Why Clear Next Steps and Motivation are Key to Achieving Your Goals

I have been managing groups of people for a long time now, and although it was never an explicit goal of mine, my individual pursuits have placed me in this position time and time again. From herding cats for college projects to managing financial advisors, coaching soccer, and managing sales teams, I have developed a particularly specific opinion on what it takes to manage people...

Provide them with clear next steps and ensure they are motivated to execute them.

It is a simple sentence, but deceptively complicated. Let's break it down:

Clear Next Steps...

Most of the time, we don't have the luxury of clear next steps in life. For simple things, clear next steps are easy. The trash is full, so I need to take it out. The house is dirty, so I need to clean it. My hair is too long, so I need to get it cut. However, the more complicated the situation, the more complicated the next steps are. For instance, if I want to lose weight, should I focus on diet or exercise, or both and to what degree? What diet should I pick? How much exercise is too much? If I want to be a great developer, should I learn JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, HTML, CSS...? If I want to be a great writer, should I concentrate on narrative or framework?

True leaders take that complexity and distill it into an action plan where those that trust them can execute with focus. They provide clear next steps that are optimized for success because they have more experience than the person they are managing. This takes bravery and the willingness to take the blame if it doesn't work. That's what makes it hard.

Motivation to do it...

Clear next steps aren't worth much if people aren't motivated to put in the work to do them. Is a great plan with no desire to accomplish it really a great plan? Strategy has to be supported by motivation. Great leaders understand the motivation of the people they support and strive to align those motivations with the plan.

There are two great motivators in life: the hope of gain and the fear of loss. In the short term, the fear of loss is the greater motivator, but in the long term, the hope of gain wins out. With that as a framework, great leaders not only design systemic systems to provide motivation but also take the time to learn what motivates each and every person they support. Is it financial gain? Recognition? Progress? Freedom? Clear next steps are usually part of a strategy, but providing motivation is much more about understanding and caring for people.

All that said, this approach to management is easy to implement. Simply ask two questions every time you have a 1:1 with someone you manage:

1. Are you clear on your next steps?

2. Are you motivated to do them?

3. You will learn a ton from making that simple addition.