Set Your Sights on the Next Landmark: Balance Speed Play with the Long Distance
The short term and the long term. As leaders and CEOs, there’s no getting around the fact that both need to be considered in parallel all the time: this is what we’re facing right now, and this is where we want to go.
Maintaining that balance effectively is likely a significant reason why your career has progressed this far. When I was CEO of Tipperary Sales, I was always open to learning new principles or approaches to help me find the balance; it’s not always easy!
So I wanted to share one technique that benefited me and that I believe could benefit you: fartlek.
The word is Swedish for “speed play” and it’s a concept that distance runners use to improve their overall performance. It involves short sprints to identified landmarks – choosing a point down the road and pushing to get there. It’s both strategic and unstructured; on the one hand, you need to reach a clear landmark but it also leaves much of the bigger picture control up to the runner and his or her individual circumstances.
I see such great alignment between fartlek and business leadership. As I write in my book, It’s On You:
Creating realistic landmarks is like walking up a mountain. You can see the peak, but you also need to select rest spots along the way, where you will stop and reset, before setting your sights on the next landmark.
When you’re working on a short burst to reach a specific landmark – a short-term need that must be dealt with today – you need to remember that it’s also part of a longer run – the bigger picture.
Here are three strategies I recommend – and have always used – to maintain awareness of where you are at all points of your journey:
Know your home base: All the progress you seek, reaching the next landmark, begins by going within yourself. Every home run you hit begins and ends with home base. Always be in tune with that.
Know what makes your team tick: Use personality and behavior assessments to stay on track for continued success and understand what changes need to be made to reach the next landmark.
Keep asking why: Never stop asking why – it helps you get to the root of any issue and continue to make progress.
Progress has to be intentional, as business success almost always requires long-term thinking. But always have fartlek in mind: those short-term landmarks to push your pace and see your progress.
