Balance Short Term And Long Term Objectives For Lasting Effectiveness

To know where you're heading, you must see the future, and make the successive steps to stay relevant and prosperous.

The mining companies of the Iron Range in Minnesota took record profits for many years, before falling out of favor with the markets. Their costs soared as they had to dig deeper and deeper for iron ore and their machines and buildings aged. Other mining companies continued to upgrade their equipment, buildings, and processes and took over the market. If they had reinvested some of their profits during the good years, they could probably have maintained a healthy financial position for many more years. Instead, many of them experienced huge layoffs, some idled and/or closed, and many surrounding towns suffered economically.

Operating a successful business is like driving a vehicle. You keep one eye on the horizon, but you take in everything that is going on right in front of you. If you were to take your eye off the horizon, you might not see a Moose walk in front of you and be able to stop in time. The same is true of a business. When you’re looking only at what’s directly in front of you, you might miss the changing markets/trends and find yourself in financial trouble quickly. Can you imagine how Ford Motor Company might have fared if they had stuck with Model T’s, instead of evolving into more modern looking vehicles? They simply wouldn’t exist now, and wouldn’t have lasted long even then.

Without a long-term goal, you won’t know what direction you’re heading. No one goes on a vacation, or very few at least, without knowing where they are going.

Swim Instead Of Tread

“Swimmers are destined to go places, while treaders go nowhere. One uses his energy to move, while the other wastes it by staying in place. One will find shore and the other will not. In fact, the one treading water that has gone nowhere will use more energy.” Marvin Pirila

Many managers are stuck in the day-to-day struggle of getting things done. Many of the same problems exist everyday and worsen if not addressed. Managers should spend a portion of each day working to eliminate the problems plaguing operations. They should also be looking towards available equipment to make things better, safer, or more productive. Managers should always be evaluating their processes, trying new things, and re-evaluating. Most importantly, they should be monitoring the productivity and morale of their employees. If someone is performing poorly or not as well as he or she should the supervisor must take action.

Short-term easy is not long-term easy. Many managers can finagle something short-term, but few can make things successful in the long-term.

Workers tend to give each new person a honeymoon period. I call it a honeymoon period because they tend to work harder and try harder to make sure everything is initially covered. Perhaps this happens because they feel they have new life in their jobs and have another opportunity to show what they know. Everyone wants to feel appreciated, and new supervisors/managers tend to give more appreciation initially. Like a marriage, as time goes on, we tend to show less and less appreciation for our mates. Eventually, our mate feels unappreciated, lacking self-worth, and perhaps becomes depressed. When this occurs, their hierarchy of needs is disrupted and further growth opportunities drop. We need to satisfy our basic needs before climbing a level towards self-actualization.

Honeymoon periods, unfortunately, don’t last long so you have to work hard to get up to speed. If they don’t feel you’re catching on or moving things ahead, they will quit believing in you and things will deteriorate.