yields poor results. Leadership requires a focus that is clear so that people actually know where they are heading, what to do, and how what they do will affect the desired outcomes. Aim is clarity and focus.

Lastly, can the leader pull the trigger? Some leaders are ready, ready, ready, ready, aim, aim, aim, and never fire. Over-planning, fear of risks, paralysis by the need for certainty abound, and they do not create momentum and movement. They delay and fail to act decisively, often rooted in some sort of fear. Or in the firing, they lose their aim...too jerky and the execution goes badly.

So here is a suggestion. Take the ready, aim, fire diagnostic to yourself and your team. Talk about it for each leader, and/or for the team as a whole. Find where you, the team, or the organization has a weakness in these areas, and address it, either through people or processes. That way, your mission won't be unprepared to win, too scattered to know who it is, or too paralyzed to move.